Geographical features that are named incorrectly (2015, area, island)

[grega94]

There are many geographical features that don't exactly agree with their names. For instance the sea of galilee is just a freshwater lake. Or the Hudson bay would be more accurately described as a sea. Or the Ozark mountains in Missouri and Arkansas is actually a dissected plateau.

[Mr.Falcon]

Rio de Janeiro - This was a bay, the Guanabara Bay.
Rio Guaíba (in Porto Alegre) - It's a stuary.
Ihéus Bay - The opposite. It's just a river mouth.
Foz do Iguaçú - It's a confluence.

[grega94]

So did the portuguese explorers originally think that the guanabara bay was a river and named it janeiro, and the city got stuck with that name?

[Mr.Falcon]

That's what many say, the exploratory expedition passed by the sea in front of the bay, that has a narrow mouth, on January 1st and named Rio de Janeiro. Then they named Angra dos Reis on January 6th - "Magi's Inlet". (This can be another error, since this bay is a lot bigger than the Guanabara)
Some also explains that the term "ria" was used both for a river's muth or for a bay those days.

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by grega94

So did the portuguese explorers originally think that the guanabara bay was a river and named it janeiro, and the city got stuck with that name?

Janeiro means January in Portuguese, I think you mean Rio which means river in both Spanish and Portuguese

[Donar]

Greenland. A misleading name to fool new settlers.

from wikipedia: "After finding a habitable area and settling there, he named it Grœnland (translated as "Greenland"), supposedly in the hope that the pleasant name would attract settlers"

[MalaMan]

Originally Posted by Donar

Greenland. A misleading name to fool new settlers.

from wikipedia: "After finding a habitable area and settling there, he named it Grœnland (translated as "Greenland"), supposedly in the hope that the pleasant name would attract settlers"

[North 42]

The Detroit River is actually a Strait, not a true river, so really,mot should be known as The Strait of Detroit.

[Acajack]

Deer Lake, Newfoundland, Canada.

There are no deer anywhere on the island of Newfoundland. (Early settlers mistook the caribou for deer.)

[Max96]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There are no deer anywhere on the island of Newfoundland. (Early settlers mistook the caribou for deer.)

Isn't caribou just one of the species of deer?