Torres del Paine, Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, Chile
Paine Chico and the Torres del Paine, seen across Lago Sarmiento de Gamboa.
The origin of the name Paine is unknown. The writer Florence Dixie, who explored the area in 1879, reported that European explorers had named the Torres del Paine Payne, apparently after a triple-peaked mountain in Argentina. However, the name Paine is pronounced Pie-nee, rather than the more obvious English pronunciation Payne, so I'm not so sure about this story. Another theory is that the local Tehuelche people of this region of Chile had links with Araucanian people who lived in the northwest. In the Araucanian language, Paine means sky blue. Why this may have been applied to the region is unclear. Possibly to do with the colour of the lakes. The third (and least plausible) explanation is that the region is name after a German navigator, Heinrich Paine, who captained a vessel in the fleet of Pedro de Mendoza. In 1536, Mendoza founded the settlement of Buenos Aires.
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