Why are so many North American places named with Native American words?

Like, for instance, Canada, Ontario, Toronto, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Dakota, Kansas, Utah, Montana, Oregon, New Mexico, Tennessee, Alaska, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, Wyoming, etc.? Why is it?

Why are so many North American places named with Native American words?
The answer is rather self-explanatory, don't ya think?





Not only were Natives tribes the ones that originally coined terms to refer to geographical regions and landmarks (i.e. rivers and such), but commonality is among the strongest tools for assimilation. For the same reasons, Christians retain rituals, holidays, and stories that have roots in Paganism.
Reply:...because it was land that originally belonged to us?





Don't tell me you are unaware of several hundred years of the colonization of our land by European invaders. Several of the original places retain the names we (Natives) assigned to them.





You may find it interesting to note that it isn't just place names that come from old Native words. There are a few words used commonly in English that actually came directly from my tribe's language (the Maliseets) - moose and toboggan.
Reply:Because those were the words for place names before Europeans came, and often there was enough interaction with the Natives for the Whites to learn the words, and to use them. Moreover, there is a ironic and paradoxical romantic fascination with the Native Peoples among Europeans in North America, and so you get the use of lots of Native words in place names, and the use of Native imagery in mascots and the like, as well.
Reply:Because this place used to be owned by native americans, and the place names are usually derived from either the names of the tribes that used to live there or the name the natives used to refer to the area.
Reply:Because obviously the Native Americans, not the Europeans, were here first and already had names for places. Have you ever took a History class before I mean seriously how old are you?
Reply:I cannot believe you could be that ignorant. What peoples inhabited this and other continents - do you think it was we caucasions???
Reply:Because they are not just Native American words but just native words from the First Nations people. They crossed the Bering strait, some stayed here in the north and some kept moving south.
Reply:I agree with the first poster, after all white americans are only a relatively new race of people
Reply:obviously because we named them.
Reply:Gosh, I don't know. Maybe because the Native Americans were here first?