Thanksgiving & A Bit of History Trivia

  

Most people around here -- kids and adults -- know that the city of Washington was named for our first president, George Washington.

Fewer know that Virginia was named for the "virgin queen", Elizabeth I of England; that Maryland was named for Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I of England; and that the District of Columbia was named, indirectly, for Christopher Columbus.

And fewer still could tell you that at least 25 of the 50 states trace their names to Native American words, ideas or places.

That's something to think about this Thanksgiving weekend while we, as a nation, commemorate the Pilgrims' settlement of New England.

It's important to remember that European settlers displaced native peoples in the 1700s and 1800s, and that Indians, whose ancestors had lived on the North American continent for centuries, were stripped of their land and largely confined to reservations from coast to coast.

( Yet, Native American heritage lives on. )