The country Columbia was named for what famous explorer?

The country Colombia was named for the famous explorer Christopher Columbus.

The name Colombia comes from Columbus’s surname, rendered as “Colombia” in Spanish. Revolutionary leader Francisco de Miranda proposed the related name “Colombeia” for the lands of the New World, and the name was later adopted by the republic created in 1819.

That early republic covered a much larger area than modern Colombia, including territories that later became Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. The country’s official name changed several times before settling on the Republic of Colombia in 1886.

A common mix-up is confusing Colombia with “Columbia,” the spelling used in many place names, institutions, and poetic references in the English-speaking world. Colombia is the South American country; both forms ultimately trace back to Christopher Columbus.