Countries Which Changed Their Names 

So which name do you prefer? Czech Republic or Czechia?

You missed a lot of countries: Siam to Thailand Burma to Myanmar East Pakistan to Bangladesh Gold Coast to Ghana Zaire to Congo French Sudan to Mali Mesopotamia to Iraq Kingdom of Hejaz & Nejd to Saudi Arabia

British Honduras to Belize Dahomey to Benin British Guiana to Guyana Malagasy to Madagascar Formosa to Taiwan

Im surprised he didnt mention Burma changing to Myanmar or Zaire changing to the DRC

Next week I am going skiing in Swaziland and the week after a safari in Switzerland. Greetings from Germany...🍺

In Greece, we have always called Czech Republic by its "new" name: Czechia.

Rhodesia to Zimbabwe Nyasaland to Malawi Upper Volta to Burkina Faso Malagasy to Madagascar Dahomey to Benin French Sudan to Mali Benin and Mali being added👍🏽

How could you confuse Swaziland and Switzerland ? Australia and Austria : Hold our beer please !!!

Fun fact: the country Swaziland officially changed its name to eSwatini in 2018 and is the only country ever to have the first letter of the name a small letter and the second letter to be a capital. You'll never see me again so have a nice day ✌☘🇮🇪

What about Siam to Thailand

Czech Republic is still the official long name, Czechia is a new (also official) short name (the same as Slovak Republic vs Slovakia or Russian Federation vs Russia). Also, Czechia is Česko in Czech, Bohemia is Čechy, there's a MASSIVE difference. Bohemia is only one out of three parts of the country, the others being Moravia and Czech Silesia. If you call the entire country Bohemia, people from the eastern part of the country will certainly not be happy about it.

Nation found by French and Portuguese Everybody: Let's give it an Irish flag

A good one is Taiwan used to be called Formosa. As well as Thailand being Siam previously.

So many more! Some less commonly known ones: British Honduras -> Belize New Hebrides -> Vanuatu Gilbert Islands -> Kritibati Ellice Islands -> Tuvalu South-West Africa -> Namibia Bechuanaland -> Botswana Nyasaland -> Malawi You can probably do separate episodes for former British and former French colonies!

"Translate it to the English so it would be Cape Verde" Wouldn't the English translation be Green Cape?

In Poland it was always "Czechy"

As a brazilian who speaks portuguese, I can tell why the name Ceilão. It used to be sihala, which means land of the lions in their language and we portuguese speakers have this tendency to adapt words to our language without translating it so we transformed sihala into Ceilão. We did something like that with the word delete, in portuguese should be apagar, but we transformed into deletar instead.

02:11 Czech Rep. : We got a shorter name! Czechia Dominican Rep. : We got a shorter name! Dominica Dominica: aM I JoKe tO yOu

Personally i think Eswatini sounds way better the Swaziland.

“For some reason it changed its name to just Jordan.“ Reason was the annexation of the West Bank by Jordan. Now it had both sides of the bank

Cape verde in polish is "Wyspy Zielonego Przylądka" and we always calling it like that, same with ivory coast, we always named it "Wybrzeże Kości Słoniowej",

If your African country is getting confused with Switzerland, I'd say that's good for tourism.

Whoever confuses Swaziland with Switzerland needs help

Thanks for the narration.. Next time remember to include a name change of Tanganyika to currently Tanzania...

I think you could also add Burma/Myanmar and Burkina Faso/Upper Volta. Nice job btw :)

Oh man, You forgot this. *Siam → Thailand*

Zaire -> D.R. Congo

You make very valid points about the different countries and cultures

The British never ever called Ceylon "Say-Lon"! It was always called "See-Lon"!

Its prounounced not “shekia” its “chekia”

The reason why the Portuguese called the island "Ceilão" is because they named it after the majority race of the country, the 'Sinhala' people

The area of Poland has changed names quite a few times (Prussia, Germany, Poland, etc), to indicate a change in leadership. It would be interesting to hear more about that. I have ancestors that came from Danzig, Prussia, but apparently that city goes by the name Gdansk, Poland. I am aware that there is a city in Germany called Danzig, but all the research my family has done shows the Poland location on a map. Several cities changed their name over the years.

When I first saw he title of the video, my mind immediately jumped to Burma/Myanmar. You could imagine my shock after viewing the video. ;)

Shrekia or Shrek republic is my favourite country

1776: United States of America 2019: Divided States of America

Thank you Danny!!!

Nice of you to mention Yugoslavia, but should have ended the name change debacle to present. My grandpa lived his life in 7 countries without leaving this home. There was A LOT of personal document change. "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" (1918) >>> "Kingdom of Yugoslavia" (1929) >>> "Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia" (1945) >>> "Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" (1963) >>> "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" (1992) >>> "Serbia and Montenegro" (2003) >>> "Republic of Serbia" (2006)

Where is Burkina Faso = Upper Volta?

Funny how in Bulgaria we use some old names for some countries, we use at all time Czechia, which is even easier written in cyrillic - Чехия, we use also Germania, for China we use Kitai. The list might go on, but I am too lazy for that :D

Most of the times your background music is National Anthem of Sri Lanka 🇱🇰🖤

who would confuse the European Swaziland with the African Switzerland??? they seem so far apart lol

The Democratic Republic of the Congo used to be named Zaire

1:56 this is cool im part Czech and I never knew that... thanks!

Next to Jordan in The Near East, you could also include Lebanon on your list: I think it was called Phoenicia in Ancient Times.

Burma and Myanmar- a huge change

You are pronouncing Czechia incorrectly. It should be pronounced as "Checkia", not "Sheckia".

Great job my friend

Persia in the Persian language is Pars or Parsa. It was the city from which the Persian empire was governed for many years. The Greeks called it Persepolis meaning city of Persians. The whole country was called Aryan which over time became Iran. So yes the country was never referred to as Persia by Iranians. It would be as if to call the whole of Italy Rome because of the Roman Empire.

Me: *sees Czechia highlited * Also me: Dobrý den!

Rhodesia and Zimbabwe

The United Provinces of Río de La Plata was not a short-lived State. It still remains as one of the official names of Argentina under the Constitutions of 1994 (Art. 35). You could add Argentina to the list of "countries that changed names" and it'd be more accurate.

Love your site.

Hey bro you said "Cabo Verde" perfectly, are you portuguese?

wow. I had no clue about SHREKia.

( thanks for the video ).👍😍😍😍😍😍

I was working in Italy a few years ago. I noticed in one class the world map had Ceylon written, not Sri Lanka. First, it was a recent map, not from the 1950s. I've been there, so I noticed. But one student who actually came from there never noticed

"Ceylon"/"Ceilão" derives from the "Sihalam" on "Sinhalam", a Tamil name for the island (meaning "land of the Sinhalese"), itself derived from the Prakrit "Siela Diva" (Island of the Sinhalese). The country was also known as "Singhala" (used by the 4th Century Chiese pilgrim Fa Xian) or "Sinhalay". Sri Lanka means "Resplendent Island", "Lanka" meaning "Island" in Sanskrit. It was known as Lanka from early times, also as Lanka Deepa or Lak Diva (Island of Lanka - a tautology) - as evidenced by the 3rd-4th century Pali chronicles.

who would be so dull to confuse the European nation of Switzerland with the African kingdom of Swaziland.

I read that the island was called Serindib, from which came the word Serendipity, a lucky discovery.

9:38 I think the Portuguese name _Ceilão_ (most likely pronounced as Ceelan, just like "ão" in São Paulo is pronounced as "San") probably came out of mispronunciation of _Sri Lanka_ itself.

Nice detail to have the countries anthems when you talked about them.

You also forgot Ethiopia which was called Abyssinia before

In Sweden it's "Tjeckien" and the direct translation to that is "Czechia"

Back in like 650AD Jamaicas Tainos named the island Xaymaca(Ya my ca) or Land of Wood and Water, and when the Europeans came they modified it to Jamaica (Jah mae ca) (I belive that's the pronunciation) and we stuck with that name as you can see lol. But go check out abt the Tainos and Arawaks and other indigenous settlers, they actually contributed a lot to humanity as a whole, if your not aware the word barbecue,hammock and many others are derived from indigenous Caribbean and Central and South America Languages! And Tainos also kinda gave us the idea of the Jerk way of cooking. Our housing as well! Gazebos where sorta influenced by the Arawaks and Tainos way of housing.

Here’s why the Portuguese originally called Sri-Lanka Ceilão: From the word சேரன்தீவு - Cerentivu or Cherantheevu. Sri Lanka was in ancient times inhabited by the Nagas and Yakshas. The Nagas were known in Old Tamil as சேரர் (Cherar or Cerar), meaning hill or mountain people. The word தீவு (tivu or theevu) means island, hence Cerentivu means “island of Cheras”. From the word Cerentivu, the Romans called Sri Lanka Serendivis and the Arabs called Sri Lanka Serendip (Serendipity is originated from this word). From this word, the Greeks called Sri Lanka Sielen Diva, and from the word Sielen many European names were derived including the Portuguese Ceilao, Dutch Zeilan and British Ceylon. I wish they’d stuck with Serendip.

It is actually Bosnia and Herzegovina not Bosnia Some people get triggered because of that so I just wanted to address it

Czechia hasn't officially changed it's name at all, just the way we call it in English. In other languages it's been Tschechien (German) rather that Tschechische Republik, Tsjechie in Dutch, Chequia in Spanish and so on for decades, ever since Czechoslovakia ceased to be. Speakers of those languages also didn't know that it was called the Czech Republic in English and just called it Czechia despite that being incorrect. So all that has changed is what native English speakers call it, which is not a name change per se.

Hi. Bolivian here. Just a little correction about what is stated from 1:33. The current official name of Bolivia is not "Plurinational _Republic_ of Bolivia" but "Plurinational *State* of Bolivia" (or in Spanish: *Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia* . The former official name until 2009 was _República Nacional de Bolivia_ so I guess this is where the confusion is coming from. Interesting video nonetheless. Greetings!

Burma: Myanmar Siam: Thailand Formosa: Taiwan Mesopotamia: Iraq Anatolia: Turkey

Uhm. Rhodesia to Zimbabwe Basotho to Lesotho Betchuanaland to Botswana South West Africa to Namibia Congo to Zaire and back again Malawi also used to be called something else, i believe

I was expecting to see Holland--> The Netherlands on here.

In Dutch/Flemish it always has been Tsjechië wich means Czechia. We also say Kaapverdië en Ivoorkust in our own language.

You should do a video on countries that have different names for themselves. For example, in English it's called Armenia but in Armenia it's called Hayastan. In English it's called India but in India it's called Bharat/Hindustan. In English it's called Japan in Japan it's called Nippon. In English it's called Greece but in Greece it's called Hellas/Ellas. In English it's called Germany but in Germany it's called Deutschland

Island: exists* Portuguese: it's real free estate!

We are about to add America to that list. Pansiland, Nomomenherenomo, or Mydadleftandimmad or Wokfonuttin or Gimmefree many accurate and fitting replacements. Or maybe Eightplacetrophy

Brazil, in it's earliest history was called Pindorama (land of the palm trees) by some of it's indigenous people (the tupis). Later when the portuguese arrive they first named the land Terra de Santa Cruz (land of the holy cross) and a few years later Terra de Vera Cruz (land of the true cross). They finally settled on the name Brazil because of the redwood 'pau brasil' that was extracted in the early days of colonisation. One thing I find interesting is that the name Brasil in portughese is actually an adjective meaning 'like embers', so that in the end Brazil's name just means red or more specifically ember red.

Under Donald Trump, China has changed its name to "Tchai-nah"

Siam to Thailand Burma to Myanmar Federation of Malaya to Malaysia (Malaya+Sabah+Sarawak)

Montessori teachers during geography lesson about countries of Africa: Swaziland - a country in Southern Africa King Mswati III: *changes the country’s name to Eswatini cause it sounds like Switzerland*

Well, the last change worked. Ive never confused The Kingdom of Eswaitini with Switzerland.

Persia and the Czech Republic sound cooler tbh

It's really nice when you encounter your fellow countrymen doing stuff you are used to only watch from outside people. Keep it up! Continuação do excelente trabalho! Força nisso! :D

Australia actually used to be New Holland. In 1642, Abel Tasman from the Netherlands, the first person to chart eastern Australia was the person to name it after Holland (The Netherlands). The name was then changed to Australia In 1824, though it took a while for the new name to catch on.

A very interesting video would be how locals call their countries and how people from abroad call them. For example, Greece is called Hellas by its people but Greece from other countries. I am sure there are a lot of other examples, like Albania, Finland, Germany etc.

Transjordan ("On the other side of the river Jordan") became Jordan when, after the Arabs lost the war against the newly-formed State of Israel, Transjordan annexed the West Bank (or Cisjordan, i.e., "On this side of the river Jordan"). The country had then territory on both sides of the river, hence the name change. When Jordan lost the West Bank in 1967, after the Six Days War, they kept their name unchanged because changing it back to Transjordan would be akin to accepting the territorial loss.

I’m so happy Swaziland changed the name, as a wee lad I was so confused as to why the Swiss were in Africa

6:52 Egypt also is the western name of MASR مصر ... However , our Egyptian brothers never asked you guys to change it to the real one 😅 .

In the Netherlands we always say 'Tsjechië' instead of Tsjechische Republiek. So for me as a Dutch person it wasn't new

Kazakhstan's capital changed it's name from Astana to Nur-Sultan

There's a country called Germany/Allemagne/Alemania/Tedeschi/Deutschland. Dutch people are from Holland/Netherlands.

Siam was exonym that eventually became endonym. Thai started to use the name "Siam" to represent the whole Kingdom since the reign of King Rama IV through King Rama VIII almost a hundred year. But you're right, the word "Siam" had been used by foreigners or "Farang" to represent Kingdom of the Thai people since Ayutthaya era. The Thais themselves had never called their land "Siam" but rather "Krung Thai" which means "Thai City/Land" and called themselves as "Kon Thai" which means "Thai people".

8:06 You forgot to mentioned that Yugoslavia incorporated also a considerable Hungarian population and an Albanian one. Nationalities which aren'to Slavic at all.

How about Myanmar?

Suggestions for Part 2: Upper Volta - Burkina Faso Siam - Thailand Formosa - Taiwan Burma - Myanmar Rhodesia - Zimbabwe

As a portuguese, I feel that this guy is one aswell, the way he pronounced Cabo Verde was just perfect, and usually non-portuguese speakers tend to say /Caboh Vuh-rd/

Montenegro changed it’s name many times through history. These are all of the Montenegrin countries that ever existed (in historical order): Princedom of Dioclea (Kneževina Duklja) Kingdom of Dioclea (Kraljevina Duklja) Zeta under the Balšić Dynasty (Zeta pod Balšićima) Zeta under the Crnojević Dynasty (Zeta pod Crnojevićima) Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro (Mitropolstvo Crnogorsko) Principality of Montenegro (Knjaževina Crna Gora) Kingdom of Montenegro (Kraljevina Crna Gora) Zeta Banovina (Zeta Banovina) Montenegro Under Italian Governante (Crna Gora pod Italijanskom Vlašću) Montenegro Under German Governante (Crna Gora pod Njemačkom Vlašću) Socialist Republic of Montenegro (Socijalistička Republika Crna Gora) Serbia and Montenegro (Srbija i Crna Gora) Republic of Montenegro (Republika Crna Gora) 1200 godina Istorije, od nastanka do danas, Ime države možda se promijenilo, ali Narod i Sloboda nikada neće! Da je Vječna Crna Gora!🇲🇪

In our country Egypt is called/pronounced : Mishor. Egypt is probably used by Europeans like Persia.

I love this kind of videos!

Concerning Persia, before the Islamic revolution, I have always heard the leader of Persia to be referred to as the 'Shah of Iran'. In all my 25 years before the revolution I never heard the term 'Shah of Persia'.

Egypt maybe? Although maybe in Coptic Egyptian they still call it Kemet