La historia redibuja las fronteras e incluso modifica la nomenclatura de los países. Estos son algunos de los cambios más significativos de los últimos tiempos.
When we were at school – some of us recently and some of us not so recently – we all had geography lessons. We learnt the names of numerous countries and their places in the world. The information, at that time, seemed as certain as the chemical elements of the periodic table. Well, we were wrong – at least as far as the names were concerned. Yugoslavia, Zanzibar, the Soviet Union, Burma, Western Samoa, Ceylon, Rhodesia, Czechoslovakia (any or all of them, depending on your age): where are they now? The answer: in exactly the same place, but they have all been ‘victims’ of geographical renaming.
Out with the Old
Geographical renaming is actually nothing new. Terra de Santa Cruz became Brazil around 1530, New Spain changed into Mexico in 1821, and Iran replaced Persia in 1935.
The main reason for renaming is political: countries acquire independence and want a new name, or they return to their original name after a period under another name, or they divide into two separate entities for reasons of identity.
Second World War
Since the Second World War, numerous countries have changed names, often several times, in both Africa and Asia. Siam became Thailand in 1949 to reflect the name the locals used. Ceylon changed to Sri Lanka in 1972, and Burma to Myanmar in 1989, to eliminate the colonial past. The Khmer Republic, meanwhile, became Kampuchea in 1975, and then Cambodia in 1991. In Africa, the Congo Free State went through four changes before deciding on Zaire in 1971. After a number of changes, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980.
Eastern Europe
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, all the maps of Eastern Europe became irrelevant. The ‘new’ countries created from the old USSR included Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Yugoslavia separated into the modern states of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro between 1991 and 2006. Czechoslovakia, meanwhile, spent three years deciding what to call itself, and even whether it should use hyphens or not (the ‘Hyphen War’), before finally opting for the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
Sadly, further name-changes cannot be ruled out. At least the map-makers would be happy.
Glossary
certain: incuestionable
at least: al menos
as far as the names were concerned: por lo que respecta a los nombres
to become: convertirse
main: principal
several: varios
to reflect: reflejar
locals: nativos, gente del país
Myanmar: Birmania
to go through: pasar por, atravesar
fall: caída
Latvia: Letonia
meanwhile: mientras tanto
whether: si
hyphens: guiones
further: más, otros
to rule out: descartar
Fuente: revista Speak up https://www.speakup.es/