Ge-It
Culture of Georgia
Identification. The term "Georgian" does not derive from Saint George but from the ancient Persian Gurg or Gorg, meaning wolf, "supposedly a totemic symbol, or from the Greek georgios ("farmer," "cultivator of land").
Culture of Germany
Identification. The name Germany is derived from the Latin word Germania, which, at the time of the Gallic War (58–51 B.C.E.), was used by the Romans to designate various peoples occupying the region east of the Rhine.
Culture of Ghana
Identification. Ghana, formerly the British colony of the Gold Coast, assumes a special prominence as the first African country to acquire independence from European rule.
Culture of Gibraltar
Identification. The name "Gibraltar" derives from "Tariks Mountain," after Tariq-Ibn-Zayid, the Muslim conqueror who invaded the Iberian peninsula in 711.
Culture of Greece
Identification. Greece, the English name for the Hellenic Republic, derives from an ancient Latin word for that area.
Culture of Greenland
Identification. Greenland was probably originally settled by descendants of the present Inuit culture, who identify the island as Kalaalit Nunaat—meaning "land of the people"—in their native language.
Culture of Grenada
Identification. The Carib Indians violently displaced the Arawak (Taino) tribes around 1000 C.E.
Culture of Guadeloupe
Before its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1493, the island was called Karukera ("island of beautiful waters") by the Caribs.
Culture of Guam
Identification. Guam is the southernmost island in the Mariana Islands chain.
Culture of Guatemala
Identification. The name Guatemala, meaning "land of forests," was derived from one of the Mayan dialects spoken by the indigenous people at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1523.
Culture of Guinea
Identification. The origin of the word "Guinea" is unclear.
Culture of Guinea-Bissau
Identification. "Guinea" was used by European explorers and traders to refer the coast of West Africa.
Culture of Guyana
Identification. Guyana is an Amerindian word meaning "the land of many waters." Attempts to forge a common identity have foundered, and it is more accurate to speak of African, Indian, and Amerindian Guyanese cultures.
Culture of Haiti
Identification. Haiti, a name that means "mountainous country," is derived from the language of the Taino Indians who inhabited the island before European colonization.
Culture of Honduras
Hondureño catracho (the national nickname; can be amusing, insulting, or friendly, depending on the context.
Culture of Hong Kong
Identification. Hong Kong means "fragrant harbor." Once administered by the United Kingdom, it has been known since 1997 as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Culture of Hungary
Identification. Hungarian derives from Onogur, a Bulgarian-Turkish tribe's self-name.
Culture of Iceland
Identification. Scandinavian sailors discovered Iceland in the mid-ninth century, and the first settler recognized in the literary-historical tradition, Ingólfur Arnason, arrived in 874.
Culture of India
Identification. India constitutes the largest part of the subcontinental land mass of South Asia, an area it shares with six other countries, including Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Culture of Indonesia
Identification. The Republic of Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, has 203 million people living on nearly one thousand permanently settled islands.
Culture of Iran
The term "Persian" is used as an adjective— especially pertaining to the arts—and to designate the principal language spoken in Iran. The term is often used to designate the larger cultural sphere of Iranian civilization.
Culture of Iraq
Identification. Modern Iraq covers almost the same area as ancient Mesopotamia, which centered on the land between the Tigres and the Euphrates Rivers.
Culture of Ireland
Identification. The Republic of Ireland (Poblacht na hÉireann in Irish, although commonly referred to as Éire, or Ireland) occupies five-sixths of the island of Ireland, the second largest island of the British Isles.
Culture of Israel
Identification. According to the Bible, Israel is the name given by God to Jacob.
Culture of Italy
Identification. The Romans used the name Italia to refer to the Italian peninsula.
