There has been shifting borders, dissolving nations, and newly-created countries made sure that a cartographer was never out of work.

Today all countries in the world one share one of four things in common.

Quartz explains that most countries in the world have been named after one of four things: an important person with some influence of the country or its history, a directional description of the country, a tribe or ethnic group, or a feature of its land.

Here are some of the countries that fall into the first category are:

The world superpower; the United States of America was named after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.

Bolivia, named after revolutionary Simon Bolivar.

Colombia, named after Italian explorer Christopher Columbus.

France – Named after the Franks, who conquered the land in the Medieval ages.

Let's take a look at the tribe or ethnic group:

Turkey, named after the Turkish people.

Denmark, which means the “Danish march” referring to the Danes.

Here are some countries named after a feature of their land:

Niger is named after the Niger River, which flows through several countries in West Africa.

Lastly, these countries were named after a directional description:

Australia means “South Land” in old Latin.

Norway means “North Way” in old Norse.

NB

There are certain exceptions to the rule, like Mexico (thought to be named after an Aztec war god or to mean “child of the moon”) and Canada (which is named after Huron-Iroquois word for “village” or settlement). So, next time you’re at a party chock-full of etymologists, you’ll be sure to be the life of the party. Throw in this extra fact about how long it takes to read the whole dictionary, and they might just make you their queen.