The Meaning Behind the Names of Countries Around the World

With over 7,000 languages spoken in nearly 200 countries, the world has an incredible diversity of languages. This has resulted in many countries having names in their native tongue that are different from their common English names.

Every year on February 21, the United Nations celebrates International Mother Language Day to preserve and protect languages around the world.

The day originated from an incident in 1952 when students in Dhaka protested for the recognition of Bengali as the official language of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The protest resulted in the death of four students and the official recognition of Bengali in 1956.

In Africa, where there are nearly 3,000 languages across 54 countries, many country names have their origins in colonial history or the influence of Portuguese and Arab traders.

Egypt calls itself "Masr" in Arabic, derived from the biblical word "Mizraim", which can mean "border" or "port".

Liberia is named after the Latin word "liber", meaning "free", reflecting the country's origins as being founded by freed African-American slaves.

South Africa is informally known as "Mzansi", a Zulu word meaning "south".

In Asia, China is known in Chinese as "Zhongguo", meaning "central country", reflecting the view that the country is the center of civilization.

India's native name is "Bharat", which appears in ancient scriptures, and is also known as "Hindustan", meaning "land of the Hindus".

Japan in Japanese is "Nihon" or "Nippon", meaning "origin of the sun", reflecting its location east of China.

In Europe, Albania is known as "Shqiperi" in Albanian, possibly from the word "shqiptar", meaning "Albanian", or "shqiponje", meaning "eagle".

Hungary's native name is "Magyarorszag", with "Magyar" meaning Hungarian people and "orszag" meaning "country".

Ukraine's original name is "Ukrayina", meaning "borderland", because it was located on the borders of many empires.

In North and Central America, many country names reflect the influence of colonial powers. Bahamas comes from the Spanish word "baja mar", meaning "low sea".

Costa Rica means "Rich Coast", a name given by Christopher Columbus when he arrived in 1502.

Mexico is derived from the Nahuatl word "Mexihco", meaning "place of the Mexica", referring to the Aztec people.

Oceania also has many indigenous names. Australia comes from the Latin word "australis", meaning "south".

New Zealand is called "Aotearoa" in Maori, meaning "Land of the Long White Cloud".

Tonga means "south", reflecting the country's location in the South Pacific .

South America, with over 200 languages, has many country names that involve water. Guyana comes from the word "Guiana", meaning "land of water".

Paraguay and Uruguay are of Guarani origin, with "par" meaning river and "guay" meaning "this side", while Uruguay may mean "river of the larks".

Ngoc Anh (according to AJ, NYT)