Rio De Janiero – It’s all in the name...

Being an explorer may sound like a romantic and exciting life, but back in the time between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, life was tough.

No GPS, no cell phones and no Google Earth. Nada, niente…

Fortunately, there was no social media either, which would have been filled with selfies of explorers and their derring-do exploits.

Also, explorers never got lost, though that’s because they never knew where they were to begin with. But you did get to name places, even if you didn’t know where you were.

Take Victoria in Australia, for example, which was not, as some schoolkids believe, discovered by the Queen herself, but was named in honour of her by James Cook.

In fact, if you were a monarch, chances are you would have several places named after you – Queen Victoria did well with Victoria Falls in Zambia and Mount Victoria in Papua and New Guinea, to name two of over 2,000 places named after her.

Arrogant and narcissistic explorers took advantage of perhaps the only real perk of the job, and that was getting to name places after yourself.

Think Bering Strait between Russia and Alaska, the Cook Islands, the Strait of Magellan and no, Thomas Cook, the now defunct travel agency, was not named after the famous explorer – his name was James.

Columbus, Ohio isn’t exactly a place you would be proud to have your name associated with, but beggars can’t be choosers!

And so we come to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Immediately the thought of sun-kissed beaches and a distinct lack of full-body clothing springs to mind.

It’s a great sounding name too – very glamorous and alluring.

The translation of the name is January River, so named as it was discovered by what would appear today to be some highly unobservant Portuguese explorers, including Amerigo Vespucci who participated as an observer at the invitation of King Manuel I.

One then has to question what, on earth, was he observing?

So, here comes the rub…

Originally named São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro after St Sebastian, it was only once the name had been shortened and the town had become well established that somebody finally asked the question on everyone’s lips.

Where’s the river?

The problem was, there never was a river. Those who named the place just assumed that there had to be a river leading into the bay, as most bays had a river.

The legacy today is even more ironic as the name has been affectionately shortened to ‘Rio’ – the one thing the city doesn’t have!