In Turkish, the bird known as a “turkey” is called hindi, meaning “from India.” In India, however, it’s referred to as “Peru.” In Arabic, it’s called the “Greek chicken,” while in Greek it’s known as the “French chicken,” and in French, the “Indian chicken.” Despite the variety of names, the bird is native to none of these regions. The unusual naming history goes back to the 16th century, when European explorers first came across turkeys in the Americas. At the time, global trade routes were still poorly understood, and merchants often misidentified exotic animals and goods as they moved between continents. Because of this confusion, Europeans frequently mixed up the turkey with other birds such as guinea fowl from Africa or species traded through the Ottoman Empire. As the bird spread across Eurasia, each culture linked it to a different “foreign” origin based on their own trade connections and assumptions. The end result is a kind of linguistic chain reaction. English speakers associated it with Turkey, Turks linked it to India, the French tied it to India as well, Arabs connected it to Greece, Greeks to France, and Portuguese speakers to Peru. In the end, a single North American bird ended up carrying a whole map of mistaken identities across several continents.(Historic Vids)