Step 1: Go to the ArcGIS Online map, You Claim It, You Name It, and explore the map.

Step 2: Open and read the map note located inside North America (in North Dakota).

• Q: Whom was North America named after?

Step 3: Open and read the map note located off the west coast of North America.

Acquire: What is the toponymy of the East Coast?

Step 4: Click the button, Bookmarks. Select the Eastern Canada bookmark.

• Q: Which languages were used for place names? (Hint: turn on the Claims layer.)

Language, another cultural trait, also influenced these place names.

Step 5: Click the button, Bookmarks. Select East Coast.

Step 6: Turn off the layer, Claims.

Step 7: With the Details button underlined, click the button, Show Contents of Map (Content).

Step 8: Click the checkbox to the left of the layer name, Settlements – 1655.

Step 9: Click on Show Map Legend for the layer name, Settlements – 1655.

• Q: Where were the French settlements concentrated?
• Q: Where were the English settlements?

Explore: What major migrations helped define California toponyms

Step 9: Click the button, Bookmarks. Select California-Local.

• Q: Which languages were used for place names? Hint: Use the Claims layer again.
  

Step 10: Turn off the Claims layer, and turn on the layer, Missions. The Spanish built the missions for religious reasons.

• Q: What spatial patterns do you notice?

Step 11: Click the button, Bookmarks. Select California-Regional.

Step 12: Keep the Missions layer on, and turn on the layer, Mining Towns.

• Q: How were missions and mining settlements distributed?

Analyze: How does Trinidad’s toponymy compare to Canada and California?

Step 13: Click the button, Bookmarks. Select the West Indies bookmark.

Step 14: Open and read the map note near Cuba.

The reason why the area is called the West Indies is that Christopher Columbus thought he was in Asia.

Step 15: Click the button, Bookmarks. Select the Trinidad bookmark.

Step 16: Turn on the layer, Trinidad Toponyms. Click the layer name to display its legend.

• Q: What were the dominant languages used for Trinidad’s place names? Hint: look at the map legend.
  

The reason for so many languages in the region is because Trinidad was a contested land, switching between influential countries multiple times.

Act: What is the relationship between colonization and toponyms?

Step 17: Click the button, Bookmarks. Select the European Claims bookmark.

Step 18: Turn on the layer, Claims. Click the layer name to display the legend.

• Q: How are regional place names in the Americas tied to colonization?
• Q: Besides toponyms, colonization and these early claims affect religion, language, architecture, and more. True/False