WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
You may know how you got your name. But do you know how some oceans and
seas got their names?
The Pacific Ocean was named by an explorer from Spain, Ferdinand
Magellan. When Magellan sailed on the ocean, it was peaceful. In
Spanish, the word for peaceful is “pacifico”— pacific. But that
doesn’t mean that the Pacific Ocean is always peaceful. Raging typhoons
and tidal waves batter the coastlines of the Pacific many times during
the year. Magellan just didn’t see any bad storms there, probably.
The Atlantic Ocean got its name from the ancient Romans. In ancient
times, people thought that the Atlas Mountains in Africa were the end of
the world. And since the ocean was on the other side of the mountains,
they named it the Atlantic Ocean.
The Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan got its name from travelers many years
ago. They never saw any birds fly over the sea so they thought that the
air above the sea was poisonous. But now we know that birds don’t fly
over the sea because there’s no food in it. No fish live in the Dead Sea
and only a few plants grow in it because the sea is too salty.
The Red Sea between Africa and Asia could have gotten its name for many
reasons. The hills near the sea are a reddish color. So are the coral
reefs and seaweed in the sea. And so are the tiny sea animals in the
water.
The Black Sea between Europe and Asia got its name because during the
winter heavy fogs make the water look dark and murky.
