Thomas Jefferson’s Greek Names for Michigan

In the five years following the American Revolution in the 1783, the United States was very busy organizing itself as a new nation. One task that it was concerned with was the nationalization of the Northwest Territory, which was claimed by several states (perrycountyindiana.org). Virginia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North and South Carolina, and Georgia all had laid claim to the territory south of Canada, north of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River, and west of the Appalachian mountains. Although all the states didn’t cede their claims at first, the Northwest Territory still needed to be divided and named so it could be properly settled and that government could eventually be established. In late 1783, Thomas Jefferson was appointed to head a three man commission in order to deal with this matter (geo.msu.edu). Jefferson’s 1784 proposal provided names and boundaries for 10 states (see map 2), including the Greek names Chersonesus (peninsula) and Metropotamia (mother of rivers) for parts of Michigan and Polypotamia (many rivers) for an area in what is now southern Illinois (geo.msu.edu). His plan was approved by congress in the Land Ordinance of 1785, but two years later Jefferson was over ruled and the US government decided to divided the Northwest Territory into no more than five states (geo.msu.edu). Starting in 1803, with Ohio, the territory’s states gradually were adopted into the Union receiving their current names (see maps 3 and 4).

In 1805 the territory of Michigan (derived from the Native American Indian word “michigama” (statesymbolsusa.org)) was established and in 1837 Michigan became a state.  Jefferson’s classically derived named were dismissed, but the state names Illinoia and Michigania were in fact kept so we do owe him a great deal. Although his proposal did not last long, it is still important to note, perhaps surprisingly, that Michigan does have Greek origins. Michigan’s Greek connections may not always be easily spotted, but they can be found in many more places than one might think.