Origins of the Names of OpWall Sites

We often don’t put much thought into why places are named as they are, but names can actually give great insight into the history of a place! A famous example is the Tierra del Fuego, a province of Argentina which covers the very Southerly tip of South America. It translates in English as “Land of Fire”, and was named this by one of the early European explorers Ferdinand Magellan. When sailing past the archipelago in 1520 he spotted fires along the coastline. The native communities had many rituals which involved keeping fires constantly lit, and these inspired the name Tierra del Fuego!

This is just one piece of history and culture that you can see through the naming of a place. Opwall works in remote locations all over the world, often alongside native communities, and you can learn a lot from the names of these places!

 

Mexico

Mexico has a rich history of ancient cultures, and many of the place names have origins in Maya, which was spoken by the ancient Maya. Opwall have a terrestrial site within the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and a marine site at Akumal, both of which are found in the Yucatan Peninsula. According to legend a Spanish conquistador arrived and asked some Maya-speaking locals what the name of the region was. They supposedly responded “hear how they talk” (“uh yu ka t’ann”), which sounded to the Spanish like “Yucatan”.

Calakmul Biosphere Reserve is named after the ancient Mayan ruins found within the middle of the jungle. “Calakmul” is the modern name of the site, named by Cyrus Lundell, a biologist who flew over the forest and rediscovered the ancient city in 1931. In the Maya language, “ca” means “two”, “lak” means “adjacent/next to” and “mul” was a word used to mean any mounds or pyramids that were man-made. Therefore the name Calakmul translates as the “City of the two adjacent pyramids”.

The marine site is located at the coastal town of Akumal. This name also originates from ancient Maya, and means “Place of Turtles”. This name is apt, as hundreds of turtles have historically arrived every year to lay eggs on the beach and to feed on the sea grasses.

 

 

Honduras

Cusuco National Park is our incredible terrestrial site in Honduras, and we have marine sites at Utila and Tela along the coast. The name “Honduras” actually originated from Christopher Columbus, who upon reaching the cape that today marks the border between Honduras and Nicaragua, supposedly exclaimed “gracias a Dios hemos salido de estas honduras”. This translates as “thank God we are out of these depths!”, as “honduras” means “depths” in English.

The Cusuco National Park is named after the armadillos that are found in abundance in the park, as “cusuco” in Spanish actually translates as “armadillo”!

Tela is a town on the coast of Honduras that was founded by Cristobal de Olid in 1524 on 3^rd May. In one story of the origin of the name Tela, Olid named it “Triunfo de la Cruz”, or “triumph of the cross”, as 3^rd May is a catholic holiday called the Day of the Cross. Locals then shortened this to “T de la Cruz”, and eventually Tela. The other idea is that it was named in the Nawat language, which was once widely spoken across Central American. In Nawat, “Tela” translates as “land of hills and craggy mountains”.

 

Indonesia

In Indonesia, we have a marine site on Hoga Island, and a terrestrial site on Buton Island. These are both located in the Wallace region, named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who Operation Wallacea is also named after! The Wallace line runs through Indonesia between Borneo and Sulawesi, and Wallace identified differences between species on either side of the line. This is because on one side the species evolved on the Asian plate, while on the other they largely evolved in the Australasian plate. The plates moved closer together and the islands of Indonesia formed, with species that had evolved in different areas colonizing islands on separate sides of the Wallace line. Wallace is now widely recognized as having hypothesized the theory of evolution completely independently of Darwin!

Our marine site is on Hoga Island within the Wakatobi National Park. The park’s name is a portmanteau of the four main islands within it – Wangi-wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia and Binongko, and it is one of the largest marine parks in Indonesia. It is also Operation Wallacea’s flagship site!

 

 

Croatia

“Croatia” is known as “Hrvatska” to Croats, and has a famously diverse landscape. There is a long coastline, thousands of islands, mountains, waterfalls and huge forests!

Krka National Park is the site of our terrestrial site in Croatia. The national park follows the Krka River, which was originally known as “Corca”. Krka is now the name of multiple rivers in Slavic regions of Europe. The origin is supposedly “kerk”, meaning “which turns”.

Silba Island is off the coast of Croatia, and is the location of one of our dive sites. The origin of “Silba” is from the Latin word “silva” meaning “forest”, as in Roman times it was one of the most forested islands in the region!

Our other marine site is located on Pag Island, which has the longest coastline of any Croatian island. The name “pag” comes from the Latin “pagus” meaning “village”, and was named this by Romanis in 1^st Century BC.

 

 

South Africa

The marine site is located at Sodwana Bay. The name “Sodwana” comes from the Zulu words “siso dwana”, meaning “us alone”. Legend says that Zulu women were harvesting mussels in the bay when a group from the British Royal navy came ashore and asked who they were. Not understanding, the women replied “siso dwana”, and since then this area has been known as Sodwana Bay.

Gondwana Game Reserve is one of two terrestrial sites Opwall conduct research at in South Africa (the other being Somkhanda). Gondwana is derived from “Gondwanaland”, which is the name given to the more southerly of the two supercontinents that made up Pangaea. This name is from the name of an Indian tribe called “Gonds”, and “wana”, meaning “land of”.

 

 

Madagascar

The name “Madagascar” has uncertain origin, but it is thought to potentially be from when Marco Polo (a Venetian merchant who never visited Madagascar), confused it with the kingdom of Mogadishu in Somalia, and named it based on a mispronunciation. We have multiple satellite camps in the Mahamavo forests in the Northwest of Madagascar, the main one being Mariarano. Our marine site is on Nosy Be island.

Nosy Be is located off the north west coast, and the name in Malagasy means “big island”. Previously it was known as “Nosy Manitra”, meaning “the scented island”, due to the smells of coffee, cocao, vanilla, pepper and sugarcane!

 

Title photo by Roger Poland