Why 'THE' Gold Coast?

[Penny Lane]

Hello.
This is what I've always been wondering but forgot to ask anybody.

Why is it
The Gold Coast?

I've learnt that we don't put 'the' in front of a city name or country name or, stuff.
So, why is that?

Cheers.

(I'm talking about the Gold Coast in Australia :P in case you don't know where that is!)

[Torsten]

Well, the Gold Coast is neither a city name nor a country name, is it? 'The Gold Coast' follows the same pattern as 'the White House', 'the Eiffel Tower', 'the Coco Cabana', 'the Seychelles', etc.

TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between a professor and her student