Over half of the fifty states in the USA have names from Native American languages - words from those who were living here as the people from Europe and other continents arrived. There is not clear agreement on the sources of every state name (consulting info from websites and a World Almanac), but there is a general consensus on many of them. The state where I reside - Texas - has a name that was used by several tribes to mean 'friend'.  Michigan is how local tribes used to refer to Lake Michigan - and it meant 'great water'. Nebraska means 'flat river', and Missouri 'the big canoe people'. Kansas is a word from the Sioux meaning 'People of the South Wind'. Ohio was given the Seneca word for the Ohio River - meaning 'it is beautiful'. Most of the states' names refer to the water, the land, the wind, and neighbors. It's interesting that none are named after individuals, unlike many of the states with names not related to American native peoples.

The lands and waters and ways of life, the weather and the kinds of living species in our country at this time, reflect a dramatically different world from that which existed for many thousands of years before 1492. What an experience it would be to visit North America circa 1300 or so!