| @astrobradley: I think the Michigan River was very likely (almost certainly I would say) named after the state of Michigan. In general, the country was settled from the east to the west. In particular I think it's safe to say that Michigan existed as a known name from the inclusion of the Michigan Territory as an organized incorporated territory of the US (June 30, 1805). Bear in mind that the Lewis and Clark Expedition only began in 1804, and while it did not go to Colorado, there were relatively few explorers in the west before that time. Also, the name Michigan is a French alteration of the Ojibwe word mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake". The range of the Ojibwe nation did not extend to Colorado. The earliest explorers in Colorado were Spanish and it's hard to imagine why they would have named a river after a French alteration of a name which means "large lake" used by an Indian tribe not known to have lived in the area. In fact, this is one of the few cases where it can be said for sure that it is infinitely more likely that the river was named after the state, rather than the state being named after the river. As BombaySapphire points out it's likely that many of the rivers in this quiz were not named after the state, but rather that state was named after the river. |
US States
Countries of Europe
Countries of Asia
