We head in Streets & Squares this time to a slightly smaller city or shall we say town. Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. As always in Streets & Squares, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clicking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. ANN STREET - Ann Edgar, wife of the portrait painter Henry Raeburn (1756-1823). Raeburn designed Ann Street, and named it after his wife. Continue reading

This time in Streets and Squares we take a look at a very unique place. Venice in Italy. Or Venezia, as they say in Italian. Situated on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. It is not easy to find eponymous streets in Venice, but still, there are some. And as always in Streets & Squares, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clicking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. Continue reading

This time in Today inStreets & Squares we visit Denver, the capital of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver has a lot of numbered avenues, but also a lot of eponymous streets and places. The city itself is named after James W. Denver, and nicknamed the Mile High City due to its official elevation being exactly one mile above sea level. According to Wall Street of the Rockies, “many of the namesakes of Colorado streets, towns, counties and landmarks, tell stories of the Wild, Wild West days before statehood. Continue reading

Chatham Street in Dublin This time Streets & Squares goes to Dublin, the capital and the largest city of Ireland. Situated at the river Liffley, it was founded as Dyflin (“black pool”) by the Norwegian Vikings in the year 841. Like always, clicking on an address will open Google Maps for you, and clicking on the names will (usually) lead to the person’s Wikipedia page. S in the list means south and N north of River Liffey. Continue reading

This is the 26th city in Streets & Squares, and today we visit Georgetown, the capital of Guyana which was a British colony called British Guiana, until 1966. Long before that, between 1667 and 1814, it was Dutch Guiana. At that time the capital was called Stabroek, but was renamed Georgetown by the British in 1812, in honour of the English monarch King George III. Georgetown sits on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River. Continue reading

This time in Streets and Squares let us travel to the Windy City - Chicago - in the U.S. state of Illinois. By going through the streets and squares and other places of the city, we get to know more about its history - as with all the previous cities we have visited in this article series. The river that starts from Lake Michigan and divides the city is called - well, what do you know - Chicago River (with its South and North Branches), and later with the South Branch turning into Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Continue reading

This is the 24th city in Streets & Squares, and today we visit Vienna, the capital of Austria. The big river Donau flows to the east of the city, and Donau channel through it. Lots of eponymous streets here and a lot of history! As always, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clinking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. Don’t forget to also read about the people born in this city throughout the years. Continue reading

This time in Streets & Squares, the city of Vancouver! The westernmost city of Canada, named after the British Navy officer and explorer George Vancouver. As always in Streets & Squares, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clicking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. Many of the streets in Vancouver are named after colonial imperialists, omitting the fact that there is a lot of First Nations history in Vancouver. Continue reading

This time in Streets & Squares we won’t be dealing with any one city, but with any city in the world that is facing the serious threat of the COVID-19 virus, also known as the Corona virus. There actually is a city of Corona (crown in Spanish), or rather, several cities with that name. One in Riverside County in Southern California. There is also a town, city or community with that name in Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, South Dakota and Tennessee. Continue reading

We head in Streets & Squares this time to Athens, the capital of Greece since 1834, but in existence since times immemorial. Commonly thought be have been named after the Greek goddess Athena, yet modern scholars now generally agree that it is rather the opposite: the goddess takes her name from the city. Be it as it may, clicking on the address links leads you - as always in Streets & Squares - to Google Maps, and clicking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. Continue reading

We head in Streets & Squares this time to Calgary, the largest city in western Canada. Situated in southern part of Alberta, at the confluence of the Bow River and the Elbow River. As always in Streets & Squares, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clicking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. There are lots of numbered avenues and streets in grid style, a bit like in Manhattan, New York - most of them in downtown Calgary. Continue reading

This is part in the article series Streets and Squares that provide some interesting background information on street signs around the world. A fun way to learn about the history and culture of the cities you visit or even live in! This time we go to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. The Danish name of the city, København, descends from the old Norse Kaupmannahofn, meaning merchants' harbor. Some vocabulary to help you along the way: allé (avenue), bro (bridge), gade (street), plads (square) Continue reading

This time Streets & Squares goes to Rome, the capital of Italy - and the city where all roads lead to, or so they said! The river Tiber flows through this ancient city, and in the list below the locations are given either as ET (East of Tiber) or WT (West of Tiber). Vatican City is to the west of Tiber. Like always, clicking on the addresses will open Google Maps for you, and clicking on the names will (usually) lead to the person’s Wikipedia page. Continue reading

Nairobi in the background. Courtesy of Rod Waddington Let’s head to our first African city in Streets & Squares: Nairobi, the capital and the largest city of Kenya. As always in Streets & Squares, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clicking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. However, as there are not that many eponymous streets in Nairobi, we will allow here some cultural names as well. Continue reading

This time Streets & Squares goes to Winnipeg, the capital and also the largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. Like always, clicking on the addresses will open Google Maps for you, and clicking on the names will (usually) lead to the person’s Wikipedia page. Please do open that Winnipeg’s Wikipedia link as it contains lots of useful and interesting information of the city. Here we just mention that Winnipeg lies at the bottom of the Red River Valley, a flood plain with flat topography. Continue reading

This time in Streets and Squares we go to Oslo, the capital of Norway. Founded in the year 1040 as Ánslo, and called Christiania between 1624 and 1925. As always, clicking at the address will lead you to Google Maps, and clicking at the name to the person’s Wikipedia page. BISKOP GUNNERUS GATE - Johan Ernst Gunnerus (1718-1773) bishop/ botanist - Christiania, Norway DRONNING EUFEMIAS GATE - Euphemia of Rügen* (c. Continue reading

This is the 16th article in the series Streets & Squares, and this time let’s make a digital trip to Honolulu, the capital of the State of Hawaii on the island of Oahu. Please do read the article Born in Hawaii previously published here in Journeys of Life. Many of the eponymous streets in Honolulu tell about the history of the native Hawaiians. Honolulu has been part of Kingdom of Hawai’i (1795-1893), the Territory of Hawaii of the United States (1898-1959), and since 1959, State of Hawaii. Continue reading

This time in Streets & Squares we go to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. A city that is deemed by many to be one of the most beautiful and interesting cities in Europe. Lots of history there of course, and you can see that in the street signs as well - but it can be quite a challenge for a foreigner to recognize the names in eponymous streets. Continue reading

Today in Streets & Squares we visit the city of Puerto de la Cruz in the Spanish island of Tenerife off the coast of Africa. Lots of eponymous streets here and a lot of history! As always, clicking on the address links leads you to Google Maps, and clinking on the names to the person’s Wikipedia page. AV. FAMILIA DE BETANCOURT Y MOLINA - Agustin de Betancourt y Molina (1758-1824) was an engineer, urban planner and construction manager born in Puerto de la Cruz. Continue reading

Streets & Squares takes you this time to Sydney, the state capital of New South Wales on the east coast of Australia. As always, clicking on an address will take you to Google Maps, and clicking on a name to the person’s Wikipedia page. See who lies behind the name of these streets and squares. Alfred Street - Prince Alfred (1844-1900) Duke of Edinburgh, and the second son of Queen Victoria. Continue reading