The Origin of Countries Names – A

A country’s name can elicit incredible pride and patriotism in its inhabitants. The origins of those names can be varied and interesting. In this series we will explore the meaning behind the name of every country in the world. From Afghanistan. To Zimbabwe.

 

Afghanistan

 

We start our journey in Afghanistan which is one of the stans in Central Asia. The suffix stan can be traced back to Persian and means place of. Whereas the Afghan portion of the name relates back to ethnic pashtuns. Therefore together the Afghanistan means place or land of the pashtuns.

 

Albania

 

The name Albania likely refers back to the latinised name for the Albani who were an Illyrian tribe conquered by the Romans at the turn of the first millenia. Over time this developed while maintaining the same starting word structure. Historians noted cities like Albanopolis and Albanon around the 10th century AD. Modern day Albanians have refered to themselves as Shqipëri or Shqipëria since at least as early as the 17th century. This translates as Land of the Eagles and Children of the Eagles. Eagles are synomymous with Albania and relate back to an old folk talk in which a youth rescues a baby eagle from a snake. The eagle features heavily in Albanian culture and most obviously in their flag.

 

Algeria

Over to Africa now for the North African nation of Algeria. The name Algeria is taken from the nations capital of Algiers which has played several important roles in history as a phoenecian port, a carthaginian city before being claimed by the Roman empire, an Ottoman nation during the Islamic expansion through Africa and finally as a major hub for the French empire in Africa.

The base form of Alger is a French interpretation of the Arabic name Al Jazair which translates to The Islands. The islands refers to four islands that used to exist prior to 1525 before their became part of the mainland. The name Al Jazair is a shortened version of Algeria’s medieval name which was  Jaza’ir Bani Mazghana or in English, The islands of the sons of Mazhana. The Mazhana was another name for the Sanhaja people, who would have lived in the area during the medieval age.

 

Andorra

 

The Name Andorra is of unknown origin, although there a few theories. The small european nation played a role in the punic wars standing against the Carthaginians. The greeks called the people who lived in the area, the Andosins. Another theory suggests that during the period of muslim iberia, it was named al-durra, arabic for the forrest. Other theories suggest it comes from the Navvaro word of andurrial, which means land covered with bushes.

 

A widely rejected folk story claims that King Charlemagn named the region Andorra in reference to the Cannanite valley of Endor discussed in the bible.

 

Angola

 

Angola was named by the portuguese during their occupation of the African region during the 16th century. The name is derived from the name of the king of Ndongo, which was the name of the region before colonosation. The kings were refered to as ngola’s of Ndongo.

 

Antigua and Barbuda

 

The word Antigua is Spanish for ancient. It was named by Christopher colombus as Santa Maria la Antigua, after a church in Seville, Spain. The island of Antigua is named Wadadli by those that live there and is a word from the indigenous Arawak peoples vocabulary. The word Barbuda is Spanish for bearded.

 

Argentina

 

Argentina is a South American nation and therefore it’d be safe to assume that Argentina comes from the Spanish language or the Portuguese language. However that’s not the case as the word actually comes from Italian. The word Argentina in Italian means made of silver. This is likely a reference to the Venetian and Genoese myth of there being mountains of silver.

 

Armenia

 

Armenia is known natively as Hayastan and will be one of the first of several stan nations that you’ll see on this list. The prefix stan is a Persian which means place of. The name Haya can be traced back to the 5th century in several great works of literature from the middle east. The name Haya comes from the name Hayk, who is viewed as the patriarch of the Aremnian people and also the great -great grandson of Noah from the story of the flood. Thus the term Hayastan means the place of hayks people. Now what about the exoynm Armenia? Quite similarly the name can be traced back to another of Noahs decescendants. Aram is a member of Noah and Hayks ancestral line. The ancient greeks refered to the nation as Armenia, the nation of the Aramites.

 

Australia

 

The ancient greeks referred to a hypothetical continent in the southern hemisphere known as Terra Australis or ‘The Southern Land’. When explorers landed on the continent in the 17th century, it was naturally refered to as Terra Australis. The name New Holand was used in the following century until in 1824 the name was changed to Australia due to it being more agreeable to the ear based on the suggestions of explorer Matthew Flinders.

 

Austria

 

The Name Austria is a latinised translation that comes from the German language name for the country Ostereich, which means the Eastern Realm or the Eastern Mark. The country was named as such because it was the Frankish kingdoms Eastern defences against the Avar invasion from the east. Charlemagne also supposedly refered to the nation as Avar Mark.

 

Azerbaijan

 

Azerbaijan like most other nations in the middle east has a name that dates back to ancient times. Azerbaijan can be traced back to a persian governor of the archeminidian empire who controlled the region under Alexander the greats rule. The governor Atropates took his name from the greak phrase atropatan which means ‘protected by the holy fire’ or ‘The Land of the holy fire’

 

Thanks very much for watching! This series has been posted simultaneously on my main channel Tidus_Mino and my secondary channel Mino Productions. From June all non gaming videos will only be posted on Mino Productions, so if this is your thing, please do go and subscribe over there! The next episode will be posted next Sunday as we look at all the B’s! Until next time, bye!

The History of the Harry Potter Video Game Franchise!

The Harry Potter franchise is easily one of the defining pieces of media to come out of the last 2 decades. Bringing in an estimated $25,000,000,000 since the release of the first book in 1997 via a multiitude of avenues including films, books, video games and even theme parks! It’s safe to say that nobody will be forgetting the boy who lived in a hurry. However when it comes to video games the series has never really made much of a mark. There have been 16 official game releases bearing the Harry Potter name (at least 16 that i’m going to count as official) and none of them really have been AAA releases or even releases of notable quality. So let’s take a look back at the history of Harry Potter Video games.

4 Years after the release of the Phillophers stone or Sorcerers stone for my American viewers, the first Harry Potter game hit shelves. 1 word can easily be used to sum up this title, and that’s average. The game was clearly rushed to release on the same day as the films release, and it was not ready. The game while serviceable, lacked much of the polish, the magic and the thrill that it’s movie counterpart had had. Similarly a year later the Chamber of Secrets released alongside the film and similarly the year development cycle was not enough as a servicable middle of the road game was released.

 

The year after saw something new from Harry Potter. Something different and exciting. A good game at last! Harry Potter Quidditch world cup is a game that I remember fondly and actually did buy again recently and can confirm, for a 16 year old game… it holds up! The first spin off title didn’t really actually feature Harry Potter all that much and I feel that in a way that was a strength. It didn’t tie itself to the expected tropes of the films and could exist independently as a game that focused on mechanics.

 

We then came back for 5 years of mediocrity. As The Prisoner of Azkiban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix and the half blood prince all released alongside their movie counterparts and non of which scored above a 50% or a 5/10 on major reviewers. I think i’ve covered why these games weren’t good. They were rushed, relatively low effort imitations of the films and offered very little to build upon the magic of the books or films.

 

In 2010 fans were thrown a bone as another good game was released. Sandwhiching the final film inspired game, was Harry Potter Lego. A tried and tested series from other IPs that translated brilliantly to the world of Harry Potter for children and adults alike. The games were playful and fun, they captured the childlike wonder and playfullness of the first books and while they failed to build into the more adult action series that later books and films did, this didn’t stop them being brilliant.

 

Two Deathly hallows games released around this time. Neither was very good. This left a hole to be filled however, as the books were long finished and now the films had also come to their conclusion. The natural progression was for the fandom of Harry Potter to live on in video games (as well as spin off films and stage shows) However this was not to be as instead in the 5 years following the end of the film series, 3 relatively poor motion controller games released in Harry Potter for Kinnect, Book o Spells and Book of Potions. While they were a neat idea, they weren’t really anything to write home about. And that was it for non mobile titles. We’ve yet to see another.

 

2016’s Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World was something a bit different being a mobile title that sat outside the Harry Potter story ark. The game saw the player portray a ministry member inspecting magical creatures for the Ministry of Magic. The game was okay, as far as mobile games go at least. It offered something a bit different but there was little substance to be had and players soon got tired.

 

2 years later and yet another mobile game graced our screens. However this time the community was 7 years out for a good piece of Harry Potter Media and were starving for something to sink their teeth into. Hype was abundant for Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery. People were sorely disappointed. The game was nothing more than a waiting simulator designed to rip money from your wallet with malicious microtransactions. One example was a scene early in the game in which the player is choked by a devils snare which depletes all of their in game energy. They are then forced to either wait 30 minutes for the energy to rebuild to continue or pay real money to carry on right away. The game itself wasn’t terrible, there was a plot there to be followed, it featured many characters we are familiar with and allowed for the players actions to change the world around them… however most of this was essentially behind paywall unless you were willing to play the game at a snail’s pace, waiting for energy to build up, which many were not. Overall the game did not go down well. It was not what the fans wanted and it really felt like a final nail in the coffin for Harry Potter Video Games. It was to date the most recent official game release.

 

So where do we stand now? Well, i’ll talk to you about 3 games. One that’s coming soon, one that is likely coming in the near future and one the fans have wanted for a long time and I hope that we get one day.

 

First up is Niantic of Pokemon Go fames new title, Harry Potter Wizard Unite. Drawing heavily from Pokemon GO, it’s another Augmented reality game that incorporates real world locations and movement into the gameplay. While there’s no real story available, the game does allow some choice and customization as players select their hogwarts house and adult profession before they set off around the world taking down criminals and capturing mythical creatures that have escaped. While the game isn’t exactly what many die-hard fans are looking for in terms of imersion and world building… it does serve a purpose. It’s a very casual game that will allow players to connect with the world on their morning commute or while walking the dog. The game will release sometime in 2019 and i’d be lieing if I said I wasn’t a bit excited.

 

In 2018 a leaked trailer released for a harry potter game that brought the internet to a frenzy. The game thought to be titled Harry Potter Magic Awakened is everything Harry Potter video game fans have wanted since 2001. An incredibly detailed, free to explore hogwarts, hogsmeade and diagon alley all make appearances in the trailer. So do large mythical creatues, a full character creation screen, magic classes, magical combat and so much more. Magic Awakened is the game we want, it’s the game we deserve after sitting through so many poor movie tie ins. The game is rumoured to be set in the victorian age, so will sit completely outside the lore of the Harry Potter films as well as the Fantastic Beast spin offs. Which will allow the game its own identity. Supposedly it will allow for the player to create a character that attends the school, chose their house and explore using their own free will. I’m hoping for something similar to a magical Bully. In Fablesque gameplay, you can make good or evil choices that will lead you down a path of light or dark and affect story and gameplay as a result. The two studios rumoured to be developing the title are either British developer Rocksteady of Batman Arkham series fame or Avalanche Software, an American studio owned by Warner Bro’s and used to make Disney tie ins in the past. However the game is yet to be officially announced… and I just hope that this isn’t a cancelled project that never sees the light of day.

 

Finally i’ll briefly talk about a game that me and my friends talked about on the school yard back in the early 2000’s and I still have never given up hope for. That’s a Harry Potter themed MMORPG. The world lends itself so well to the genre. A game in which players join hogwarts houses or potentially Durmstrang, Ilvermony or any of the other magical schools. They spend a few hours playing through hogwarts, competing in inter-house events and learning the game before they graduate and go out into the world to complete quests, working for the ministry or some other magical agency. While at this point I have pretty much given up on this ever being a thing, as we currently sit 8 years since the release of the final film, but I can always hope.

 

So what do you think? Do you have fond memories of any of the games i’ve talked about? What are your hopes for Harry Potter in terms of video games? Please Subscribe and comment down below, i’d love to know!  If you’d like to support me on Patreon then please visit Bit.ly/TMYTPatreon – My first 3 supporters will unlock a special perk by being able to select a theme for an upcoming Cities, Prison Architecht or Planet Coaster or perhaps a history video for a game or series that you want to see. Thanks for watching and i’ll be back soon with another video!

Aha! 10 Fascinating Facts – Ancient History

Semi-sticking to the Game of Thrones feeling, instead of looking at fake history, in this episode of aha we are taking a look at 10 fascinating facts from ancient history!

 

1 – TIL in ancient Egypt, under the decree of Ptolemy II, all ships visiting the city were obliged to surrender their books to the library of Alexandria and be copied. The original would be kept in the library and the copy given back to the owner.

 

2 – We like to think as revolts and human rights as relatively new inventions, but that’s not the case. Back in the Roman period, the low ranking commoners also known as Plebs would stage a large scale walk-out known as Secessio Plebis, or the withdrawal of the commoners. The upper clases would be left to fend for themselves and in the 5 recorded instances of this happening, the plebs always got their way.

 

3 – There are so many hilarious tales regarding Greek Philospher Diogenes as he was known to be of sharp wit and even sharper tongue. One Instance when Diogenes noticed a prostitute’s son throwing rocks at a crowd, he said, “Careful, son. Don’t hit your father.”

 

4 – The Ancient egyptian calendar featured 12 30 month days followed by 5 days of celebration to bring that number upto 365 days in a year. I vote that we return to this calendar.

 

5 – in 1963, a man who was renevating his home, tore down a wall and discovered an enormous and complex underground tunnel system beneath it. He had inadvetedly rediscovered the ancient underground city of Derinkuyu in Turkey, a city from the 8th or 7th century BCE

 

6 – In the ancient world it was common to keep a cat on a ship to help deal with the mice and rats that would try to feast on the sailors food stores. This helped the cat spread around the world, especially during the age of exploration.

 

7 – In the month proceeding the original ancient olympics, leaders would agree to avoid conflict to allow for safe travel accross Greece for those that wished to attend the games.

 

8 – The highest paid athletes of all time was the Ancient Roman charioteer Gaius Appuleius Diocles. His winnings totaled 35,863,120 sesterces, over 15 billion in US dollars when adjusted for inflation.

 

9 – in 458 BC Aeschylus, an ancient Greek tragedian, was killed by a tortoise dropped by an eagle that had mistaken his bald head for a rock suitable for shattering the shell of the reptile… talk about unlucky!

 

10 – the first Emperor of China’s tomb, which is most well known for the terracotta soldiers outside it, has not yet been explored. Ancient historians wrote that the tomb contains rivers of mercury mechanically operated to flow like real rivers; modern tests have reported mercury levels in the soil over 100 times what occurs naturally

 

Thanks for watching! If you’d like to be support me, then you can head on over to my Patreon and help out! I’d eventually love to do this fulltime and every little helps! See you next time! Bye!

Aha! 10 Fascinating Facts – Game of Thrones

Thrones fever is in the air as we are halfway through the final series! I’ve decided to theme this episode of Aha! With some unique and fascinating Game of Thrones facts. Unfortunately as you can probably tell by my voice i’m sick again, but time waits for no man, so the show must go on!

 

1 The show was almost cancelled! An original pilot was written, filmed and edited for the series. It was a disaster. The pilot just didn’t work, the focus was wrong and it didn’t have the thrones feel that the show we know now has. The plug was almost pulled before a HBO exec argued that there was something there. The pilot was mostly re-shot and became the pilot for season 1.

 

2 Keeping with the original pilot. George RR Martin was a guest at Khal Drogo and Danaery’s wedding. However this was not the Danaery’s we know, as in the unaired pilot she was instead played by Tamzin Merchant. The scene was re-shot and sadly George RR Martin never made another cameo.

 

3 Sophie Turner who plays Sansa Stark, adopted her direwolf lady (real name Zunnie) The actor states that her parents would never let her have a dog growing up, but they all fell in love with the Northern Inuit dog during filming.

 

4 Some sections of Game of Thrones pilot was filmed in a castle used during Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Three seasons later when Danaerys is recieving a torrent of abuse from the Meereenese, a warrior shouts ‘Your mother was a hamster’ ‘Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person’ and ‘I blow my nose at you’ all in low Valyrian.

 

5 The show drastically ages up the characters in the show in comparison to the book. Most likely to help lessen the viewer anguish and the legality of filming such adult themes with children. The character of Danaery’s went from 13 to 16, Joffrey went from 11 to 16, Bran from 7 to 10, and Arya from 9 to 11. This is also true of the adults with Tyrion being only 24 in the books, but in his early 30’s in the show. Strangely Theon Greyjoy is the old character to go the other way, being around 19 in the books and 16 in the show.

 

6 Bran Stark Actor Isaac Hemstead wright attended University after he turned 18 to study neuroscience. Upon arriving in his dorm room to meet his housemates, they imediately scheduled a meeting to discuss living with the Thrones actor. Unfortunately Isaac was not able to really commit to the University experience as he was hounded for autographs nonstop and had to essentially baricade himself in his room, and drop out after only a month. Now that the series is over he’s going to try again this September to study neuroscience while still balancing his acting career.

 

7 Both Dothraki and High Valyrian are fleshed out languages that the actors had to learn. The shows creators hired David J. Peterson, a skilled language creator responsible for many languages including Orcish in Warcraft and Shiväisith in Thor. You can even take a course on High Valyrian via he duolingo app!

 

8 Jon Snow actor Kit Harrington auditioned for the role with a black eye. The Night before filming Kit found himself after a night out with a date getting some late night mcdonalds. While seated a drunk patron was shouting abuse towards his date. Kit shouted back which led to a confrontation. Unfortunately for Kit, he didn’t know how big his opponent was and found himself in his one words ‘battered’. He does credit the black eye with potentially landing him the role though. So silver linings and all that.

 

9 The Targyarens are noted as having violet eyes. Initially Danaerys and Viserys’s actors both wore violet contact lenses, before creators Benioff and Weiss asked the pair to remove them as they felt is lessened their ability to portray emotion.

 

10 The runner up actor for the character of Jon Snow was Iwan Rheon. Most famous for his role on Misfits at the time. Since then he went on to play Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones, a role I would argue that he was perfect for. Try and imagine how different the scenes would be if Iwan had been selected over Kit Harrington!

 

Thanks for watching! If you’d like to be a lanister that always repays their debts, then you can head on over to my Patreon and help support me in making more videos! I’d eventually love to do this fulltime and every little helps! See you next time! Bye!

Aha! 10 Fascinating Facts – Geography!

 

Welcome to Episode 10 of Aha 10 Fascinating Facts. This episode will be focused around geography!. I hope you enjoy and please do comment down below and subscribe to the channel.

 

1 The continents shift and grind each other constantly. The speed they do this at is minute. The continents move roughly at the same rate as the speed in which your fingernails grow.

 

2 The distance between Russia and the USA is only 2.4 miles. The diomede islands lie between Alaska and Russia.With big diomedes being A Russiand Island and diomedes an American island. During the winter period it is sometimes possible to walk between the two due to the water freezing in the Bering straight.

 

3 Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, can fit inside the Marianas Trench, the deepest part of the ocean.

 

4 Nauru is the only nation that has no official capital.

 

5 Los Angeles full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula” (in English, “town of our lady the Queen of Angels of the River Porciúncula”).

 

6 Instanbul is the only city situation over two continents. Europe and Asia.

 

7 . RENO, NEVADA, IS WEST OF LOS ANGELES.

Even though it is in Nevada and nearly 300 miles from the ocean, Reno is roughly 86 miles farther west than the coastal city Los Angeles.

 

8 AUSTRALIA MAY BE SURROUNDED BY WATER, BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE THE WORLD’S LONGEST COASTLINE.

Being completely surrounded by water, you would have thought Australia would easily have the honor of being the country with the longest coastline. However, that title goes to Canada. Canada has 152,100 miles of coastline, in comparison to just 16,000 miles for Australia.

 

9  Russia is so large that it spreads over 11 different time zones. When one side of Russia has a morning breakfast at 7 am; the other side enjoys evening snacks at 6 pm.

 

10 the driest place on earth is McMurdo dry Valleys in Antarctica where it hasn’t rained for 2 million years. Only anaerobic bacteria are able to survive in the extreme conditions. Scientists also consider the area terrestrially closest to Mars on earth.