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Endonym World Map

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Just think about the names of countries.

Why do English speakers say Germany instead of Deutschland, as the Germans do?

Or why do Spanish speakers use Estados Unidosde America instead of United States of America?

Endonym World Map

It all comes down to two wordsexonymandendonym.

An exonym is the common name of a geographical region used only outside of the place or linguistic community.

Germany and Estados Unidos de America are both exonyms.

Endonym World Map

It lists the endonym of each country written either in theofficial or national language.

For countries where more than one language is spoken, the most widely used language was selected.

There is also some confusion in Africa, where official languages aren’t always what’s most commonly spoken.

There are also cases where countries officially change their names.