Australia was initially divided into two halves by James Cook. The first half, New Holland, was the original English name for Australia and comprised the western otherwise "unoccupied" portion of the continent. The second half, New South Wales, was named by Cook himself but the reasons behind his decision remain somewhat of a mystery. Cook was born in Merton, a town far away from South Wales in the North Riding of Yorkshire so whatever ties he had to South Wales perhaps lay undiscovered for historians to find out. There is speculation that some element of the geography or coastline of New South Wales inspired Cook to name the new province after South Wales, although what precisely he thought remains anyone's guess. An alternative theory states that the name of the then-nascent colony was chosen at random -- he originally toyed with naming the province "New Wales" -- perhaps to honor Welsh members of his crew or to fit with the de novo appellation so popular amongst English colonists in years prior.