You can travel the world without ever leaving Illinois

The U.S. is filled with towns and cities named after foreign locales, letting us take exotic trips to Naples, Florida, and Holland, Michigan, without pulling out a passport.

• But right here in Illinois we enjoy an unusually high number of internationally named towns — and few we actually pronounce like the original spot.

What's happening: A new project from the Axios Visuals team has mapped out a veritable United Nations of these towns and pinpointed their origins with a handy corresponding map.

• It's super-cool and a great rabbit hole to explore on this chilly Sunday morning.

By the numbers: Checking in with at least 66, Illinois boasts the fifth-most municipalities named after foreign places.

• Take that, Florida, with just 19!

The big picture: These names often reflect the origins of early immigrants to an area, explaining why Dutch names cluster in the Hudson Valley and Michigan and Scandinavian names pop up in Minnesota.

• But they also represent who had money and the ability to legally settle in the U.S. more than 100 years ago.
• Nearly three-quarters (72%) of names in the data set originate from Europe, while only a small fraction come from Asia, Africa or Latin America.

Zoom in: In Illinois we've lots of towns with foreign names and lots of creative pronunciations for them, including those named after Cairo, Egypt, Palos de la Frontera, Spain, and Beijing, China.

• KAY-roh
• PAY-los
• PEE-kin

Pop quiz: Guess which suburbs were named after:

• Poznań, Poland
• Bannockburn, Scotland
• Volos, Greece
• Benzen, Germany

Weigh in: Do you live in one of these towns? Did you know about its cultural history?

• Email us to share any interesting factoids, pronunciation differences or photos.

Go deeper: Check out the full project with interactive maps, graphics and more!