Our What's in a Name series focuses on countries named after their location.
For instance "Nihon" means "Rising Sun", which is due to Japan's easternmost location along the Asian landmass. Many other countries are similarly named after a cardinal point: Österreich, Austria's German name, means "territory of the East". Australia, while sounding similar to Austria, simply means "the land in the Southern Hemisphere". Norway is the northern land, Central Africa and South Africa are self explanatory names.
Ecuador was originally named as a province of Greater Colombia that was crossed by the Equator and maintained its name as an independent country. China, having been a dominant nation with rivals on the North, East, West and South, simply called itself Zhongguo, "the Central Country".
Are there others? Most likely, since the etymology of many countries is not known with precision...
Countries named after their location
