The World of Ohio
July 24th, 2010Did you know that you can travel from Amsterdam to Calcutta to Toronto to Damascus... without ever leaving the state of Ohio?
It's true. Ohio has an astonishing number of cities which are named for other world cities. Dozens of them. As I drive throughout the state, I see signs pointing to all of these various places, and I can't help but smile. It's become something of a hobby to catalog all the different names that fall along these lines -- several of which have comically-different pronunciations than the other (generally more well-known) cities which have similar names. For instance, most people have heard of Milan ("mee-LAHN") in Italy -- but how many people have heard of Milan ("MY-lun") in Ohio. Most people have heard of the capital of Peru: Lima ("LEE-ma") -- but did you know that there's also a city in Ohio called Lima ("LY-ma")? The French may have their famed palace, Versailles ("ver-SY) -- but Ohio has a city named Versailles (ver-SAILS)...
European cities are the most popular namesakes for Ohio knock-offs. Names from the German-speaking world are quite popular: Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Frankfort, Hanover, New Bremen, and New Vienna (not to mention Germantown!). From the Low Countries, one can find Ohio cities named Amsterdam, Holland, New Holland, Antwerp, and Ghent. Hearkening back to the British Isles, there are also Ohio cities which have been named: Dublin, East Liverpool, London, New London, Manchester, Oxford, Plymouth, and Sheffield. Greek/Balkan names also feature frequently throughout Ohio: Athens, Berea, East Sparta, Macedonia, New Athens, and Troy. There are also a couple of names derived from the Iberian Peninsula: namely Toledo and Lisbon. Throw in a few Italian names: Geneva, Genoa, Milan, Parma, Venice Heights... A few French names: New Paris, Strasburg, and Versailles... A couple of Polish references: Poland and Warsaw... And << Voila! >> you've got a veritable Continent within a state one-third the size of Germany.
Even with the decided preference for European namesakes, other parts of the world are by no means left out. Several cities in Ohio share names with places from the Middle East: Bethel, Damascus, East Palestine, Hebron, Lebanon, New Lebanon, South Lebanon, and Shiloh -- and also from Asia at large, i.e. Batavia (an old Dutch name for Indonesia) and Calcutta. The New World also provides inspiration for a few Ohio cities. Specifically, one can find Latin American names alternatively used in Lima, North Lima, and Rio Grande. And America's neighbors to the North are also included in Ottawa and Toronto.
When it comes to African namesakes, however, the only thing that comes close to such a parallelism is Sahara Sands, Ohio. And I couldn't find any Ohio cities that share the names of prominent locations in Australia / Oceania.
But still, there's quite a bit to be discovered in Ohio.
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