Throughout history countries have changed names with new monarchs, new governments, following the rise and fall of empires, and sometimes for seemingly no reason at all. The names can be geographical, it could be the name in the local language, or maybe named after an ethnic group. Most countries that change names today do so only in only minor ways, yet there are always exceptions. How many of the country name changes below do you know?
Cape Verde
In 1456, Portuguese explorers discovered the uninhabited archipelago, 570 kilometres off the west coast of Africa. They named the archipelago after the Cape Verde Peninsula on the Senegalese coast. Cape Verde, or Cabo Verde in Portuguese, literally means “green cape”. In 1951, the status of the colony was changed to an overseas province, and in 1975, Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal. Since their discovery, the islands have always been know as Cabo Verde in Portuguese and as Cape Verde in English. In 2013, Cape Verde announced to the United Nations that their official name should no longer be translated into other languages and that from now on they would only be known as Cabo Verde.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Historically the lands of the modern day Czech Republic were known as Bohemia. The name Bohemia derives from the Celtic tribe of Boii who inhabited the area from the 4th century BC. Known as Boiohaemum in Latin and Boi-haima in Germanic, the name literally meant “home of the Boii”. In the 800s, the country became known as the Duchy of Bohemia, and in the 11th century the Kingdom of Bohemia. The Bohemian state included the three historical lands: Bohemia (Čechy), Moravia (Morava) and Silesia (Slezsko). The higher status of the Bohemian region led to that name being used for the larger country, with the people and language of this country being commonly referred to as Bohemian. In 1918, following the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia was founded as one of the successor states. In 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the independent countries of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The words “Czechian”, “Czechish”, “Czechic”, and “Czech” date back to the 17th century, and the name ‘Czechia’ was first used in the English language in the 1840s. In 1993, following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Czechia was proposed as a common English name. In 2016 the government of the Czech Republic approved of Czechia as the official short name of the country.
The Gambia
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the British Empire and the French Empire struggled continually for supremacy of the Senegal River and the Gambia River. In 1856, the British Empire had full control of The Gambia. In 1889, The Gambia became a British Crown colony called British Gambia. In 1963, the United Kingdom granted full internal self-governance. In 1965, The Gambia gained independence as a constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth. In 1970, The Gambia became a republic within the Commonwealth, known as the Republic of The Gambia. In 2013, The Gambia left the Commonwealth. In 2015, the then administration change to official name to the Islamic Republic of The Gambia. In 2017, the new administration reverted the name to the Republic of The Gambia and began the process of rejoining the Commonwealth. The Gambia officially rejoined the Commonwealth in 2018.
Hungary
In Hungarian language the name of the country is Magyarország; ‘magyar’ meaning Hungarian, and ‘ország’ meaning country. In 895, Hungarian tribes united for the first time as the Principality of Hungary. In 1000, the first Kingdom of Hungary was established. The second Kingdom of Hungary was establisted in 1301. The third Kingdom of Hungary was a part of the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy. In 1867, Hungary became a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From 1918 to 1920, following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I, Hungary transitioned between three different republics. In 1920, a new Kingdom of Hungary emerged. During this time Hungary was initially aligned with the Axis. In 1946, following World World II, Hungary came under Soviet sphere of influence as the second Hungarian Republic. In 1949, the one-party socialist Hungarian People’s Republic was established. In 1989, communism came to and end and the third Hungarian Republic was established. In 2012, the Republic of Hungary enacted a new constitution in which the country’s name was officially changed to Hungary.
MACEDONIA
Macedonians are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia. The formation of Macedonians as a separate people was shaped by population displacement and language shift. It was only in the late 1800s that Macedonian identity began emerging. Yugoslavia (“Southern Slav Land”) came into existence as a country in 1918, following World War I. Originally known as the ‘Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes’, the offical name was changed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. Yugoslavia was invaded Axis Powers in 1941. By 1945, Yugoslavia had been fully liberated and Axis forces expelled. In late 1945, the king was deposed and Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia declared. Yugoslavia consisted of six socialist republics, including the Socialist Republic of Macedonia.
The new republic’s name immediately sparked controversy with Greece, as it was adjacent to the Greek region of Macedonia, which had derived from the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. Greece further objected to the use of the term “Macedonian”, as over 2 million ethnic Greeks identify themselves as Macedonians and they view themselves as unrelated to the new ethnic “Macedonians”. Greece further accused Macedonia of appropriating symbols and figures that were historically considered part of Greek culture (such as the Vergina Sun and Alexander the Great), and of promoting the irredentist concept of a United Macedonia.
In 1991, during the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Republic of Macedonia declared independence. Greece escalated the naming dispute to the highest level of international mediation, involving numerous attempts to achieve a resolution. In 1995, the two countries formalised bilateral relations and committed to start negotiations on the naming issue, under the auspices of the United Nations. Until a solution was found, the provisional reference “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (FYROM) was used by multiple international organisations and states. In 2018 an agreement was finally reached whereby the “Republic of Macedonia” would become the “Republic of North Macedonia“. This became official in 2019, ending 74 years of dispute.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH
The region of Nagorno-Karabakh was claimed by both the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Republic of Armenia when both countries became independent follwing the fall of the Russian Empire in 1918. A brief war between Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out over Nagorno-Karabakh in 1920. The dispute ended after the Soviet Union established control over the area and created the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923. During the fall of the Soviet Union, the region re-emerged as a source of dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In 1991, a referendum held in the NKAO resulted in a declaration of independence based on its right of self-determination. A large-scale ethnic conflict led to the 1991–1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War. The war ended with a ceasefire and the formation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In 2017, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic officially changed its name to the Republic of Artsakh. The region remains disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan. No UN member states currently recognise the Artsakh Republic and consider the region as Armenian occupied territory of Azerbaijan.
SWAZILAND
Swazi settlers began moving to the region of present day Swaziland around 1600. In the 1840s, the Dutch made the first European contact with the Swazi people. In the years that follow, hundreds of European settlers moved to the region. In 1881, the British Empire officially recognising Swazi independence. In 1903, after the British victory in the Second Boer War, Swaziland became a British protectorate. Swaziland peacefully gained independence in 1968. In 2018, the Kingdom of Swaziland renamed itself the Kingdom of Eswatini to mark the 50th anniversary of Swazi independence. Eswatini means “land of the Swazis” in the Swazi language.
Thoughout history, its more often that villages and towns change names more so than cities or countries. In the 2000s, its quite rare that cities change names, and even more so capital cities. In 2019, the capital city of Kazakhstan, with a population of 1.2 million, officially changed its name.
Astana
In 2019, Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, officially changed its name to Nur-Sultan. The city of Nur-Sultan began as the small settlement of Akmoly on the Ishim River in 1830. The name possibly deriving from the local landmark of Akmola; literally meaning “a white grave” in Kazakh. In 1832, the settlement was granted town status and named Akmolinsk. By 1900 the population was around 7000. During and following WW2, Akmolinsk was an important transport and industrial hub. 1961 Akmolinsk was renamed Tselinograd. In 1963 the city was completely transformed with new high-rise housing districts and number of new monumental public buildings, palaces, an airport, and sporting venues. In 1992, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and independence of Kazakhstan, the city’s original name was restored in the modified form of Akmola. In 1994, the process began to transfer the capital from Almaty to Akmola. The capital was transferred in 1997, and the city renamed to Astana in 1998. In 2019, president Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned. He had been president of the Kazakh SSR from 1990 to 1991 and president of the Republic of Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2019. In 2019, following his election, his predecessor renamed Astana to Nur-Sultan in his honour. Time will tell if the new name stick.
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