Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
threw out the Dutch governor. Officially the Empire State, lately people have been wondering if
the empire will strike back.
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North Carolina
(12th state—1789) was christened in honor of King Charles I of England. Its
choice of nickname, the Tar Heel State, seems a little odd, since “tar heel” was an insulting name
applied to the state's infantrymen during the Civil War by Mississippi soldiers who complained
that the men from North Carolina didn't hold their positions—that is, they didn't put “tar on their
heels.”
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North Dakota
(39th state—1889) is named after the Indian tribe called the Dakota, a word that
means “allies.” It is also known as the Flickertail State for an animal called the flickertail squir-
rel.
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Ohio
(17th state—1803) comes from an Indian word meaning “great river.” Best known as the
Buckeye State for the horse chestnut, or buckeye, which resembles the eye of a buck. It has also
been called the Modern Mother of Presidents, as it was the birthplace to seven of America's pres-
idents: Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William
McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding. (Virginia is the actual champion, hav-
ing produced eight chief executives. See below.) The Ohioans in the White House were a fairly
inconspicuous group, and unlucky—three of them died in office, two by assassination. New York
and Massachusetts are runners-up with four apiece.
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Oklahoma
(46th state—1907) comes from two Choctaw Indian words meaning “red people.” Its
nickname, the Sooner State, comes from those settlers who entered the territory “sooner” than
the noon starting gun when the region was opened for homesteading on April 22, 1889.
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Oregon
(33rd state—1859) has an uncertain derivation but was first used in 1778 by an English
writer, Jonathan Carver. There are many suggested derivations, ranging from “hurricane” to
“piece of dried apple.” Another possibility is the Shoshonean word
oyer-un-gon,
which means
“place of plenty.” Nicknamed the Beaver State, Oregon was once also known as the Hard-Case
State because life was so difficult for the early settlers, and the Webfoot State because of the ex-
cessive rain in its Pacific coastal setting.
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Pennsylvania
(2nd state—1787) was named by its founder, William Penn, in honor of his father,
Admiral Sir William Penn, and means “Penn's woodland.” Founded as a haven for Quakers who
were being persecuted in England, it was long called the Quaker State. Geographically central as
well as one of the most influential of the thirteen colonies, it is also called the Keystone State.
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Rhode Island
(13th state—1790) was named in 1524 by the Italian explorer Verrazzano, who
said it was about the size of the Greek island of Rhodes (see in Chapter 4, p. 168, “What Were
the Seven Wonders of Antiquity?”). But later Dutch settlers also called it
rode
for “red,” pos-
sibly referring to the color of the soil. The smallest state, it was founded by Roger Williams, ex-
iled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, on the basis of religious freedom, and was a haven for
Quakers persecuted in England and the other Puritan colonies as well as Jews from Amsterdam
(the Touro Synagogue, established in 1763, is the oldest in America).
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South Carolina
(8th state—1788), like its sister to the north, is named for King Charles I of Eng-
land. It is known as the Palmetto State after its official tree, the palmetto palm. It is the site of
