>> the question in the puzzle was helped develop an accurate way for measuring longitude while seafaring.
Well, we cannot ask people who build the puzzles to be accurate but my vote is that the definition is mistaken. Harrison developed a tool (the chronometer) not a “way” (which others did).
As for the “why do we call other countries/places something other than what the people who live there do?”, I have had this argument many times with many people, last time as recently as yesterday. The answer is “because we speak our own language, not theirs”.
My friend calls me yesterday and tells me he had a hot date with this Greek chick from Thesaloniki. I pointed out that the name of that city in English is Salonica and he immediately started an argument because he is the type of guy who just will never admit he is wrong. (Although I know that night he impressed his date by telling her how much he knows about Thesaloniki, which is Salonica in english).
So he went into the (IMHO really stupid) argument that we should call places what the people who live there called them.
So… What about places that are hardly pronounceable in your own language?
What about places where more than one language is spoken and they have different names for the place?
What about places where nobody lives?
What about names that have meanings? Why say BeiJing when to them it means “northern capital”? The chinese call their country Zhong Guo. Should we say Zhong Guo or rather “Central Kingdom” which is what it means? Should we demand from them reciprocity and ask them to stop calling America MeiGuo?
What about man-made structures (castles, bridges, great walls, etc)?
What about products of a specific region? (Sherry is Jerez in Spanish)
What about any product? If a central American sweatshop makes an item and calls it a “jalipa”, who are you to call it anything else?
Where do you draw the line?
The fact is we speak our language, not theirs. And our language has evolved differently. If you want to pick on such inconsistencies, the language is full of them. Why do we call a “matinee” a show that takes place in the afternoon when the meaning of the word is “morning”? Because the language has evolved, and meanings and words change. And geographical names are no different.
So, for me, the capital of China is Pekin because I am speaking English. When I speak Chinese i will call it BeiJing. In English I will say HongKong even though that’s not what the natives call it. They may own the place, but they don’t own the English language.