American Reacts to How Canadian Provinces Got Their Names
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- Опубликовано: 23 май 2024
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As an American I have no idea how the Canadian provinces and territories got their names. Today I am very interested in learning about the history of each provinces name. If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!
If you knew Canadian history, you'd know that trappers and traders were all over Canada long before provinces were established. Since the indigenous nations were here first and the mode of travel was via rivers and lakes, it stands to reason that the waterways already had names.
"Algonquin" one of the largest groups of first nations people explorers met on arrival to the continent. Large parts of Quebec and Ontario is their home territory.
Thank you for putting everyone back on track, James. It was glaring, Tyler, my dear. I believe AL-GON-QUINS everywhere appreciate you not letting a learning opportunity like this pass unnoticed. Cheers, all!
I have Algonquin in me as well
I visited for an outdoor education class twice to the Algonquin forest. Really inspiring for me.
@@corinnemurphy7278 Always willing to help explain our Countries history, always with the utmost respect for the indigenous people that were here before us. It always amazes me how many distinct and vibrant first nation communities there are across the country. I moved out west and I am now learning about the many communities here in the west. I love that so many are still here and on their traditional lands. BC is one of the most respectful provinces when it comes to acknowledging that.
Algonquins are east of Ontario. Not recognized as FN in Ontario. There is a group trying to get recognized in Ontario, they are trying to claim land owned by my band as theirs and the surrounding area. Most of Ontario is Anishinaabe
Nunavut is a new territory. It was separated from Northwest Territories in 1999. When I was in school, there were only 2 territories.
It happened when I was in grade 2, and I still remember learning about it, and how to pronounce it
North West
I remember Nunavut being new when I was around middle school or high school. When I was really young, I remember there only being Yukon and North West Territories.
It was almost named Bob because a poll
I still remember spending Geography class learning about Nunavut's new status and learning how to pronounce Iqaluit.
Once again, Tyler's genuineness and lack of pretension are what make these videos work. There's nothing wrong with not knowing something when you're always willing to learn.
I agree I'm learning something today I know some but not them all😂
And ya I'm Canadian ❤
To learn is to discover how much more there is to learn
Same here
My wife and I are currently teaching our 3yr old to tell us when she doesn't understand something instead of pretending that she does lol
@@casualcausalityy The whole Dunning-Kruger thing is often used to belittle others, but the real ones know that it's actually INSPIRATIONAL! To learn how much more you can learn!
While in L.A. a guy asked me where in Canada am I from. I said Manitoba. He asked where that is I said on top of North Dakota. He asked where's North Dakota.
That's the American school system for you 💀🤣
lol may be he thought there was a north dakota in canada too? :P
Please tell me you told him North Dakota was above South Dakota.
I knew a Mexican dude visiting Canada and he thought Canada was part of the US.
I give him a pass on that, there’s a lot of states and they get a little clumpy
I was 8 when I memorized all 50 states and their capital cities. I'm Canadian
Me too. I remember getting into trouble for asking for Canadian stuff. We only got USA social studies. Yup I'm that old.
Me too. I remember only getting British and US history in elementary and high school until Grade 13.
Thanks to Animaniacs 😂😂😂
In grade 10 in
1975 we were so happy to get our brand new Canadian textbooks! So our social studies books, our english books, and our math books were Canadian content, we did learn the 50 states and all of their capitals. In canadian school Because we just had american textbooks up until grade 10. That's why most of us older people know imperial and metric.
All of our text books in school were American.
Also, Manitoba’s capital is called Winnipeg named after Lake Winnipeg. It means muddy water.
yes, many of the city names are also of Indigenous origin: Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon etc.
AKA Winterpeg, ghastly cold.
@@gailtrotman5256 or 'Waterpeg' when it floods...
Winnipeg it’s also a very windy area thus it is also “ windypeg”
Reading these replies, I suppose if you win at the casino it’s called Winningpeg
Water is a big part of Canada being Canada, makes sense so many names refer to it. Nova Scotia has a Gaelic, Scottish and Irish heritage, especially Cape Breton where there is a Gaelic college but also french, english, acadian, african within the province
I grew up in Northeastern Ontario. 85% of the population there is francophone. The accent is very similar to the French accent in Québec. I'm fluent in French & English. When I first heard the Acadian accent, I found it very different to the French spoken in Quebec & quite difficult to understand.
@@user-ww2ez4lq7h Can confirm. I'm Acadian from NS and I can't understand Quebec French. I've travelled to northern NB (more similar to Quebec French) and most people there couldn't understand my French or my English lol.
Where the poor white people were sequestered.
I was born in Newfoundland, and raised in Labrador. Labrador is the mainland section, and Newfoundland is the island. Also, Newfoundland has roughly 90% of the population of the province; Labrador is part of the Canadian Shield, so it's very difficult terrain to settle. As for the Portugese origin of Labrador's name, many of the earliest explorers of the North American coast were Portugese, until the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, Spain and Portugal were competing for land in the Americas, but that treaty drew a line saying that Spain could have what was west of that line, and the Portugese could have what was east of it. Portugese explorers went up and down the coast of the Americas, making maps, naming things, and trying to find places that they could settle without breaking that treaty. They named a lot of stuff, but the only place they could colonize within that treaty was the far eastern tip of South America, which became modern-day Brazil.
And then the treaty was promptly ignored when the French, English, and Dutch started exploring and settling places themselves
Btw, it's not the crust of the Earth, the Canadian Shield, that makes Labrador hard to develop, it's what's on top of the shield in that area that makes it hard. Mountains, forests, rocks, wind and cold are in the way before you'd ever consider the advantage of no tremor from seismic inactivity.
And we here in Alberta love you guys......lol. Only other Canadians that can keep up with us in the bar
He doesn't care! He's been doing these videos for two years. He's "learned" all of this stuff before. After two years he still can't pick out Vancouver on a map. Do you really think he's going to to know/Care about the treaty of Tordesillas?
@@Mercure250 Of course. A "treaty" doesn't really mean anything for the countries that were excluded from the treaty right? The Pope divided the entire world between Portugal and Spain without even knowing how big the world was or what it entailed.
Nova Scotia, particularly Cape Breton was Settled mostly by the Scotts and Irish people and their influence can still be felt there today in the music, place names and how people talk.
Many Canadians are familiar with the words Algonquin and Algonquian, and so are many Americans. Algonquin territory includes parts of what's now New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, and the broader category of peoples whose original languages are part of the Algonquian family stretch from New England across the Midwest in the U.S. Many place names in the U.S. come from Indigenous languages, and many come specifically from various languages in the Algonquian family, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the Potomac River.
Thank you for this. 🙂
Should asterisk that for most Americans are aware if they are from the areas in which those First Nations Tribes live.
I'm from Canada though so I know of the Algonquins but never really knew where they were map wise.
You are yelling at clouds.
You assume that Tyler knows or cares about American history or geography. He does not. He doesn't know where the Rocky mountains are. He doesn't know where Seattle is. He does this to make pocket change. Please stop embarrassing yourselves by kissing this guy's ass.
@@damonx6109you're yelling at clouds too mate lol
@@damonx6109bruh, are you for real?
Someone from a country that contains Arkansas, Kansas, Idaho, and New York saying 'the Canadian names seem all over the place'
And 50 of ‘em to remember! Nuts , I tell ya!
🤣
Iowa, Connecticut, Hawai'i, Illinois....
lol exactly or Wyoming, Massachusetts
To be fair, he is American.So those are familiar to him to me.As canadian those names do seem all over the place. He's learning.It's more than most ninety nine percent of americans do
Newfoundland and Labrador before 2001 was just Newfoundland.
Following two referenda in Newfoundland, confederation with Canada won with 52 percent of the vote. On March 31, 1949, Newfoundland became the tenth province of Canada. In December 2001, the province of Newfoundland became officially the province of Newfoundland and Labrador following the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution of Canada.
Interesting. Why did they decide to change the name?
Québécois here to shed a bit of light in Plato's cave. The reason why so many of those name come from bodies of water is because those were the routes used to get there. When you think about it, the water was sailed on before the Brits and the French landed to build anything. So the almost totality of the names have 1 of 3 origins, "Natives", French or English. The more the country expended its urban centers the more the naming conventions shifted to actual Canadians, but with a history of their own yet to happen, the names were first taken from the Natives whose various tribes allied with the French and/or the British, famously saving the settlers from severe cases of scurvy due to their ignorance about the nutrients needed to alleviate such condition. They also helped guide the Europeans through the complex network of rivers that allowed ships to navigate almost to the center of the continent. The French built the city of Québec and named it as such way before the provinces were created. The strategic location of the fortified city gave the French control over the ability for settlers ship to venture further into the "New World". Which is why the Brits opted to disembark at night. There's a song from a famous Québec band that describe how Québec fell because the French were too drunk, believing nobody would be suicidal enough to attack a fortified city atop a cliff, and the song has a line about how the history of Québec started with alcohol, and then continued with alcohol as the Molson brewery was established toward the end of the 18th century.
The song is "Mon Pays - Les Cowboys Fringants".
Also the history of Newfoundland and Labrador becoming what they are today is a bit complex but the tldr is that the English canadians screwed over the French canadians for the natural resources of that area. The problem however is that the area has one of the harshest sub-polar climate around, the arbitrary looking cut off that goes North-South between Québec and Labrador is a wide mountain chain that makes inland urbanization a futile enterprise. Also, no Canadian refers to the province as Newfoundland & Labrador outside of a history test. Newfoundland is what the province is typically called and Labrador is exclusively used to refer to the specific litigated inland area where "nobody" lives.
Québec means "where the river narrows", refering to the site of Québec City.
Was first called New Paris
When Nunavut split from the Northwest Territories, the people of the remaining western half of NWT were given the option to change their territory's name. The most popular choice was "Bob", but for some reason, the powers that be kept the old name instead.
Really? Americans are completely unaware of the Yukon Gold Rush? Most of the people who came to the Yukon for the gold were Americans!
Americans don't even know about their own states etc., so I'm learning that it isn't as surprising as I thought that they know so little about us.
I did have the occasion to visit Whitehorse in 1997. They had a "re-enactment" of the Yukon gold rush. They showed a Mounties proudly flying a Maple-Leaf Flag. I was the only person there that caught this!
Newfoundland is the Island portion of Newfoundland & Labrador. Yes these two dogs were named after our province . The Newfoundland dog’s webbed feet and thick ,oily, and waterproof double coat were ideal for the North Atlantic Ocean. They are well known for rescuing people from the sea. The Labrador was bread from the St. John’s water dog. ✌️💕🇨🇦.
I knew some people near Kingston ON who had Newfoundland dogs. Their property backed onto a small river, and while the dogs were exceedingly well behaved, if they ever got out and got into the river they were there for hours. They would refuse to come out.
not your fault guys, of course, the americans living close to the border know more about Canada, because they can simply drive there. So they visit often, and interact more with Canadians. Those living in the south may have more contacts with Mexico, so it's normal. Algonquin is the name of an indigenous group--years ago, they were called Indians, but that was inaccurate, so they renamed them First Nations, and today, these people prefer to be called by their unique nation name (there are more than 600 in Canada). I knew about Québec, because my dad drove me to meet the Hurons indigenous north of Québec city, and an alder from the tribe told us about it--I didn't new anything about origins of the 9 other provinces. Aboot rivers, remember that at the time, explorers were travelling in canoes & boats with indigenous guides, so rivers of the time were the roads of today. So rivers+indigenous guides=names derived from rivers & lakes, in indigenous languages--it makes sense. The names were never translated in french or english, so we kept their original indigenous names.
you should look into the acadian expulsion. it will explain a lot of history in the Atlantic provinces and how the english and french are involved
Also the history of the Cajun people in Louisiana.
That would involve history.... He's been doing these video for over two years. He does not want to learn about history or geography... He prefers to make videos about maple syrup.
Can you people please understand that Ryan and Tyler do these videos to make money. They don't care about your country!
@@damonx6109 So what? Are you an anti-capitalist?
fun bit... Louisiana used to be a part of Québec (or Lower Canada... it used to go a lot lower than it does now). I remember having conversations with American friends who always laughed at how weird Canadian things were named, then I drove through Washington State and discovered whole new levels of names that they would have said the same things about (Snohomish, Tulalip, Snoqualmie, Skagit, Stillaguamish, etc) - Canada and the US both have a knack for that sort of thing, definitely happens on both sides of the 49th
The U.S. names a lot of things off of native names too.. like Milwaukee for instance.
You are describing New France. Louisiana was never a part of Quebec, they were both part of New France.
@@bubba842 sold to the US regardless, but you still see the fleur de lis, French influence in the region. Not like Quebec but still interesting
We're not gonna mention how many streets, rivers, island and such are named "Victoria" in Canada...
Best not. Good thing we have the indigenous names, cause the British were awful at coming up with names for things :D
Rather a part of New France whose capital was Quebec City
I love seeing all your videos. It's fun as a Canadian to see an American take such an interest in Canada. Keep up the outstanding work. Thank you for your entertaining videos!
Does Tyler earn a decent amount of $$$ from RUclips for these videos, or does he just love uncovering arcane bits of information about Canada?
@@TomHuston43the number of subscribers and not pushing products - safe to say he may not be making much money if any at all
Tyler Rumple and Tyler Walker are similar channels to this one. His brother Ryan also has a few channels; Ryan Was, Ryan Wuzer, and Ryan Wass. Together, they cover a good portion of the first world countries.
@@Eldenaro thanks for letting me about the other channels I will check them out
@@TomHuston43 What are you talking about? He has no interest in Canada. Just like he has no interest in Norway or the UK. Arcane bits?? Most of his video are about the same things... Dumb stereotypes.
man ,thank you for your videos i am 70 and learning a lot that i did not know.....pretty amazing you american.......
I'm 69 , don't give Tyler to much credit , he'll forget everything in a couple of days !!!! 😂🤣😉
👍🏿👍🏽👍✌🏼🖖🍁🌻💛💙🇺🇦
@@glennstach4439 Well now, he does have a lot to remember. At least he is interested enough to try to learn and I have learned a few things that I didn't know. So, good on him.
@@carolstanton7373 Ahhh , your such a good CANADIAN !!!! 💖❤💝 👍🏿👍🏽👍✌🏼🖖🍁🌻💛💙🇺🇦
Canada has so many bodies of fresh water so might as well name everything after them.
Each Canadian could have their own lake. Slightly an exaggeration, but no provinces have more then Manitoba and Ontario.
Canada has the most fresh water lakes in the world. Pround Canadian 🇨🇦
Apparently we have more lakes here in Canada then all countries combined
@@hrayz I’m Canadian too
"Who came up with Saskatchewan...", meanwhile 25/50 states names are of indigenous origin.
It is a long and unusual word
@@personincognito3989 Yes, like Massachusetts, which I probably pronounce wrong, cause I pronounce the 3rd S as SH, so the ending sounds like "shits". Kind of sounds like Massive Two Shits, which I just Googled and realized I am not the only one to come up with that, lol. Massachusetts comes from the indigenous Narragansett name Massachusêuck, meaning "Near the small big mountain", referring to Great Blue Hill.
Came here to say that!😂 Met some people while in the US that teased us about living in Saskatoon Saskatchewan, till I reminded him that he lived in Shipshewana Indiana 😂😂
@@gayekurtz7240 I love in the movie when the guy says he is from Saskatchetoon 🤣
@@adamdavidsonx darn it,t he moment I read the "I probably pronounce wrong" I stopped having the ability to say the name at all XD
I got too conscious of it :O
I know that we covered the history of the provinces and Canada in grade school Social Studies, that said, I remember maybe 11% lol. Your videos are always an eye opener for me. I love learning new things about my country. Thank you! Intersting fact, Nunavut was only created in 1999. It used to all be NWT.
The provinces weren't around originally so the waterways were used as the geological locations when describing areas. Which lead to them being used as the provinces names.
Awesome video brudder! I’m from Newfoundland and watch your videos all the time… another fun fact about naming places here, in the community I’m from when back when they actually developed it and starting making roads they were just numbers like road 9 and road 7 but when they discussed the final names they agreed to take the last name of the oldest person on that specific road and named it that way… I live in the last community before cape spear which is the most easterly point of North America
WOW!! as a lover of Newfoundland I never knew that bit of history, Thanks for sharing...it's rather unique I think and of course a perfectly logical 'newfie' solution!
It's such a shame that so many have never been to Nfld. it is one of the undiscovered beautiful places along with Cape Breton N.S. (jmo...I'm in BC)
@@user-rc6sp5fk1n BC looks gorgeous too tho… my sister is a traveling nurse and she flies out there every few months for work… hope you get a chance to visit the island again sometime 😁🙏🏼
@@NewfieOutdoors87 B.C is a stunning place to be, and is well known for it's diverse beauty .Atlantic Canada has a different kind of beauty...not only in scenery but in the kindness of hearts. Celtic culture is an experience of the heart, not found in the west, although the folks here are very kind, but more reserved. (jmo)
I will go back to Nfld to retrieve the part of my heart I left there. 💕
i was born in manitoba, grew up in alberta, lived in british columbia and ontario for short periods of time and now im moving to saskatchewan 😅
The Northwest Territories used to be a whole lot bigger than it is now. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta were carved out of it at various times. My grandmother was officially born in the NWT, but where she was born is now in way southern Saskatchewan.
As for American's knowledge of Canada, I was in Dawson Creek way back when and was speaking to a woman from California. When she asked where I was from , I told her I was from the Island and she asked how we were going home. I told her we were going down through Alberta and across the south of BC. She then asked me if Alberta was a very big city. The stunned look on my face told her she had said something wrong. After I got over the shock, I told her Alberta was the next province over. For reference, Dawson Creek is a hop, skip and a jump from the Alberta border. She made a quick exit.
Alexander Graham Bell kept his summer home at Baddeck, Nova Scotia. The terrain of Cape Breton Island, where Baddeck is located, resembles Bell's native Scotland, which may explain the attraction.
Thank you for being so interested and open to our varied history. 😊
ALGONQUIN
BC was New Caledonia before becoming British Columbia. My town was the capital of New Caledonia established in 1805 making it the oldest established town established by Europeans in the territory.
When I was a child in Québec a long time ago I went to a French convent school and the nuns were totally anti British and they thought us that the western most province was called Canadian Colombia. I must have been in 7th grade (junior high) before I learned that it was really called British Colombia.
People from Scotland in 1773 and landed in the town of Pictou Nova Scotia. Just had the 250 year anniversary/party of it last year.
The French word for Nova Scotia is "Nouvelle-Écosse", which literally translates to "New Scotland"
An other fun fact it's technically there are two islands name whi are comes from Scotland. In France we've got New Caledonia , or " Nouvelle-Calédonie", and Caledonia IS the former name of Scotland.
@@gailltidetymothy2528 I didn’t know that! Merci 😉
Labrador is attached to Quebec. Newfoundland is the island.
Labrador was part of Quebec until 1927, when the Privy Council of London, unilaterally, decided that this part of Quebec territory would henceforth belong to the island of Newfoundland, until 1949, a British colony. The Quebec government has always contested this decision and even today, it does not officially recognize this border, considering that this part of its territory was stolen from it by the perfidious British crown.
We don't learn this in school. This is all new to me. I had some idea of the origins, but it was just assumptions on my part.
In most cases, British Columbia is just referred to as BC. Thanks for sharing!
Same with PEI. It's confusing when people actually say Prince Edward Island. But I've also confused people new to Canada when I've said PEI, they had no idea what I was talking about.
We hardly ever say British Columbia. We just say BC.
Thank You! Although.... he won't ever read this. He's been doing this for two years and still says "British Columbia" like a Kindergarten teacher.
So my mother was wrong. She told me Saskatchewan was named because a white explorer was trying to catch a fish with no luck, A native american took his rod and told him Sask catch you one.
🤣😂. Your mom was having you on.
We don't call Native people "Native Americans" in Canada. We call them Aboriginal or Indigenous or First Nation or Metis.
How hard did she pull your leg?
5:29 Algonquin! Which were also present in the US, such Milwauke and east coast (Virginia and around). Like the Powhatan tribe (where the famous Pocahontas is from) is an Algonquin tribe.
I’m Cree and live in northern Manitoba, about a 7 hour drive north of Winnipeg, great to see people wanting to learn about Canada, thank you for the videos I’ve been enjoying them lately, keep it up buddy!👍🏽
Fun fact - British Columbia is actually named "British" Columbia to denote it from the rest of the Columbia territory that became part of the USA. The territory extends all the way down to Oregon, with the Columbia River being the southern and eastern border. The fun part is that the river for which the territory, and later the Province was named, does not run within the province of British Columbia, it is within Washington State.
The Columbia River DOES run in BC
The Columbia River enters the USA from Trail BC and it originates from Columbia Lake in the East kootenays.
Newfoundland is the island on its own. Labrador is attached to Quebec. Yes, the dogs are named after those provinces. Newfoundlander dogs have webbed feet. Pretty cool!
A lot of US states are also named from natives names. Arizona, Dakota, Nebraska, even Massachusets. Texas as well. Iowa! Native name. Oregon. Wyoming. All natives names.
Montana. lol
Ohio.
I love your intellectual curiosity not a common trait in most Americans
I've been watching this channel for a while now, and you never disappoint to find new cool ways to explore the country I live in from your perspective. Well done again sir.
Labrador was basically an unmanaged land until the 19th century. So it was a territory of its own (it's separated from the rest of Québec by a chain of mountains and many bodies of water), but the colony of Québec claimed property over part of that land for while. In the early 20th, Labrador was given to Newfoundland by the British. Although this was somewhat accepted by the Québec government (not without some conflicts), it's still a matter of discussion. To this day, the exact positioning of the southern border between NL and QC is still unresolved. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_and_Labrador%E2%80%93Quebec_border
As a Québécois i still claim Québec's property over the Labrador that was used as bait by London to convince the Newfoundland to join the confederation.
Québec is one of the largest natural peninsulas in the world
If Americans never heard of the Yukon, why did the University of Connecticut (U Conn) call their teams the Huskies?
I am a tour guide in Yukon, and a great many Americans think the Klondike is in Alaska when they're here!
@@klondikechris sad.. but not surprising (which in itself is sad).
Thank you for this educational video! I am Canadian and didn't know a lot of this!
Prince Edward Island Was Named For Prince Edward (Queen Victoria’s Father & Princess Louise Caroline Alberta’s Grandfather). He died in Victoria’s infancy which left her as heir to the throne after his brother (Uncle King William IV) died without any sons or daughters … leaving the throne to his niece Victoria!
William IV actually had SIXTEEN children but only 5 of them were legitimate, born to his wife Queen Adelaide, and all of those were stillborn or died in infancy.
Of the other 11 illegitimate offspring, 10 were born to his mistress Dorothea Jordan, all survived to adulthood, most were still alive when William died and many had families themselves and descendants alive today!
If you've driven the Sea to Sky Highway, you may have wondered what the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) words on the road signs mean and how to say them. The signs, installed in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics, are a reminder of the rich Indigenous history of the area - and also the attempts to erase that history after Indigenous land was stolen. Those names include K'emk'emeláy, one of many Sḵwx̱wú7mesh village sites that were destroyed by the B.C. government at the time of colonization, to make way for settlers and industrialization. The area would become the beginnings of Vancouver today. BC was also named " The " New Caledonia" and due to the same name as the Island New Caledonia" was already taken, so then was named British Columbia, that's what I was told.
How can you steal land from nomadic tribes who followed animal herds?
I understand that it was just “Columbia” but added “British” at the advent of the Gold Rush to prevent it being swallowed up by the USA.
@@terryomalley1974😳🤦♀️
That was wonderful, Cheryl. Thank you for your important lesson that we all use,
The sincere recognition of the incredible history of my home province has always been something I’m very proud of, and wish there was more done in other provinces, like Quebec. I’ve lived here many years and have noticed the lack of understanding…sad.
Tyler had enough trouble with relatively simple words like Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. Do you really think he'll be able to make sense of that gibberish? 😆 🤣 😂
I'm from Saskatchewan. Some years ago I was at a conference in Columbus, OH attended by people from all over the world, including some from Ohio and area. The winter weather pattern in that area generally comes from the northwest. They said they knew where Saskatchewan was because in that area a fierce blizzard was called a "Saskatchewan Screamer".
Columbia is an interesting case. There was a large territory on the west coast, stretching from California to Alaska. The British called it Columbia. The Americans called it Oregon. Both countries claimed all of it. After the War of 1812, the US and Britain finally decided to negotiate where the border was, and ultimately cut the territory in half. The US half remained the Oregon Territory, and the British half became British Columbia.
Tyler is picking up the correct Canadian pronunciation (Newfoundland & Saskatchewan sounded right to me anyway!)
Slowly turning Canadian, eh??
Manitoba - Great Spirit's strait - because, when the wind passed through the strait, you could hear Manitou speaking. I think that Louis Riel had something to do with the naming.
The North West Territories was named after a fur trading company, and used to be much bigger.
Danny Williams changed the name of Newfoundland to Newfoundland and Labrador.
Manitoba…. Aka God’s Country? ;-)
the fun parts of these videos is half of his commentary is exactly my thoughts at 10 in class learning about this stuff, and the other half is brand new. like i knew about nova scotia and nunavut, but i had no idea of the origin of new brunswick. its always really neat!
Toronto is also named after a strait, Takaronto runs from lake Simcoe to lake Couchiching.
Prince Edward had a distinguished military career in Canada and was the father of Queen Victoria. At some point he was commander in chief of British North America forces.
Queen Victoria is an important character in the creation of Canada, and for defending Canadian independence from American invasions. Americans fought for independence from UK. Canada fought for independence from America. That is why we are loyal to the monarchy.
Queen Victoria couldn't even locate Canada on a map. She cared less than Tyler about Canada. I assume you are referring to the war of 1812..? The British didn't care about Canada and Victoria certainly didn't care about Canada.
Thank you. I was wondering WHICH Prince Edward. There have been many
Algonquin, pronounced "Al-gonk-win" is one of the larger first nations communities in Canada
Algonquin has about 11 thousand native people unlike the Cree people who have an estimated 223,745.
@@Scoobywilliams123 The Algonquin people have 17 thousand registered members. But more importantly the Algonquin are descended from a single tribe while the Cree are an ethnicity that encompassed many tribes spread out across half the continent. To proper comparison would probably be the Cree and the Anishinaabe.
Being from Prince Edward Island, we are used to being glossed over. LOL… there used to be maps of Canada in certain airports within Canada that didn’t even have PEI (the short version of the name, with all letters pronounced individually) on them! Even the coverage maps for some cell phone companies were missing PEI, and might still be!
Newfoundland is the name of the island, and is usually pronounced with “found” sounding more like “fin”, so “Newfinland”. I am from PEI, married to someone from Newfoundland, so I say I am an Islander married to a Newfie 😊
The “Columbia Territory” was all the areas drained by the Columbia River system. As others have mentioned, the rivers were the ancient highways for the fur traders hunting our national animal (the Beaver) so it is no surprise that territories were organized by the bodies of water they drained into. When the British took over its part of the Columbia Territory they called it British Columbia to differentiate it from the American part of the Columbia Territory, which eventually became the Oregon Territory then the state of Oregon.
I already knew about the Indigenous names and most of the British ones, but I wasn't aware of "Brunswick" being of German origin or that "Labrador" was named after a Portuguese explorer.
Dunno where that came from, but, me too! 🙃😱
Me neither.
I used to thing it was an English version of the French "Arm of Gold" - La Bras d'Or.
@@DrLeroyArch Yes, I have heard that before as well
A couple of decades ago the government of the Northwest Territories thought it might be a good idea to rename itself to something less generic. So they held a "name the territory" contest.
The winner, by a wide margin, was "Bob". You can't say Canadians don't have a sense of humour :)
The government withdrew the entire idea.
Before becoming Nova Scotia, previous to the American Revolution, Nova Scotia was a French colonial settlement called Acadie. Those Americans who wanted to keep the British King came North to what they renamed Nova Scotia and the French settlers of Acadia were forced South into the States where they became Cajuns. Canada itself means Village.
I like watching a lot of your videos' I actually get to learn more about my own country as many of the things you talk about is not common or taught in school. At least when I grew up, or maybe I just didn't pay attention.
The word is Algonquin, it was a tribe, along with the Metis (may-tee), and the Iroquois (eer-o-kwa), tribes which were native to the provincial area.
the Metis is not a tribe, it's a French word for "mixed race". They were shunned by both natives and Europeans so they pretty much ended up isolated from the rest of society.
You are absolutely correct the early French explorer and fur traders took native women as wives as women didn't come to Canada until they started to create settlements, My great grandfather was metis and belong to no tribe (community) did not have the same rights given to other indigious people's ,Canadians of metis decent are still to this day not really accepted by the the aboriginal people as belongings to their community the only way to be granted government's rights is to belongings to a metis community which most don't and proof of heritage which was impossible for my family as my Great grandfather's birth records were destroyed in the fire in the old Court house fire in Montreal in 1915 @@robertsmith4681
“Iroquois” is considered a slur by Haudenosaunee people. It is a French colonial term used for the Six Nations.
I formally apologize for using this unforgivable term. I was taught under a partly racist system. Please forgive my absence of proper thought.
@@Lau3464l Haudenosaunee here from one of the Six Nations Iroquois was first put on us by Algonquins they called us Real Snakes so it was a bad name to begine with something like ellie qiuss i think that how it was said with the french it came out Iroquois the British Named us the 5 Nations until the last Nation Joined us then we became Six Nations
Also depends which nation your are from Haudenosaunee means people of the long house or people living in long house or people who Build the long house I have heard different Variations but people of the Long House is what I was brought up with
The Americans do it too, btw: Mississippi, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio... All named after bodies of water.
Thank you Tyler, i'm Québécois and i learn a lot about Canada with yours videos ! 🤩
I'm Canadian my whole life and I didn't know half of this stuff lol. Good video, very educational and fun to watch.
I live in Nova Scotia Canada its a beautiful province
The first settlers from Scotland thought it looked like back home.
Nova Scotia as well as Newfoundland fit quite nicely both geographically and geologically into the British Isles when the giant continent of Pangaea broke apart millions of years ago. Many early Nova Scotians were Scots and many Newfies can trace their heritage to Ireland and their accent is similar. Queen Victoria's husband was also Albert (Alberta). Spanish and Portuguese fished for cod off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland for centuries. There is also a breed of dog, Nova Scotia Toller, a duck hunting breed.....and a good boy.
Maritime Canadians having Irish, Scottish and British origins comes faaaaaaaar later than Pangaea, friend.
Susie, I'm looking at a map of Pangaea and the maritime provinces are up against Portugal. The British Isles are on the other side of Greenland from Canada.
@@Lau3464l - Well duh, I know that, LOL. If you reread my comment, I said Pangaea broke up millions of years ago.
@@noadlor - On Cape Breton there are dioramas of the Maritime provinces at points along the Cape Breton Trail that illustrate the geology of of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia matches the geology of Scotland. The 40 km Apsy fault of Cape Breton shows it was not part of either the North American nor the Eurasian plate but part of a small mini continent that split mid Atlantic and that fault was once the west end of the Glen Fault that crosses Scotland and Ireland. The geology is like DNA, it's indisputable. The southern half of Nova Scotia geologists thought could have been part of North Africa (and so maybe Portugal). Of course, neither of us were there so we missed it. 😁
Here in Canada our indigenous population comprises of First Nations ("Indian"), Metis (mixed European and indigenous ancestry) and Inuit ("Eskimo"). There are over 600 recognized First Nations (Bands), making up more than 50 Nations with distinct languages.
One of my pet peeves is when news in the US will give a location as “Halifax, Canada”, “Toronto, Canada”, “Vancouver, Canada”, …. It gives the impression that these three cities are close together even though they are East Coast, middle, and West Coast of Canada. It would be like those in the US saying “Boston, United States”, “Kansas City, United States”, “Salt Lake City, United States“,…..
At least this video has actual information for once. No moose or maple syrup. Good job Tyler. 👍
I wonder how much he will remember though...
Just move on
@@personincognito3989 "I liked that... I gotta give that a like." 🤫
Massachusetts is an Algonquin name too. In fact, 28 of the US states have names derived from various native American languages.
My first involved always wanting to understand how the provinces, territories got their names as was never taught this in all my Canadian schools from grades 1 through 13...SO A VERY BIG THANK YOU ❤❤❤
The namesake of Prince Edward Island wasn't just any Prince Edward, but Queen Victoria's own father, the 4th son of George III. Not sure why Name Explain omitted that.
I recently watched a video on the origins of the names of the US states and the naming conventions are fairly similar. Many of the states are named after local features in the indigenous language and many on the original states are named after British royalty or places in Britain.
11:34 I live in Nova scotia, yes the province was predominantly settled by Scottish and British people in the 1800s, however originally, it was settled by a French and British settlers in the 1600 and 1700's, another fun fact when Britain finally took over Nova scotia, the French settlers ( theAcadian French) immigrated South and became the Creole French in New Orleans, I live in Annapolis Royal which is the oldest town in Canada, there's a British Fort here
The Acadians were deported by the British.
The Acadians did not immigrate but were exiled to locations around the Atlantic. A famous poem Evangeline by Wordsworth is about a separated couple. Over 10,000 were forcefully relocated.
Learned so much on this vid.
"Yukon" woulda popped more 2 generations ago. There was a gold rush, Jack London wrote books, there was a bugs bunny episode (villain: "Black Jacques Shellac")
My dream would be for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Gaspe Peninsula (Quebec), and Newfoundland (not Labrador) to unite as one province called Dawnland. The indigenous Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, Peskotomuhkati along with the Pαnawahpskewi and Abenaki of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont formed the Wabanaki Confederacy. Wabanaki means "People of the Dawn", and the land was called Wabanakik meaning "Land of the Dawn" or "Dawnland".
Instead of a province, I would prefer country.
The rivers and lakes were named wayyyy before the Canada exist in its current form. It was easy then to name the new provinces using the most prominent body of water
Fun fact. I live in Nova Scotia, I am of Scottish decent, and work on the Canadian Coast Guard Vessel CCGS Sir William Alexander.
Hi, I'm an average typical Canadian and love watching your videos stuff I knew and stuff I had no clue of my own province I was born in didn't know the origins of the name nice. Keep up the good work and continue learning together.
I guess it's more obvious in the french name that Nova Scotia means new Scotland.... it's exactly what the name says in french (Nouvelle Écosse... New Scotland)
I learned this in english school
I find it strange that a Latin name (Nova Scotia) needed to have a French version (Nouvelle Écosse).
FYI Newfoundland is the island, Labrador is the continental part. Newfoundland wasn't part of Canada for a long time, they were a separate British colony. They gained Labrador at some point, and then they joined Canada. The province was still known as Newfoundland until it was renamed Newfoundland-and-Labrador.
Think about it this way : We explored these areas first, before we settled them and created provinces. We therefore named geographic features like lakes and rivers way before provinces and territories which took those names were created.
There are a lot of indigenous languages both in Canada and in the US, grouped in different families. In the Eastern half of Canada, the big three families are the Iroquoian family, the Algic family, and the Eskaleut family. Algonquin and Cree, mentioned in the video, are languages of the Algic family. That family covered A LOT of territory pre-contact with Europeans, and they still do in more northern parts of the country. I invite you to look this family up on Wikipedia just to see the map. The Iroquoian languages were spoken around the Great Lakes and the Saint-Lawrence river, with some pockets further South. "Ontario" comes from one of these languages, although it is unclear which. Almost all Iroquoian languages are currently either extinct or severely endangered. The Eskaleut languages are spoken around the Arctic region, the most famous branch of that family being the Inuit languages, which Inuktitut, the language "Nunavut" comes from, as explained in the video, is a part of. I think it might be the only province or territory named by the indigenous people themselves, rather than through Europeans/people with European roots.
There is more linguistic diversity in the West, because that's where indigenous people come from. We believe they came from the Bering Strait, during the last ice age, which lowered sea levels to the point the Bering Strait had no water. They probably then settled along the West Coast, which is where we see the most diversity (lots of families covering smaller areas, lots of isolates, etc.). Only some peoples then moved across the Rockies, creating families that cover very large areas, like the Algic family.
The Eskaleut family is distinct from the other families in North America. It's pretty clear they crossed the Bering Strait most recently. The Thule, ancestors of the Inuit, settled most of the territory they currently inhabit at the beginning of the 2nd millennium, meaning this was contemporary to the Norse exploring North America. They in fact settled Greenland after the Norse did.
Lastly, French stuff : Québec looks French because the Algonquin word was written down by French people, and they used French spelling conventions. In the modern days, we would probably write it as "Kebek", but the letter "k" is quite rare in French, as we usually prefer to use either "c" (in most contexts) or "qu" (in front of "i" or "e") for that sound. This is because French is a Romance language, which means it comes from Latin, and by the time of Late Latin, "k" had become marginal in the language, used mainly for Greek loanwords. You'll find that "k" is also rare in other Romance languages, like Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, for that reason.
But don't worry, if you want actual French names, there are plenty of them. "Montréal" comes from "Mont Réal", the Classical form of "Mont Royal" (Mount Royal), a mountain (or big hill) that is found on the Island of Montreal. Another important city is Trois-Rivières, literally "Three rivers", as it sits where the Saint-Maurice river splits into three as it flows into the Saint-Lawrence river. Speaking of rivers, we also have the Richelieu river, named after a French cardinal from the 17th century. So while the name of the province and its capital might be from indigenous origins, there is a lot of French to be found, still.
Interestingly, in French, Nova Scotia is just called "New Scotland" (Nouvelle-Écosse). My hypothesis is that the English wanted to sound fancy and used Latin for that reason, while the French were like "We already speak a Latin-derived language". Not to mention, French was also a prestigious language back in the day. That's probably why we didn't feel the need to use Latin.
This was a bit of a long comment, but I hope this was informative. I'm a linguistics nerd, so this video was kind of made for me.
Ya know he's been doing this for two years right? If he hasn't bothered to learn by now do you really think he's going to now.
@@damonx6109 Let me nerd out in peace.
Thank you for your video as I learned why the provinces are named the way they are. An interesting idea for you to look at is when each province became apart of Canada. Not sure if you have done this but I think it would be interesting to you if you haven’t.
Al-gon(e)-quin is a Native group/culture.
As for Quebec "sounding French... I wonder if it sounds French because it has been home to French Canadians for Centuries... or was adopted from the native tongue because it sounded French... or some of both, or neither. May be a chicken or the egg type question.
Water was the highway before roads were invented... and for centuries after. Oceans, lakes, and rivers are... in some ways easier to travel across than forests, rocks, deserts, and so on. They are also a source of water, which we'd die without so not surprising people used them as "reference points" that evolved into provinces. Right?
Um... every time I think about the province names I "notice" British is part of one of them.
As a Canadian, I was not too sure for most provinces. Keep in mind that Manitoba was born out of revolution. The result was Manitoba was declared a province.
The Red River Resistance was not a revolution. It a group of locals just wanting to control their destiny and got crushed by power hungry filibusters who got very rich after appropriating large tract of land from the said locals.
No it wasn't. The "revolutionaries" were the people trying to prevent Scottish settlers from settling in the Red River Valley.
Stop trying to make Canada seem like the US.
Tyler, is your last name pronounced "Bouquet"? 😂😂
Unless Tyler's a fan of 90's British sitcoms, I doubt he'd get your reference to Keeping up Appearances. But I am and I appreciate the joke.🤣
I live in BC learned alot from watching this video about the name origins of other provinces and territories thanks !
I love watching your videos. I've learned a few things myself which I should have known, but we can't know everything.
Everyone else in the world: Understands that the British, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese came to the Americas to colonize them. Is covered extensively in history classes.
Americans: Wow! How exotic! I never would have expected that.
The Portuguese empire at one time was the largest and most prolific empire too!
Central America is a place that's not in the USA FYI.
If we’re going to be pedantic, the federal republic of Central America does not exist anymore. After the Spanish American wars of independence from both the Spanish empire and Mexican empire, Central America dissolved into six nations: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Los altos and Nicaragua. Los Altos has since been split between Guatemala and Mexico (though retains a distinct identity). The states have not successfully unified into a federation since. Use of the term “Central America” is leftover from this period in the 1800s. The former Central American nations are official members of the North American continent.
@@Lau3464l Never said it was a country nor a continent. It's a region of countries because America =/= the USA.
All the stoners in the USA know B.C.
Algonquin National Park is a very well known spot but it’s in Ontario. Most Canadians know about their local native tribes and what is their traditional territory they reside in.
Canada is only 157 years old and our latest province joined in 1949 which was Newfoundland and Labrador. We chose our names to pay homage to the native Americans.
Nunavut separated from north west territory in 1999 to become its own province
Now I understand why my Scottish side all came from Nova Scotia, I am just learning all of the names origins. We also had a new Berlin that we renamed during WW1 to Kitchener. We also have a Paris, London, Cambridge, new hamburger, Dublin, Stratford, Brussels, Vienna and that’s just in Ontario
I lived in Canada my whole life and didn’t realize British Columbia had British in it lmao just never put two and two together
I didn't know (or didn't remember) any of these name origins aside from Quebec's, because that's where I'm from and this I remembered from 5th grade history. Very glad I got to learn with you today!
Do you have Prince Edward in a can? 🤔