Name of Canada
What is the origin of the name Canada? One suggestion is that early Portuguese and Spanish explorers, on not finding gold or silver, wrote cá nada (‘nothing here’ in Portuguese), acá nada, aqui nada or el cabo de nada (‘Cape Nothing’ in Spanish) on that part of their maps. An alternative explanation linked the name to the Spanish word ‘cañada’, meaning ‘glen’ or ‘valley’. However, most evidence points to the name Canada being based on the Indigenous Iroquoian word ‘kanata’, meaning ‘village’ or ‘settlement’.
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