Travel the world without ever leaving Arizona
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The U.S. is filled with towns and cities named after foreign places: You can visit Naples, New York; Paris, Illinois ... or Bagdad, Arizona.
Check out a new project from the Axios Visuals team that visualizes some of these cities with interactive maps, graphics and more.
Between the lines: In many cases, immigrants renamed their new homes for the areas they came from.
- We found four Arizona communities with international names and their origin stories are a bit more unusual.
Zoom in: Legend says the name of the northern Arizona town Bagdad came from a father-son mining operation. The son would yell, "Bag, dad!" when he needed a new ore bag. This theory would explain why Bagdad's spelling differs from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
🤯 Jessica and Jeremy here: We were both shocked to learn the name "Tempe" has Mediterranean roots.
- The butte and wide river in what is now downtown Tempe reminded one of the area's early pioneers of the Vale of Tempe in ancient Greece, according to the city's website.
You tell us: Are you from one of these towns?
- Did you know about the cultural history of your community? Any interesting factoids or photos you'd like to share? Hit reply.
🚗 Go deeper: With interactive maps and graphics, the Axios Visuals team conjured up curated routes for a Mediterranean getaway or a tour of the ancient world — all in the U.S.