The internet is filled with things. Here are some of them.
New Mexico received its name long before the present-day country of Mexico won independence from Spain and adopted that name in 1821. The name "Mexico" derives from Nahuatl and originally referred to the heartland of the Mexica, the rulers of the Aztec Empire, in the Valley of Mexico. Following their conquest of the Aztecs in the early 16th century, the Spanish began exploring what is now the Southwestern United States calling it Nuevo México. In 1581, the Chamuscado and Rodríguez Expedition named the region north of the Rio Grande San Felipe del Nuevo México. The Spaniards had hoped to find wealthy indigenous cultures similar to the Mexica. The indigenous cultures of New Mexico, however, proved to be unrelated to the Mexica and lacking in riches, but the name persisted.
The Orestimba is a wilderness in the fullest meaning of the word. As a longtime volunteer at Coe Park, I have visited the Orestimba Wilderness many times over the last 20 years. I have startled groups of tule elk, seen countless coyotes, bobcats, and golden eagles. In spring, when the hills are green and the creeks are running, I have crossed fields ablaze with shooting stars. I have watched the setting sun ignite the Rooster Comb, and a little later, I have lain down beneath a star show of stunning clarity. In most wilderness areas in the lower 48 states, there would probably be another camper a mile or two down the trail. Not here. In the Orestimba Wilderness, I’m not far from home, but the solitude is so complete, it’s almost unnerving.
It is located on private ranch land and was named by the original owner, C.J. Babbit, in the 1880s. He was not, alas, as poetic as [the man who named the similar-looking Sunset Crater]. The bowl-shaped crater and the black spatter on the rim reminded this earthly person of a pot of excrement, and the name stuck. Mapmakers couldn't bring themselves to spell out the name, so it became "SP" – probably the only volcano in the world to be called after a rude acronym."Shit Pot". "SP" stands for "Shit Pot."
"In 1893, the residents of what was then known as Swauger's Station decided to change the town's name. Mrs. Rufus F. Herrick consulted a Wiyot elder to find an appropriate indigenous appellation. The Indians actually called it katawólo 't.
A joke was played on Mrs. Herrick. The elderly gentleman told her that it was hó wiwItak. This does not translate as 'beautiful place at the end of the river,' but rather 'Let's have intercourse!'
She interpreted the last part of the phrase, in baby-talk fashion, as Loleta. And thus she suggested 'Loleta' to the residents of the town, which they accepted."
After her sale, she served as a floating restaurant in lower San Francisco Bay during the depression years of the 1930s. In February 1944, the Navy repurchased the ship and partly sank her in the mud flats of San Francisco Bay, south of the San Mateo Bridge, where Army and Navy aircraft carried out bombing runs with dummy bombs. Portions of the wreck remain above the waterline to this day. She is commonly referred to as the 'South Bay Wreck' and many tide tables reference her as a reference.
Speaking of New Orleans places named after Northern African things, there's Algiers Point. The part of the city "cross the river" from the famous French Quarter and the other more-famous locales, Algiers and Algiers Point yet remain an intrinsic part of the Big Easy. But, is there any connection between the names Algiers and it's near neighbor Arabi?
Well, no. But it takes some digging to find that out, as none of the various Algiers, New Orleans histories online dip into its etymology. Even the official Algiers Historical Society, despite listing other place names the location has worn, doesn't touch upon how it acquired its current designation.
But the linked Noir 'N Nola article from 2020 does. There, it outlines the area's early and deep-rooted connection to the slave history of our country, as the site that many Africans first touched soil in North America, enslaved. As the author Cierra Chenier says: Yikes.
The paper Chenier links in the above quote goes a slightly different direction, however. In it, Tulane University geographer Richard Campanella tells how the country of Algeria "had come to the attention of Americans, and particularly New Orleanians" during the 1815 Second Barbary War. The USA, incensed by Algerian piracy, dispatched Commodore Stephen Decatur to put an end to it, which he did by defeating the Dey. "The action made Decatur a national hero, this being the first major foreign engagement of the U.S. Years later, New Orleans would rename Levee Street to honor Decatur." Campanella further expounds: I am more convinced by this second etymology.