This seems to me to be more connected with the process of colonization than with a particular culture. In the West of Europe, most natural landmarks are if anything more literally named - Red Pike, Black Forest but also Pen Hill and River Avon - literally Hill Hill and River River - and even Torpenhow Hill in Cumbria, literally Hill Hill Hill Hill.

By contrast, once the colonizer encounters new land, things are not understood in the context of that land, but in the context of the colonizer themselves (as a group, not necessarily singularly). One may be content to live in the shadow of Pen Hill in Wales or by the Black Forest in Germany, but in a colonized or simply foreign land one names things Mount Everest (after George Everest, who pointed out at the time it was a stupid idea but was ignored), Livingstone Falls, Victoria Falls.

Many of these are transparent examples either of toadying up to the colonizer's ruler, in-group signalling, or simple vanity. As colonizers, names could be assigned with impunity; the lands they were in were not grounded for them (so to speak), not in the same way as their homelands were grounded. So we see more frivolous, useless and self-indulgent naming conventions from colonizers.

For more on the prevalence of this trend in Africa, see also Decolonizing Place Names by Nna O. Uluocha, and Turning Water Into Gold by Andrea L. Arrington-Sirois.

In the Andaman Islands a particularly on the nose example of renaming in this fashion is Port Blair.

To answer the last question directly: it's about detachment from the land you are describing and colonization.

I suspect you need to look a little closer in both West and East. For instance, I recall that "York" is derived from "place that is rich in boar," "Munich" is "<that place> by the monks," for example. Similarly, in the East, various places were named by or in honor of peoples: Chongqing was named such by Emperor Guangzong in honor of his accession to the throne, and the Mongols renamed Beijing "Khanbaliq" (Khan's City) after their conquest. Ahmedabad, similarly, is "City of Ahmed," which was either named after local saints or a local shah by the name of Ahmed.

The Mughal Empire frequently founded and renamed cities after Imperial figures. Some famous ones include:

Akbarabad - modern Agra, after the 3rd Emperor, who made it his capital

Jahangirnagar - modern Dhaka, after the 4th Emperor Jahangir

Shahjahanabad - Old Delhi, after the 5th Emperor who moved the capital from Agra to Dilli

Aurangabad - after Prince Auranzeb, governor of the Deccan, who went on to be the 6th Emperor