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Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Who are the 5 people for whom the most land area is named?

To get the total for a person, simply add up all the regions of
any kind named for them. Any given piece of land can only be
counted once for each person but can be counted for more than one
person. For instance, if Smith County has a Smith Park, the park
area does not count twice for Smith. But if it has a Jones Park,
then the park counts as part of Jones's total and the whole
county, including the park, as part of Smith's.

Only regions that have definite borders can be counted. Things
with ill-defined borders such as mountains do not count. Also the
regions should be currently extant and not disputed.

Only real persons count; mythical, legendary, and fictional
figures are right out.

I'll admit to not knowing in advance who all 5 are. Number 1 is
obvious, I'm pretty sure who 2, 3, and 4 are but am not certain
of the exact order, and only have a guess about number 5.

--
Dan Tilque
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Mr. Vespucci seems pretty obvious, but I'll have to think about the others.
Good question...



"Dan Tilque" <dtilque@nwlink.com> wrote in message
news:10h95rt8sbfelaa@corp.supernews.com...
> Who are the 5 people for whom the most land area is named?
>
> To get the total for a person, simply add up all the regions of
> any kind named for them. Any given piece of land can only be
> counted once for each person but can be counted for more than one
> person. For instance, if Smith County has a Smith Park, the park
> area does not count twice for Smith. But if it has a Jones Park,
> then the park counts as part of Jones's total and the whole
> county, including the park, as part of Smith's.
>
> Only regions that have definite borders can be counted. Things
> with ill-defined borders such as mountains do not count. Also the
> regions should be currently extant and not disputed.
>
> Only real persons count; mythical, legendary, and fictional
> figures are right out.
>
> I'll admit to not knowing in advance who all 5 are. Number 1 is
> obvious, I'm pretty sure who 2, 3, and 4 are but am not certain
> of the exact order, and only have a guess about number 5.
>
> --
> Dan Tilque
>
>
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Jeffrey Turner wrote:

> Jeffrey Turner wrote:
>

Very good Jeffrey. A few comments.

>>
>>
>> Here's a start:
>>
>> Abd al-Aziz Al Saud: Saudi Arabia 2,149,690 sq. km
>
> The CIA World Factbook lists the area of Saudi Arabia at only
> 1,960,582 sq. km, dropping Al Saud into third place.

Saudi Arabi is too ill-defined. It's borders with several of its
neighbors have not been determined. So you can find a wide range
of figures for its area in various references.

>
> I suppose the founder of the Ch'in dynasty is probably the real
> number two, but his name is not in any remaining history that I
> am aware of.

Hey, how about Joe Canada? Shouldn't he be number 2?

>
>> Cristobal Colon: Colombia 1,138,910 sq. km
>> British Colombia, Canada 947,800 sq. km
>> ----------------
>> 2,086,710 sq. km
>
> There may be enough smatterings of places like Washington, DC
> and Columbus, Ohio to span the 63,000 sq. km twixt Colon and
> Saud but I doubt it. Here's a list from my atlas:

[list mostly snipped]
You didn't have any counties on your list. There's a number of
Columbia Counties in the US.

> Archipelago de Colon = Galapagos Islands
> The Galapagos Marine Reserve is 133,000 sq. km which would do
> it, but I think it's mostly water.

The water does not count for this question. I did wonder if
counting water would make any difference to the order of the
answers.


> Cape Columbia, North West Territory - maybe 100-150 sq. km of
> Ellesmere Island - I suppose the boundary is too vague for
> this Q.
> Columbus Point, Tobago - vague

Both too vaguely defined.

>
>> Queen Victoria: Queensland, Australia 1,700,000 sq.
>> km - (precision lacking)
>> Victoria, Australia 227,628 sq. km
>> ----------------
>> 1,927,628 sq. km

Add Victoria Island (mentioned by Ted S.) at 213,018 sq km

>>
>> Simon Bolivar: Bolivia 1,098,580 sq. km

There are several provinces in various Latin American countries
named Bolivar. I don't know what their areas are.

If we rule out Saudi Arabia for not having definite borders, who
would be number 5?

--
Dan Tilque
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

In article <10h95rt8sbfelaa@corp.supernews.com>, dtilque@nwlink.com says...
> Who are the 5 people for whom the most land area is named?
>
> To get the total for a person, simply add up all the regions of
> any kind named for them. Any given piece of land can only be
> counted once for each person but can be counted for more than one
> person. For instance, if Smith County has a Smith Park, the park
> area does not count twice for Smith. But if it has a Jones Park,
> then the park counts as part of Jones's total and the whole
> county, including the park, as part of Smith's.
>
> Only regions that have definite borders can be counted. Things
> with ill-defined borders such as mountains do not count. Also the
> regions should be currently extant and not disputed.
>
> Only real persons count; mythical, legendary, and fictional
> figures are right out.

Would Rhodesia count in favor of Cecil Rhodes? Zambia and
Zimbabwe were Northern and Southern Rhodesia, respectively,
and their current areas are:

290,584 sq mi (752,614 sq km) Zambia
150,803 sq mi (390,580 sq km) Zimbabwe
--------------------------------------------------------
441,387 sq mi (1,143,194 sq km) TOTAL

--
Go to http://MarcDashevsky.com to send me e-mail.
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Somebody claiming to be "DokterZ" <dzahn@execpczzz.com> wrote in
news:10h9iafor44eha8@corp.supernews.com:

>
> "Dan Tilque" <dtilque@nwlink.com> wrote in message
> news:10h95rt8sbfelaa@corp.supernews.com...
>> Who are the 5 people for whom the most land area is named?
>>
>> To get the total for a person, simply add up all the regions of
>> any kind named for them. Any given piece of land can only be
>> counted once for each person but can be counted for more than one
>> person. For instance, if Smith County has a Smith Park, the park
>> area does not count twice for Smith. But if it has a Jones Park, then
>> the park counts as part of Jones's total and the whole county,
>> including the park, as part of Smith's.
>>
>> Only regions that have definite borders can be counted. Things
>> with ill-defined borders such as mountains do not count. Also the
>> regions should be currently extant and not disputed.
>>
>> Only real persons count; mythical, legendary, and fictional
>> figures are right out.
>>
>> I'll admit to not knowing in advance who all 5 are. Number 1 is
>> obvious, I'm pretty sure who 2, 3, and 4 are but am not certain
>> of the exact order, and only have a guess about number 5.
>>
>> --
>> Dan Tilque
>>
>
> Mr. Vespucci seems pretty obvious, but I'll have to think about the
> others. Good question...

Christopher Columbus should be up there -- Colombia and British Columbia
are named after him, as well as a wealth of Columbus and Columbia place
names in the USA.

Queen Elizabeth I of England also seems like a good choice. She's got
Virginia and West Virginia in the USA named after her, as well as the
Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Canadian Arctic.

Queen Victoria also seems like a good choice, although I don't know how
large the Australian state of Victoria is. (There's a Victoria Island in
the Canadian Arctic.)

After which queen is the Australian state of Queensland named?

--
Ted <fedya at bestweb dot net>
Barney: Hey, Homer, you're late for English.
Homer: Who needs English? I'm never going to England.
<http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7F12.html>
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Dan Tilque:
> Who are the 5 people for whom the most land area is named?

Good question!

> Only regions that have definite borders can be counted. ...

So we lose things like Hudson Bay and the "lands" in Antarctica.

> I'll admit to not knowing in advance who all 5 are. Number 1 is
> obvious, I'm pretty sure who 2, 3, and 4 are but am not certain
> of the exact order, and only have a guess about number 5.

Okay, after thinking about this for a while but not reading any
followups or looking at any maps, the best answers I can come up
with are:

1. Amerigo Vespucci [North and South America]
2. Christobal Colon [British Columbia, Canada; Colombia]
3. Prince Albert [Alberta, Canada]
4. Queen Victoria [Victoria, Australia]
5. Simon Bolivar [Bolivia]

Perhaps I am just revealing my ignorance of things like Mexican, Indian,
and Brazilian states, or the origins of country names in some parts of
the world, but I can't think of any other entities larger than typical
US states. Other candidates for the top 10 might include whichever King
Charles North and South Carolina are named after, and Jesus for El Salvador;
but I think Bolivia is large enough to beat all the ones I can think of.

Of course, some of the above people also have cities and other entities
of small area named after them, but not enough of them to change the
sequence. Still, this leads to an interesting variant of the question,
which I will not attempt to answer: what if instead of area, you count
resident population? Now suddenly cities named after people become
important!
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | I still remember the first time his reality check
msb@vex.net | bounced. -- Darlene Richards

My text in this article is in the public domain.
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Mark Brader wrote:

> Dan Tilque:
>> Who are the 5 people for whom the most land area is named?
>
> Good question!

Thank you.

>
>> Only regions that have definite borders can be counted. ...
>
> So we lose things like Hudson Bay and the "lands" in
> Antarctica.

Well, Hudson Bay is water, so it wouldn't count for this
question. And yes, I was definitely thinking of Antarctic lands
when I added that provision.


>
> Of course, some of the above people also have cities and other
> entities of small area named after them, but not enough of
> them to change the sequence. Still, this leads to an
> interesting variant of the question, which I will not attempt
> to answer: what if instead of area, you count resident
> population? Now suddenly cities named after people become
> important!

Good variant. King James II (as Duke of York) comes immediately
to mind. Also Alexander the Great and Queen Victoria. Possibly
various saints might get in there, too. My guess would be either
James or Vickie for number 1.

I don't have time to expound right now, so I'll let someone else
produce the numbers.

--
Dan Tilque
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Mark Brader wrote:
>
> Dan Tilque:
> > Who are the 5 people for whom the most land area is named?
>
> Good question!
>
> > Only regions that have definite borders can be counted. ...
>
> So we lose things like Hudson Bay and the "lands" in Antarctica.
>
> > I'll admit to not knowing in advance who all 5 are. Number 1 is
> > obvious, I'm pretty sure who 2, 3, and 4 are but am not certain
> > of the exact order, and only have a guess about number 5.
>
> Okay, after thinking about this for a while but not reading any
> followups or looking at any maps, the best answers I can come up
> with are:
>
> 1. Amerigo Vespucci [North and South America]
> 2. Christobal Colon [British Columbia, Canada; Colombia]
> 3. Prince Albert [Alberta, Canada]

Isn't Alberta named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, daughter of
Victoria and Albert?

> 4. Queen Victoria [Victoria, Australia]
> 5. Simon Bolivar [Bolivia]
>
> Perhaps I am just revealing my ignorance of things like Mexican, Indian,
> and Brazilian states, or the origins of country names in some parts of
> the world, but I can't think of any other entities larger than typical
> US states. Other candidates for the top 10 might include whichever King
> Charles North and South Carolina are named after, and Jesus for El Salvador;
> but I think Bolivia is large enough to beat all the ones I can think of.

Regardless of whether Saudi Arabia counts, Queensland, Australia (named
after Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen) should make the top 5, with an
area of 1,852,642 sq km. That beats Bolivia (1,098,580 sq km), which in
turn beats Alberta (661,848 sq km). The Philippines, named after Philip
II of Spain, might be next with 300,000 sq km, which beats Victoria,
Australia (237,629 sq km).

Further down the list would be Tasmania (68,332 sq km), named after Abel
Tasman, and the Mexican state of Guerrero (64,281 sq km), named after
Vicente Guerrero. The Republic of Georgia (69,700 sq km) wasn't
actually named after a "George" but is simply an Anglicization of
"Gurj", the Persian name of the country.

Info cribbed from:
http://www.fact-index.com/l/li/list_of_political_entities_named_after_people.html
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Dan Tilque wrote:

> Mark Brader wrote:
>
>> Still, this leads to an
>> interesting variant of the question, which I will not attempt
>> to answer: what if instead of area, you count resident
>> population?
>
> Good variant. King James II (as Duke of York) comes immediately
> to mind. Also Alexander the Great and Queen Victoria. Possibly
> various saints might get in there, too. My guess would be
> either James or Vickie for number 1.

Oops. I meant number 2, as number 1 is our old friend Mr
Vespucci.

My guess, without looking up numbers, is Jimmy II as 2, Columbus
as 3, and Vickie as 4. Number 5 could be either George Washington
or Simon Bolivar.

I'll do some looking up and come back and see how well I guessed.

--
Dan Tilque
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Jeffrey Turner:
>>> Abd al-Aziz Al Saud: Saudi Arabia 2,149,690 sq. km

Dan Tilque:
> Saudi Arabia is too ill-defined.

Besides, isn't it named after the whole Saud family rather than the
particular member who founded the modern state?
--
Mark Brader | "Simple things should be simple." -- Alan Kay, on UIs
msb@vex.net | "Too many ... try to make complex things simple ...
Toronto | and succeed ... only in making simple things complex."
| -- Jeff Prothero
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote in message news:<4115434E.9CD4C88E@midway.uchicago.edu>...
> >
> > Dan Tilque:
> > > Who are the 5 people for whom the most land area is named?
>
> Regardless of whether Saudi Arabia counts, Queensland, Australia (named
> after Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen) should make the top 5, with an
> area of 1,852,642 sq km. That beats Bolivia (1,098,580 sq km), which in
> turn beats Alberta (661,848 sq km). The Philippines, named after Philip
> II of Spain, might be next with 300,000 sq km, which beats Victoria,
> Australia (237,629 sq km).

William Baffin, namesake of Baffin Island, Canada (507,451 sq km),
ought to be reasonably high up on the list, even if he doesn't make
the top 5.

Joshua Kreitzer
gromit82@hotmail.com
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Ben Zimmer writes:
> Isn't Alberta named after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, daughter of
> Victoria and Albert?

Oops. I knew it was *someone* in that family.

> ... That beats Bolivia (1,098,580 sq km), which in turn beats Alberta
> (661,848 sq km). ...

Oops again. I guess I've seen too many Mercator-projection maps.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "You keep using that word. I do not think it means
msb@vex.net | what you think it means." -- The Princess Bride
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Dan Tilque (dtilque@nwlink.com) writes:
> My guess, without looking up numbers, is Jimmy II as 2, Columbus
> as 3, and Vickie as 4. Number 5 could be either George Washington
> or Simon Bolivar.

What about Paul, the apostle? There are more people living in São Paolo
alone than in Bolivia.

I'm not really sure how Jimmy II comes into the picture, but if the
place is New York, surely Columbus must be ahead of him?


--
Erland Sommarskog, Stockholm, esquel@sommarskog.se
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Erland Sommarskog wrote:

> Dan Tilque (dtilque@nwlink.com) writes:
>> My guess, without looking up numbers, is Jimmy II as 2,
>> Columbus as 3, and Vickie as 4. Number 5 could be either
>> George Washington or Simon Bolivar.
>
> What about Paul, the apostle? There are more people living in
> São Paolo alone than in Bolivia.

Hadn't thought of São Paolo. Considering the population of the
Brazillian state of São Paolo (about 37m), St Paul is probably
just behind Columbus.

>
> I'm not really sure how Jimmy II comes into the picture, but

King James II was Duke of York when New York was named after him.

> if the place is New York, surely Columbus must be ahead of him?

Yes, you're right. Colombia has 44m to New York's 19m. For some
reason, I thought Colombia had a much lower population.

--
Dan Tilque
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Erland Sommarskog (esquel@sommarskog.se) writes:
> What about Paul, the apostle? There are more people living in São Paolo
> alone than in Bolivia.

Another guy who beats Bolivia alone is Constantin the Great, assuming
that Istanbul is just a phonetic corruption of Constantinople. I don't
think he has much else to count, though.

--
Erland Sommarskog, Stockholm, esquel@sommarskog.se
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

["Followup-To:" header set to rec.puzzles.]
On Sat, 7 Aug 2004 12:47:03 -0300, Machiabelly <machi@pe.eastlink.ca> wrote:
> Americo Vespucci has North and South America...that has to win
>

Would King Louis IX get the whole Louisiana Purchase, or just the current
state of Louisiana (plus St. Louis & whatever else)?

(Assuming that it was Louis IX...)

--
------------------------
Mark Jeffrey Tilford
tilford@ugcs.caltech.edu
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Somebody claiming to be Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote in
news:4115434E.9CD4C88E@midway.uchicago.edu:

> Regardless of whether Saudi Arabia counts, Queensland, Australia (named
> after Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen) should make the top 5, with an
> area of 1,852,642 sq km. That beats Bolivia (1,098,580 sq km), which in
> turn beats Alberta (661,848 sq km). The Philippines, named after Philip
> II of Spain, might be next with 300,000 sq km, which beats Victoria,
> Australia (237,629 sq km).

Yes, but you haven't taken into account the total land area of all place
names named after these people. There's a Victoria Island in northern
Canada, in addition to a whole bunch of other stuff named after her.

In addition, there's a whole archipelago of the "Queen Elizabeth Islands"
which I'm guessing are named after Elizabeth I of England (see my previos
post) which includes the very large Ellesmere Island. She's also got
Virginia and West Virginia in the US named after her.

--
Ted <fedya at bestweb dot net>
Barney: Hey, Homer, you're late for English.
Homer: Who needs English? I'm never going to England.
<http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7F12.html>
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Ted S. wrote:

> Somebody claiming to be Ben Zimmer
> <bgzimmer@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote in
> news:4115434E.9CD4C88E@midway.uchicago.edu:
>
>> Regardless of whether Saudi Arabia counts, Queensland,
>> Australia (named after Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen)
>> should make the top 5, with an area of 1,852,642 sq km. ...
>> which beats
>> Victoria, Australia (237,629 sq km).
>
> Yes, but you haven't taken into account the total land area of
> all place names named after these people. There's a Victoria
> Island in northern Canada, in addition to a whole bunch of
> other stuff named after her.

There's also the issue of who Queensland was named after. A few
sites say it was Queen Adelaide, as above, but others say
Victoria. It's also possible the answer is neither one. Anyone
know for sure?

--
Dan Tilque
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Dan Tilque:
> King James II was Duke of York when New York was named after him.

The fact that it was named New York suggests that it was named after
York -- perhaps in the Duke's honor, but not *after* the Duke.

Is there documentation sufficiently specific to clarify the point?
--
Mark Brader | "The good news is that the Internet is dynamic.
Toronto | The bad news is that the Internet is dynamic."
msb@vex.net | -- Peter Neumann
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Somebody claiming to be "Dan Tilque" <dtilque@nwlink.com> wrote in
news:10hao6a2qfu0p6b@corp.supernews.com:

>> if the place is New York, surely Columbus must be ahead of him?
>
> Yes, you're right. Colombia has 44m to New York's 19m. For some
> reason, I thought Colombia had a much lower population.

But as somebody else mentioned, the Philippines were named after Philip II
of Spain, and have a population approaching 70m.

--
Ted <fedya at bestweb dot net>
Barney: Hey, Homer, you're late for English.
Homer: Who needs English? I'm never going to England.
<http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7F12.html>
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

msb@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:

>Dan Tilque:
>> King James II was Duke of York when New York was named after him.
>
>The fact that it was named New York suggests that it was named after
>York -- perhaps in the Duke's honor, but not *after* the Duke.
>
>Is there documentation sufficiently specific to clarify the point?

Read any history of Britain. Dukes are named for their estates. Thus he was
actually referred to as 'York' not just unoficially, it actually became his
name.
--
Patrick Hamlyn posting from Perth, Western Australia
Windsurfing capital of the Southern Hemisphere
Moderator: polyforms group (polyforms-subscribe@egroups.com)
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Dan Tilque wrote:
>
> Ted S. wrote:
>
> > Somebody claiming to be Ben Zimmer
> > <bgzimmer@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote in
> > news:4115434E.9CD4C88E@midway.uchicago.edu:
> >
> >> Regardless of whether Saudi Arabia counts, Queensland,
> >> Australia (named after Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen)
> >> should make the top 5, with an area of 1,852,642 sq km. ...
> >> which beats
> >> Victoria, Australia (237,629 sq km).
> >
> > Yes, but you haven't taken into account the total land area of
> > all place names named after these people. There's a Victoria
> > Island in northern Canada, in addition to a whole bunch of
> > other stuff named after her.
>
> There's also the issue of who Queensland was named after. A few
> sites say it was Queen Adelaide, as above, but others say
> Victoria. It's also possible the answer is neither one. Anyone
> know for sure?

Hmm, even the site I was relying on gives conflicting answers:

Queen Adelaide:
http://www.fact-index.com/l/li/list_of_political_entities_named_after_people.html
Queen Victoria:
http://www.fact-index.com/l/li/list_of_subnational_name_etymologies.html

When the colony of South Australia was proclaimed in 1836, its capital
was named after Queen Adelaide. But Queensland wasn't proclaimed until
1859, ten years after Adelaide's death, so then-Queen Victoria would
seem to be the more likely eponym.

Ah, here we go-- from a 2000 article in the Queensland Courier Mail:

As the push for separation gained momentum, Queen
Victoria was approached to consider establishing a
separate colony based on Moreton Bay.
The Queen gave her approval and signed the Letters
Patent on June 6, 1859.
Not surprisingly, she favoured the name Queensland
over suggestions to call it Cooksland in honour of
Captain James Cook.
 
Archived from groups: rec.puzzles,rec.games.trivia (More info?)

Dan Tilque:
>>> King James II was Duke of York when New York was named after him.

Mark Brader:
>> The fact that it was named New York suggests that it was named after
>> York -- perhaps in the Duke's honor, but not *after* the Duke.

>> Is there documentation sufficiently specific to clarify the point?

Patrick Hamlyn:
> Read any history of Britain. Dukes are named for their estates.
> Thus he was actually referred to as 'York' ...

Irrelevant.
--
Mark Brader | "You wake me up early in the morning to tell me
Toronto | I am right? Please wait until I am wrong."
msb@vex.net | -- John von Neumann, on being phoned at 10 am
 
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