How do countries get their names?
The Solomon Islands also belong to this category, though in a round-about way: The Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira came to the islands in 1568. Through some mix-up, perhaps by his own doing, rumors circulated that he found gold, and the islands were named after the wise, wealthy biblical king Solomon, who was said to get his gold from Ophir, an unidentified land known for its riches. Alas, by most accounts Mendaña found no such thing.
