Top 10 Greatest Hoaxes of all time - part 4

Idaho, the US state with a made-up name  - Idaho, the US state with a made-up name 
Idaho, the US state with a made-up name
@nishanity (1650)
India
February 22, 2007 7:46am CST
Idaho, the US state with a made-up name Idaho it's perhaps the only state to be named as the result of a hoax. When a name was being selected for new territory, eccentric lobbyist George M. Willing suggested "Idaho," which he claimed was a Native American term meaning "gem of the mountains". It was later revealed Willing had made up the name himself, and the original Idaho territory was re-named Colorado because of it. Eventually the controversy was forgotten, and modern-day Idaho was given the made-up name when the Idaho Territory was formally created in 1863.
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