What are the names of Asia, Africa and Europe named after? Why not name it after the country?

According to legend, the name Asia was given by the ancient Phoenicians. Frequent sea activities required the Phoenicians to determine their position. So they call the area east of the Aegean Sea "Asu", which means "the land of sunrise"; The place west of the Aegean Sea is generally called "Ereb", which means "there is no land under the sun".

The word Asia evolved from Phoenician Asu, and the area it refers to is not very clear and the scope is limited. By the first century BC, Asia had become the name of an administrative province of the Roman Empire, and then it gradually expanded to include the whole Asian region and became the largest continent in the world.

2. Europe

There are some legends about the origin of the name Europe. In Greek mythology, Demeter was a goddess who specialized in farming. She blessed the world with abundant crops and prosperous people and animals. In the portrait of this goddess, people always draw her sitting on the back of a bull.

In ancient times, bulls were indispensable livestock for human beings. As the goddess is responsible for farming, she naturally sits on the back of the cow. Another name of the goddess is Europa. People call Europa the name of the mainland out of respect for the goddess.

3. Africa

There are many interesting legends about the origin of the word Africa. According to a legend, in ancient times, there was also a chief named Afriks who invaded North Africa in 2000 BC and established a city called Afrikia there. Later, people called this large area Africa.

Another legend is that "Africa" is the name of a goddess worshipped by Berbers living in North Africa. This goddess is a patron saint. It is said that as early as BC 1 century, Berbers found the statue of this goddess in a temple. She is a young woman in an elephant skin. Since then, people have taken the name of the goddess "Africa" as the name of the African continent.

Extended data:

1, American name source

The name America is generally used to commemorate a famous Italian navigator named Amerigo Weiss Pucci, an Italian businessman and cartographer who explored the east coast of South America and the Caribbean. He was the first to realize that "India" discovered by Columbus was the New World and drew a map of the New World.

His name is written in Latin: americus vespucius. Because the names used in other continents are all negative Latin. Therefore, Americus has become a feminine Latin word: America.

2. The origin of the name of Oceania

The English name of Oceania is Oceania, which means "land surrounded by the ocean", in which "ocean" means "sea" and the suffix -ia means land. The name appeared in 18 12, which was coined by Danish geographer Marte Brun.

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