h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Stone Aart

I wanted to reply to a few of your points, but there is no need to continue in Peer Review as this will not effect the entry.

> I have looked it up myself & it's interesting to learn how much information has been lost regarding native languages & cultures of the original peoples of the Americas

I am considering an Entry on the 'Indian Schools' and their effect on the culture and heritage, I have studied a bit about this, but will need to do a lot more research to get it up to Guide standards

>... even horses was an invasive species brought in by the Spanish and adopted later by some of the native people.

As an interesting aside, the fossil record of the south western USA contains the remains of small horse skeletons (about the size of a modern dog). It seems the US horse died out while its descendants made their way to Asia and Europe. They were unknownly brought back to their place of origin by the Europeans. All this is fairly recent discovery. (last hundred years or so)

>Anyway the most logical explanation seems to be the original "word" meant something like "thunderer of water" - a basic description of the waterfall - probably something that was heard before it was seen.

Another, even more logical, definition is the 'point of separation'.
This could refer to either the separation of the upper and lower rivers by the falls, or the separation of the east and west bank due to the current of the river.

The 'Thunder of Water' sounds a lot like what somebody looking to profit from tourists might concoct.

>Only later was the word applied to the river and then to the town nearby.

Actually the name 'Niagara' is applied to the entire region. I remember growing up as a boy in Buffalo, and later Tonawanda, the local bus line was the 'Niagara Frontier Transit Authority.' the buses all had the letters 'NFTA' painted along both side of the body. We kids used to say it meant 'No Flat Tyres Allowed'.

F S

I look forward to your future guide entries.

Here in the UK the oldest surviving words of ancient dialects & languages appear to be in the form of names for geographical features and towns - I suppose this must be true for all places around the world. Maybe an analysis of names of rivers and towns etc in North America might reveal the type of thinking that went into naming places by old / former languages. I suppose a history of the native Americans must be very complex - you have a whole continent to analyse - and the number of separate languages and cultures, together with natural "evolution", change, wars and internal strife, must have been quite extensive. It would be interesting to learn how the horse impacted on native American society & culture. If the north Americans hadn't invented and used a writing script then maybe what can be learned must be very limited.

I have personally only studied the history of the Native Americans of Florida, as it is quite a large subject by itself. The earliest records date from about 8,000 BC and involve Paleo Indians hunting Sabre-Tooth cats and Mastodons. by 1,000 BC the local cultures had established a strong ceramic manufacturing industry, and artefacts recovered from hundreds of miles away indicate that a large trade network was in place.

But more to your point we do have many place names that are directly related to native names;

There is a lake and town north-west of Tampa Called Thontosassa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thonotosassa,_Florida As the link states this is probably a translated as the place of flint (the 'to' in the centre is usually silent.)

On the other hand the city of Tampa, and the bay itself are not so well defined. One of the most popular explanations is that comes from the Calusa phrase meaning 'the place of burning sticks', which would indicate the place where charcoal is made. Unfortunately the Calusa all lived well south of Tampa Bay, which was occupied by the Tocobaga tribe. The actual origin of the name is still contested by local historians.

On the other side of the bay the story of the naming of Saint Petersburg is much clearer. Two men are credited with establishing the the city. John Williams established a hotel and other residential areas in the city centre, Peter Demons extended his rail road into the area to provide access to the public.


The two men held a contest between themselves to decide if the the city would be named after Williams home town of Detroit Michigan or Demon's home city of St. Petersburg, Russia - Demon's won the naming rites

Other places have Spanish names such as 'Boca Grande' and 'Tierra Verde' while others are named for early settlers, or important political figures. Jacksonville is named for Andrew Jackson who was the first territorial Governor.


Just a few thought I thought you might find interesting

F S

Yes Florida is enough to be starting with - I read something somewhere about native Floridians having built pyramids and other structures (and maybe some form of "civilisation" or "empire" ... rather than merely tribal) and many of the peoples vanishing before the European colonizers arriving in earnest - I'm a bit hazy on it - maybe it was one of your articles or a comment I read on h2g2 - I can't remember. Another person on H2G2 - anhaga I think - was another that seemed to be brushed up on native American history - at least with a focus on the Canadian natives ... he also seemed to be an expert on language systems and their "evolution".

Seems like place names are pretty convoluted in the US - originating from a whole range of eras ... that type of data ends up being very specific and circumstantial making it difficult to develop overarching generalisations (so a good head for retaining facts is needed).

I have mentioned the Early Florida Natives in a few of my Entries;

Overview of Tampa Bay A2181359

and my recommended Entry 'Founding of St Augustine' A87812283 This also contains a link for a book that was published in the 17th century http://archive.org/details/narrativelemoyn00brygoog


The Floridians did not build pyramids per se' - they built mounds, some containing millions of oyster shells. The mounds were of three basic types;
Ceremonial mounds that supported a temple or Chief's home.

Burial Mounds that contain graves in both a circular arrangement and later vertical shafts dug down from the top.

Kitchen Middens that contain the cooking scraps from centuries of meals.

They are not as well defined as the pyramids of Mexico and Peru. Many have been destroyed by development, but many others can still be visited, many of them protected by parks.

There are also signs that the Natives moved from place to place following the seasons and availability of food sources. Birds and fish are both migratory and only abundant in certain seasons, the crops also ripen at certain times in each area.

F S