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Why are old
geographical names (in English and other European languages) inadequate?
Because they are outdated.
Places were named with no global perspective, and before their full
descriptions were known.
E.g. Caspian Sea (a lake), Bay of Bengal (an oceansea).
Places were named mainly by Europeans, with a European, not a global,
perspective.
E.g. “Near East” and “Far “East” (i.e. near and far eastward from
Europe).
Europe even declared itself a continent!
Places were sometimes named after the first European explorer to
“discover” them. E.g. Bering Sea, Magellan Strait.
Centuries ago when many places were named, ethnicity sensitivities were
not an issue. Times have changed.
In Peoplese, oceans, oceanseas, gulfs, bays, straits, channels, lakes,
etc.
are correctly identified. Satellite imagery is used.
and in many cases local geographical names are utilized.
As for cosmological words, we are still learning what’s out there (not
“up" there.).
.
Definitions of Geographical
Features:
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| continent
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A
vast land mass surrounded by water. Planet Earth has six
continents: Eurasia, Africa, South America, North America, Antarctica,
and Australia. |
| mega-peninsula |
A
gigantic peninsula. E.g. Europe, India, Indochina, Alaska, Chukchi.
|
| peninsula
|
An area of
land mainly surrounded by water, connected to a mainland. |
| archipelago |
A chain of
islands. Many archipelagos are the tops of
underwater mountain ranges. |
| island |
An area of
land, smaller than a continent, completely surrounded by
water. |
| isthmus |
A narrow
strip of land bordered on both sides by water, connecting two
larger bodies of land. |
| cay |
A small
low island. |
| ocean |
Uncapitalized,
the vast body of salt water that cover’s almost three-quarters of
Earth’s surface.
Capitalized, the five large
subdivisions of the ocean: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic,
and
Antarctic.
|
| oceansea |
An area of saltwater marked by two or more adjacent
land boundaries, larger than a bay.. E.g. Bengal Oceansea, Arabia Oceansea.
|
| gulf* |
A body of
salt water almost completely surrounded by land.
E.g. Persia Gulf, Mediteranean Gulf, Reed Gulf (English "Red Sea"), Black Gulf, Adriatic Gulf, Caribbean Gulf, Baltic Gulf
|
| lagoon |
Shallow
salt water along a coast with partial barrier to open sea or
ocean. |
| bay* |
A
body of salt water forming an indentation in a
shoreline with land on three sides.. E.g. Manila Bay, San Francisco Bay, Hudson Bay, Aegean Bay
|
| cove |
An
indentation in a shoreline, smaller than a bay. |
| channel |
A long,
wide navigable water route with land on both sides
|
| strait |
A
navigable passage of water connecting two large bodies of water, much
shorter and narrower than a channel. |
| estuary |
The part
of the lower course or mouth of a river that mixes with salt
water tide. |
| river |
A large
natural channel of fresh water flowing through land. |
| brook |
A small natural channel of fresh water flowing through land. |
| arroyo |
A small
steep-sided watercourse or gulch in a desert area, dry except
after heavy rains. |
| canal |
A
constructed narrow waterway, typically used for navigation or
irrigation. |
| lake |
A body of
water completely surrounded by land; natural, or artificial
(such as formed by a dam). |
| pond |
A body of
water, smaller than a lake, completely surrounded by land,
natural or artificial (such as formed by a dam). |
|
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*A gulf has a tiny or small outlet to the ocean, differentiating it from a bay.
Typically brooks empty into rivers, which empty into oceans, oceanseas, gulfs, and bays, thereby
draining
the land.
Capitalization
A generic word is capitalized only if it’s part of the proper name.
E.g., Lake Malawi, Ocean Atlantic, but not continent Eurasia, nation
Danmark, county Cork, province Quebec.
Word
order
Recommended: Continent Eurasia, Lake Malawi,
River Jordon, Mountain Range American
Spine, Mount McKinley,
Oceansea Bengal, Ocean Atlantic. If preferred, can also
write: Atlantic Ocean, Jordan River, etc.
But: First Street, Tulip Avenue, Pine Lane – because the
proper
name is what is wanted quickly,
and in everyday conversation street / avenue / lane, etc. designations
are secondary. “the World” is
defined by its context. The
world of a goldfish is its bowl or pond. The world of a
teenybopper
is
her family, her friends, her school, and what she is familiar
with. The world
of an Bharatan may be Bharat (English "India"). The world of a diplomat may be
planet
Earth. The world of an astronomer may be the known
universe. Without context, “the world” has no specific meaning.
Place
Name Preferences
Ideally geographical names endure, while
geopolitical names come and go. If more than one name defines
a
particular place, the ancient / historic name is preferable, unless
there is a reason why not. Peoplese uses “Mesopotamia” and
“Persia”, two ancient, beautifully sounding words, for the regions
principally occupied by modern nations Iraq and Iran.
Peoplese
retains the Biblical name “Canaan”, more recently re-named
Palestine and Israel. (The Bible is an important source of
geographical
names because it is the only
surviving ancient text of the region.) Colonial names are
geopolitical names, not geographical names, and are not retained
in Peoplese unless the post-colonial native inhabitants so choose.
Reasons to abandon an historic place name are
many. Biblical “Great Sea” (named
millenniums before people realized it was a gulf), subsequently renamed
(from Latin “midland”) Mediterranean Sea, is in Peoplese "Mediteranean Gulf" (spelled with one "r"). Many
lakes
were originally dubbed “seas”. There is
nothing “central”
about the region of far-southern North America currently named “Central
America”, in Peoplese "far southwestern North America". Nor is "north" "up" any more than "west" is "left".
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