How Did The Boroughs Of London Get Their Names?

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Currently watching from Croydon but just come home from work in Southwark!

[@yunoewig3095]

Plainly Difficult you mean South Park?

[@cnsmooth]

Don't try it! Croydon will never be London to me fam, not until you get an SW postcode. HA!

[@cnsmooth]

JayoJay we clearly both made poor life choices lol

[@dtvfan24]

didnt know about croydon being where wild flowers grow.

[@dtvfan24]

still think croydon as in surrey but now we become so much concreate, apartments and shops.

[@DotRD12]

*Greenwich shows up* Me: 'Ah, Green-witch' NE: 'Gren-itch, as well as the name...' Me: 😐

[@MEGAEddie6969]

If you enjoyed that, get ready for Leicester Prounounced..... Lester

[@tomthornton6259]

Or Loughborough- pronounced luffbrer!!

[@sporgiii]

Edward Barnard knew this from their football team

[@emardis8982]

UK place-names... 😂😂😂

[@jovanweismiller7114]

There is a town in Kansas, USA called Greenwich. My parents lived there, The locals pronounce it Green-witch, but my Hampshire-born Mum and I knew better! Gren-itch it is!

[@taiana2323]

I'll be in London later this year - my first time and I'm from New Zealand YIKES! This really helped learn about what makes up London. Thanks mate!

[@jazz4778]

Taiana If you're worried about getting lost don't be. There are Tube maps everywhere, it's really easy to get around, and in the inner London areas there are street maps on like almost every street corner. Failing that most Londoners should be able to point you in the right direction

[@Outis89]

Excellent video, sir. Your mention of Hillingdon put me in mind of a lovely little town in Leistershire called Breedon on the Hill. Bree is a Celtic British Word meaning “Hill”, with “don” being the Anglo-Saxon equivalent as you mentioned. This means the town’s name means “Hill Hill on the Hill”. I absolutely love your content, keep it coming!

[@lomax343]

If, as you say, you were born in London, why do you so woefully mispronounce London names? River Lea, Havering, Newham, Waltham Forest...

[@massiveferguson9466]

lomax343 I find his pronunciation a little strange,maybe it's some new mish-mash type accent that has evolved in a large urban area like London that has had lots of different people mixing over the years.

[@devilishmode]

Dont forget 'CaNdeM'

[@VCYT]

Yeh i noted that also ! He's a viking immigrant !

[@27hazardous]

The Havering one got me the most LOL

[@tamed4171]

Pronunciation doesn't matter

[@Larry]

I live in Hillingdon, that pic you used for it are the gardens of Eastcote house, which no longer exists, bur the gardens still do.

[@NameExplain]

Larry Bundy Jr Damn out of date wikimedia!

[@LJ60AWW]

But*

[@RockismyAir]

Hillhill And also: Yes to the tubeseries.

[@andrew7955]

A video of each line would be very interesting in fact! I've been to London once (I'm from Australia) and loved it. So different to what I'm used to.

[@acerockman3520]

Quick note, I live in haringey and many people usually associate the origin of the name of the borough with herrings.

[@mimm2578]

I love even more London. I wish I could live there. Cheers my friend! You have a beautiful city!

[@KayKapone1]

Oh no you don’t wish you could live their ohhhh no you don’t. 😂

[@zetterfire1000]

The pronounciation of Havering made me cry

[@Gadas1]

Tell me about it. Problem is he pronounced it a lot worse that it even sounds

[@Peter-gv6vf]

And Waltham Forest where i was born! Explaining Newham was created in 1965 is completely redundant as every borough here was created in 1965. Does this bloke know anything?!

[@Danjs112]

Hey-ver-ring

[@thomyorke7622]

What about Celtic as Seltic

[@thatscottishkaren1]

The pronunciation if Newham isn't what I expected. I've heard it said more Newum than New-Ham

[@legobricc]

It's pronounced 'Hayvering' my dude

[@sorenmpeterson]

Thumbs up to the suggestion of a future Name Explain video about how the stations on each Tube line got their names! Perhaps a collaboration with Geoff Marshall?

[@elevenbyfive]

This was brilliant! It's stuff I've always wondered about. I would absolutely LOVE a series about the tube stations! That would be awesome.

[@dubsy1026]

Is it just a coincidence the CGP music from his city of London video is playing over the city of London section in this?

[@caolanfeely4317]

Dubsy 102 isn’t that just the music cgp grey uses all the time

[@NiamhAllStar21]

I know that the elephant and castle tune station is named for a Spanish princess in a castle. La infanta en Castilla. Which then got corrupted over time. I love the idea of a tube stop series

[@kipdude1]

A big fan of the name explain channel and as a Londoner this is my favourite video!

[@Shizbazki2]

Patiently watches video waiting for my London Borough, gets to Waltham Forest and Name Explain then BUTCHERS the name calling it "Walt-Ham Forest" when it pronounced "Wal-Th-ham Forest" wit the "th" having a more "f" like the "th" in the word "the"

[@fengkorberfer]

Considering he's English, how did he mess that up?

[@jazz4778]

Ikr, and he pronounced Havering as "hah-vuh-ring" when I'm pretty sure it's "hay-ver-ing"

[@Shizbazki2]

Thats what thought as well, i thought it was pronounced as Hay-ver-ing" as well

[@JS-vp6wg]

I waiting for walthamforest to

[@leod-sigefast]

'Th' in English should never be pronounced like 'f'. Just because thick lazy fuckers say 33 like fir'y free doesn't mean it is correct. English always has said 'th' as...well fucking 'TH'! Going right back to Old English, our Anglo-Saxon forebears said it as 'TH'. Front 'f-ing' is incorrect. Learn to speak proper, lazy tongued morons.

[@masterimbecile]

Yes for London Underground, and I'm not even from England! Just a bit of a public transport geek.

[@campbria4225]

I'd love to see the name explain for the boroughs of Toronto or the cities of the Greater Toronto Area. Come on Canadian video.

[@motherintoronto]

There isn't much etymology there though. They were named after other places. Like Scarborough was a place nomadic hunters passed through for 8000 years. Then a couple of stonemasons (Thomson's) set up mills, then there was Thomson Settlement and that was officially named Scarborough village. Most of the place names aren't deeper in meaning than they liked the name. Mississauga name came from the Mississauga First Nations people. "Those at the Great-River-Mouth." Etobicoke was pronounced wah-do-be-kang but land surveyor butchered it and wrote it down as "ato-be-coake" which means "Place where the Alders grow." Toronto was originally from "tkaronto" "place where trees stand in water." but later came to mean "plenty." Mimico is an Ojibwe word for "abundant with pigeons." Most place names aren't that meaningful as the settlers just use place names from home that they liked so often. It's only really the places with First Nation's name that tell you something about the places early days.

[@poperussian]

Huh, given the music, I was expecting CGP Grey to make an appearance at one point.

[@TheMarcosutra]

Like the majority of your videos, there's a massive list of mispronunciations... Maybe when recording the script you double check pronunciations of names...? When you mispronounce the things you're trying to explain, it discredits you.

[@simonday6414]

It's Hayvering

[@TheDundeeBiscuitLuvU]

I know he mispronounced Celtic, what else did he get wrong?

[@TheMarcosutra]

MaryJane etomological, londinium, celtic, lly din, llyn dain... and that’s just in the first 2 minutes....

[@TheMarcosutra]

i’m not gonna go through the rest of the video pointing out mispronounced words. i made the original comment truthfully and as a favour! it’s not my damn job to pronounce-check so I wouldn’t gain anything from making it up.

[@prepperjonpnw6482]

M T Piss off. If it’s not your job to pronounce check then what are you doin mate? Huh? Just step off and leave it alright. Not your job so shut it

[@jaojao1768]

*pronounced "keltic"

[@christyguy59]

Sir Jaojao been watching too much Scottish football

[@NameExplain]

Crap, did I say "Seltic" instead of "keltic" at one point? This video was a huge undertaking and I was paranoid a "seltic" would slip out!

[@jaojao1768]

Name Explain at 4:22, maybe somewhere else too

[@koninkrijkc8559]

also 0:56

[@jaojao1768]

Blunt Cunever how did you know I was Scandinavian?

[@SICspeediscool]

wow. from kingston as well. thought you would put an image of the stone where kings were crowned :P

[@dexterdugarjr.3217]

Hello from New York City (The Bronx)! I'd definitely love to see a Tube series

[@Possiblyqiqi]

8:27 That sounds more like Walthamstow... and now that I think about it, WALTHAMstow is part of Waltham Forest

[@vincentfly22]

I'd love to watch the video about the tube stations!! Great work, thank you!

[@antonydandrea]

Amazing! I particularly took interest in Waltham Forest where I lived for 20 years. I always wondered if it was linked to Walthamstow (probably) and Waltham Abbey. Btw, I never heard it pronounced Walt-ham before.

[@gingergreek]

Enfield boy here. My little (big) borough is also one of the newest boroughs and was once just part of middlesex until 1965. We had the world's first ATM, the famous Enfield rifle and of course Chas and Dave

[@stunpeenmann]

I would love to see a video about how some London tube stations got there names

[@f.michaelbremer-cruz2708]

This was quite interesting for many reasons, in particular that what I think of as "London" is actually a rather small town surrounded by 32 quite sizeable Boroughs. Having grown up in PA, where Boroughs are the common designation for most communities that aren't cities or villages, it was also intriguing to be reminded of just how many of their names originated in London.

[@daisyrushton1574]

There's actually some debate about whether Kingston comes from King's town or from King's Stone, since there is a stone there where several Anglo-Saxon kings were crowned.

[@EdricoftheWeald]

thomas rushton Wouldn't it be 'Kingstan' if it were after the stone?

[@kylekohlstedt]

I like how he used the same music that CGP Gray used in his London vid...

[@wild_phil5570]

Yes I would love to see a video about the different lines of the underground

[@RJa26]

My friend... u deserve a lot more attention... keep up the work!

[@joelgraves9392]

I feel like Geoff Marshal/Londonist is involved somehow

[@jovanweismiller7114]

If he's not, he should be, especially if the Tube stations names get done.

[@Mudkip0408]

Joel G yes that's defiantly something that should be done

[@john_something_or_other]

I bloody well hope not.

[@fezzyman-tfs5100]

Are you ever going to do videos on uk county names?

[@Alex-fv2qs]

It could be the video with most misspronunciations in the history of KZbin

[@ummhwegottaproblem9125]

Big up Croydon 😂

[@danbailey8182]

Here in Ontario Canada we have many British names for our towns. We have a Kingston, Essex, Windsor and Harrow and many others.

[@thesuomi8550]

Next epi better be about london underground 😁

[@cat3crazy]

I really enjoyed watching the video and seeing all the beautiful sites in London.

[@editsonimovie8681]

Ae combined isnt a diphthong, it’s an old letter pronounced like the a in ash

[@valor6265]

WalTHAM Forest, HAYvering, newUM, you'd think someone who makes etymology videos for a living would know how to pronounce names.. -_-

[@luxford60]

He mispronounced crocus too. and the River Lea.

[@cigmorfil4101]

I suppose i can vaguely forgive the mispronouciation of llyn dain. But i can't forgive not mispronouncing Greenwich (considering the other mispronounciations)...

[@GrrrBoww]

•_•

[@trevordance5181]

Part of the London Borough of Bromley has a TN (Tonbridge, Kent) postcode. Postcodes however do not have to match administrative areas. There is even a small part of the administrative county of Essex that has a London E4 postcode.

[@funny_monke6]

Did you see that ludicrous display last night?

[@Jhmjwz]

What was Wenger thinking, sending Walcott on that early?

[@jazz4778]

Fornicus Lord Of Bondage And Pain It's a reference to the Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd. It's a bit like The Big Bang Theory but British and therefore funnier.

[@internetguy692]

The problem with Arsenal is they always try to walk it in

[@highpath4776]

might be worth re-visiting for the original boroughs into the LCC area, and the UDCs and DCs of the metropolitan Essex, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey etc

[@TiaraUponThouHead]

Could you do the names of the different counties in England/the different states in the U.S.? Big thanks

[@anthonyholroyd4338]

Would definitely be interested in tube station etymology. Maybe a team up with Geoff Marshall of All the stations fame?

[@andrewdarley8988]

Waltham Forest was a name and a borough invented in the 60s reorganisation compounded from Walthamstow and EPPING Forest, fingers of which ran into these boroughs. It was a sop to the newly incorporated inhabitants who didn't fancy living in Walthamstow but as there were quite pleasant small towns of Waltham Cross and Waltham Abbey not far away Waltham was acceptable. Due to a boundary quirk (the boundary ran along the school front gates) I had my primary education in Walthamstow although almost all of the pupils lived in the adjacent borough of Wanstead and Woodford (later part of Redbridge)

[@j.r.765]

I would love a video explaining the tube names

[@neonmarkov6544]

YES PLEASE, the underground stations names video sounds amazing

[@wintrwunderland]

Sure, go ahead with the London Underground, but what are you going to do with the stations that have more than one line? Also, what about other Tfl lines that don't count under the London Underground e.g. DLR, London Overground and TfL Rail/Crossrail?

[@Generalscorpio]

Perhaps if he started with one line and worked his way through it and then whenever a station comes up that he's already done he can just point to the previous video on the subject.

[@faristaj2326]

Do my eyes deceive me? Is this Ali from LMA?

[@royporter4232]

Just shows that London has the best public transport system in the World

[@PendelSteven]

Ever since I first was in Sutton, I was thinking Zuid-town: Southtown. Wind directions are pretty universal, even in French they are nord, est, sud, ouest. But the part that interest me in Bexley, which was named Bixle once, whilst I was born in Axel, which was named Axele once. If that were to lay in England instead of South-West Netherlands, I suppose it would be named Axeley now. Wow. I do know vikings were around when the town was founded (late 10th century). Axeley would be the apt English name for Axel, Zeeland, the Netherlands. I mean, if Flushings has one... :)

[@jommydavi2197]

Can you do a video on the Oxford, Cambridge and Durham colleges please!

[@BigBen444]

I would love to see the nam explanation of the London train stations!

[@RenaRoo123]

I am officially Name explained. Awesome video dude!

[@scythium4703]

Yes to the tube series!

[@conrad9289]

I'm interested in the tube video. I watched this video near the boundary of tower hamlets and hackney

[@cherelled6419]

Watching from Barking and Dagenham!! Please make the video about tube station names :)

[@jaojao1768]

Interesting that so many of these are named after people

[@tombaugh5286]

Great video, and absolutely, yes - A vid on tube stations would be amazing! I believe there´s a book or two out about them... and also Paris´s Metro stations too! Keep up the great work mate!! You´re doing amazing!!

[@rosabel1657]

4:11 a superior borough i canny lieeeee

[@sohopedeco]

So many football teams! You should do one about the Premier League and the Champions. ;)

[@mackenziejj123]

Ah another guy born in Kingston hospital! I'm glad to share my birthplace with you.

[@beriligum]

A series of videos on each of the underground stop names sounds cool! Go for it

[@Bus_Driver_Jay]

Anyone else here from Newham?

[@TheSenator007]

When I stayed in London, I noticed my hotel was located in the Borough of Brent. Which made me wonder if the Brent Oilfield in the North Sea and the name of the borough had anything to do with each other. I just looked it up and found out they had nothing to do with each other; Shell named its UK oil fields after water birds with the Brent Oilfield named after the brent goose, which got its name from old Norse, not Celtic like the river Brent after which the borough was named.

[@chrisfortune1813]

At the start of the bit for Merton you show a shopping center which if I am not mistaken is in Wimbledon

[@MagickJam]

Eyyy that picture for Barnet is literally right in front of my University!

[@TheHollowBodiesBand]

I suppose nobody cares, but I’ll explain the names of the municipalities of Greater Monterrey, México. Monterrey: stated by the founder Diego de Montemayor as “Ciudad Metropolitana de Nuestra Señora de Monterrey” (Metropolitan City of Our Lady of Monterrey) in honour of Gaspar Zúñiga, count of Monterrei, Spain. Most likely composed of “Monte”, hill or mountain, and “Rey”, king. Montreal is often considered as name share. San Pedro Garza García: San Pedro is for the Valle de San Pedro de los Nogales (Saint Peter of the Pecan Trees Valley), Garza García are the last names of former Nuevo León governor Genaro Garza García. Garza is spanish for egret and García comes from either ibero-aquitan “kartzea”, something related to bears, or goth for “prince of graceful sight”. Santa Catarina: Named after Saint Catherine. The name itself comes from greek “Aikateríné”, which means pure or immaculate. Escobedo: Named after Mariano Escobedo, notorious mexican general, born in Nuevo León. Escobedo derives from Escobar (like Pablo) and most likely means “place of brooms” Guadalupe: Named after the Virgen de Guadalupe, it probably comes Arabic influence. Wad-al-upe supposedly means “hidden river”. San Nicolás de los Garza: Saint Nicholas was the patron saint of a small village owned by a family called Garza, thus, Saint Nicholas of the Garza. Garza is spanish for egret. Apodaca: named after Salvador Apodaca, bishop of Linares. That last name comes from basque “Apodaka” that means “unknown town” Santiago: in honour of James, son of Zebedee. Iaqob, or Jacob. The portuguese name him São Tiago, and old spanish refers to him as San Diego, probably as a deformation of vulgar latin Sanctu Iacobu. Salinas Victoria: Salinas refers to the “Valle de las Salinas” (Valley of Salt Lakes”. Victoria honours Mexico’s first president Guadalupe Victoria, and the word itself means victory. García: after Joaquín García, twice governor of the state. García comes from either ibero-aquitan “kartzea”, something related to bears, or goth for “prince of graceful sight”. Juárez: after Benito Juárez, notable mexican president. It probably derives from Suárez, “son of Suero” or “son of Suaro”, as spanish orthography was rather vague and “S” and “Sh” were sometimes written with “X” (also see “Mexico”, comes from the Mexica people that should be pronounced “Meshika”), the sound of “X” eventually became the “spanish J” which is like a very strong “english H” Cadereyta Jiménez: after New Spain’s 16th viceroy Lope Díaz de Armendariz, marquis of Cadereita. This name probably comes from basque-celtic-hispanic and arabic influence. “Al-quasr” means “castle” or “fortress”, included in spanish language as “alcázar”. When we combine this with early spanish “eyllos” or “eitas” (them) we get “Quasr-eita” or “Quadr-eita”, “the ones from the castle”. Jiménez in honour of mexican independence hero General Mariano Jiménez, meaning “son of Jimeno”. Pesquería: “Fishing”, one of the activities that can be done on Pesquería River, or “Fishing River”.

[@ailinos]

TheHollowBodiesBand I care. That's fascinating!!

[@ConfederateHallucigenia]

Lol i used to live in croydon and the picture you selected for croydon is about 2 mins away from my house. Lol

[@pappy9473]

Yes please. I'm too lazy to research the names of London's tube stations. Please do it. Thank you.

[@OllieV__nl]

Seeing as I'm going to London in a few weeks, it's nice to now have some useless knowledge - my favourite kind of knowledge - on it.

[@JohnSmith-rf2op]

Please don't come here you'll get stabbed x - From everyone Londoner ever

[@OllieV__nl]

Too late, can't cancel. Though yeah, I read the news. Crime statistics and news don't give the time of the crime, though. I'm guess I'm safe-ish if I don't go out after 8? Not a nightlife person anyway.

[@benedictcase4290]

Just go to the north and centre of London they are the only nice parts edit:when I say north I mean Camden and Islington

[@hlund73]

No voiceless dental fricatives were harmed during the making of this video.

[@ACinDorset]

As a kid in the 70s I grew up in Brixton/ Clapham (Lambeth). I moved away and then returned to London in the 80s as student living in Tooting (Merton), Arsenal (Islington) and Walthamstow (Waltham Forest). I started work in the 90s and lived in rented places in Golders Green, Finchley and Southgate (Barnet) and then Palmers Green (Enfield). Can anyone (genuinely) beat that: 6 different boroughs?

[@TheSkatedude360]

U say Camden as if it was spelt candem

[@leod-sigefast]

Man-dem

[@massiveferguson9466]

In the bit on Enfield, one possible etymology was given as field or place of lambs and it was said that "ean" meant lamb in old English. Dunno about that but that is pretty much the word for lamb in modern Welsh and close to the word for lamb in modern Irish. The jokey comment about Hillingdon being close to meaning "hill hill"- Try Pendle Hill,Lancashire or Bredon Hill Gloucestershire. Both have three words for hill in their names. Also the River Avon nowadays looks like River River-avon/afon being the Welsh word for River.

[@TheSam1902]

Same music as CGP Grey's video, this music fits so well to the English people I cannot blame you for using it lol

[@golgarisoul]

More London name explain please.

[@Musketeer009]

The boundary of the City is that of Londinium, the old Roman city.

[@CodOpsZombies]

The tube line series sounds good!

[@skyr1447]

You should do a video on the Isle of Wight, we have some cool sounding places here.

[@yunoewig3095]

My home country: London. Is London your country? (continuing the endless old joke…)

[@dennyderawan986]

Daniel Sampaio England is my city

[@riotact9718]

E N G L A N D I S M Y C I T Y

[@bprinter9238]

Daniel Sampaio I thought that too, but I rewinded and he said 'the capital city of my country, London'

[@yunoewig3095]

B Printer I know he said “the capital of my country is London”. I was just making a joke.

[@faristaj2326]

Daniel Sampaio Russia is my continent

[@jerseydevs2000]

I think you should still do the Underground stops, but by line or groups of lines rather than all in one go. Of course this would mean some repetition at times but it may be easier.

[@SoundBlackRecordings]

Do the boroughs of Berlin next! :D

[@FreterP]

Haben wir nicht nur vier?

[@SoundBlackRecordings]

Well there are lots of sections here aren't there? Neukolln, Fhain, Xerg, Pberg, Wedding, Charlottenburg, Schöneberg, Schöneweide LOL

[@FreterP]

Well I really only thought about the main ones. Neukölln, Wedding, Charlottenburg, Schöneberg, Berlin Mitte.

[@SoundBlackRecordings]

Oh I forgot Mitte. LOL I never go there. LOL

[@paulmorris3613]

Despite all the criticism well done for trying to explain the name origins of the boroughs .yes many were not pronounced like local might state them, but well done for trying to explain.

[@raymondstrunk4770]

Appreciate the work. Thanks for another great video.

[@masonjh1103]

👌

[@ladylioness06]

There is also a Kingston in Canada, not too far from the capital, Ottawa. Kingston, in Ontario, was intended to be the capital city, but it was later determined that it was too close to the American border, so Ottawa was chosen instead, in part for it's more defensible position.

[@stevene6181]

oi bruv, we gonna talk about all firty free buruhs ov london

[@stocktonnash]

I love linguistics lessons from someone who says “firty free”

[@roymartintandberg5658]

Because England is my city

[@finnley-b]

no stop

[@roymartintandberg5658]

bluefire_YT Sorry. (Grabs gunk)

[@SormonAusPol]

Its funny living in Adelaide (a British founded city in Australia) how halve these names are names of suburbs and councils here as well. Probably the same for other Australian Cities.

[@kaiserwilhelm3933]

How is London the capital of your home country when England is actually a city?

[@curiousitykilledthecat9933]

TheRenaissanceman65 issa joke

[@SuperBartles]

"Two world wars and one world cup, doodah, doodah"

[@ashiko7376]

??? Kaiser, how can England be a city??? London is the capital of England!

[@Gadas1]

You lot are idiots England is my city

[@Gadas1]

@Tabourba someone doesn't know about the meme due to someone associated with the sidemen

[@InstallaFriend]

British history is some of the richest in the world. So interesting to get into, and I'm a British citizen. All we know just growing up normally in Britain is how to get blindly drunk and avoid the law. It's always nice to be validated in thinking there's more to this country.

[@scotlandboy3107]

I despise what has happened to London.

[@danochy5522]

London's a good city

[@emardis8982]

What has happened to London that you despise?

[@scotlandboy3107]

I despise that it isn’t a English city anymore, that there are no English people there, that there are no go zones.

[@danochy5522]

None of which are true lmao

[@jazz4778]

BumBum II Pfft have you ever even been to London? If you have you'd know that's utter bullshit

[@billyuk6339]

What you forgot to also say, is that many of those places mention in the Greater London area were in different counties once upon a time! IE: Enfield, use to be in Middlesex, etc. Maybe another video which looks at English/UK cities that have swallowed up boroughs to boost its coffers!

[@NitroIndigo]

Barnet... sounds like it could be a good name for a character with fire powers.

[@jeffreywilliams13]

I am from north of the river so anything south of the river is still new to me and I have been born and bred a Londoner. I heard they still eat their first born south of the river during a full moon. But I do enjoy listening to foreigners getting their tongue around some of the areas in the capital especially Southwark. Come to think of it so do some Londoners.

[@GreaterEthio]

Jeffrey Williams north London the gateway to the north and Scotland while my south is gateway to the European continent ;)