Burma is now Myanmar

[Vidboy10]

is this the first time a country has change their name in this century?

not at all.
For instance, Istanbul was once called Constantinople.

He said THIS century, not the 15th.

Infinite Zero is a she.

I din't realised that IZ said that...

 

[Minox]

Back on topic now boys.

 

[Vulpes Abnocto]

I'll take the blame for that one. Sorry Minox.

And somehow I skimmed right past the word "century" in IZZY's post.

Guess I was anxious to use the joke that came to mind.

/ Vulpes' off-topic crap

 

[BlueStar]

is this the first time a country has change their name in this century?

not at all.
For instance, Istanbul was once called Constantinople.

He said THIS century, not the 15th.

Plus Istanbul is a city, not a country. Since 1929 Serbia and Montenego (as it's now known) has been the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with things in between like half of it being called Kingdom of Serbia or its time in limbo as "The former Yugoslavia"

Although you could argue it was a different country with changing rulers and boarders each time it was renamed, epic conflict tends to do that.

A lot of recent name changes came from former colonies being given more independence. Belize was called British Hondouras until the 70s, Mali was French Sudan, Togo was French Togoland etc. Taiwan was Siam 60 years ago, Zimbabwe was Rhodesia, the former members of the soviet union renamed to drop their ties after it crumbled the like Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic becoming Ukbekistan.

Happens more often than you might think.

 

[GundamXXX]

The Country Formily Known As Burma

 

[CarbonX13]

is this the first time a country has change their name in this century?

Burma was renamed Myanmar a while ago, back in 1988 when they changed from the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma to the Socialist Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The only thing new is that they've adopted a new flag, and shortened their official name (from Socialist Republic of the Union of Myanmar) to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

However, in the past century (20th), there have been quite a few name changes besides Burma's.

Iran was formally known as Persia in the early 1900's by the Western world. It was only after the 1930's or something when the name 'Iran' became known to the Western world, even though the term was used locally for a while.
Bangladesh was called East Pakistan until 1971.
Ghana was called the Gold Coast until 1957.
Belize were the British Honduras until 1973.
Lesotho was known as Basutoland until 1966.
Taiwan was often identified as Formosa until 1945, when Japanese colonization was revoked after World War II. Taiwan, though not an official name, is often used to substitute the official name of its state, the Republic of China, to avoid confusion with the People's Republic of China on the Mainland China region.

Just a few examples.

 

[Infinite Zero]

thanks for the info

 

[Veho]

Since 1929 Serbia and Montenego (as it's now known) has been the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with things in between like half of it being called Kingdom of Serbia or its time in limbo as "The former Yugoslavia"

Not quite. Serbia has always been Serbia, but it was part of different federations/kingdoms/countries. The geographic region was always called Serbia and was a semi-autonomous or entirely autonomous entity. It's like saying England changed its name to United Kingdom.

And Montenegro declared independence in 2006, so Serbia is now known as Republic of Serbia

 

[FAST6191]

I will +1 some of the others with regards to some people needing to learn the layout of places. It need to be name all borders type thing but at least narrow a section of the globe to look at.

@Infinite Zero just about- read up on Serbia, Montenegro, Serbia and Montenegro and Yugoslavia not to mention the independence of Kosovo from Serbia which all happened in the 2000s, not sure what you might classify East-Timor/Timor Leste as though. There were quite a few more in the mid to late 1990's though.

Edit: Veho beat me.

Edit 2: It seems I missed the entire second page of this thread. Urrgh.... I need to read things more carefully.

 

[Veho]

Yeah, but like I said, Serbia was the Republic of Serbia all that time, but the larger federations it was part of kept changing countries and names.

 

[CarbonX13]

I will +1 some of the others with regards to some people needing to learn the layout of places. It need to be name all borders type thing but at least narrow a section of the globe to look at.

@Infinite Zero just about- read up on Serbia, Montenegro, Serbia and Montenegro and Yugoslavia not to mention the independence of Kosovo from Serbia which all happened in the 2000s, not sure what you might classify East-Timor/Timor Leste as though. There were quite a few more in the mid to late 1990's though.

Edit: Veho beat me.

Edit 2: It seems I missed the entire second page of this thread. Urrgh.... I need to read things more carefully.

Thing is, a nation splitting into two isn't really considered a name change. A region gained independence, thus they're going to get a new name to avoid any relation to its former state; it's just a founding of a new country. A name change would be like Burma's change to Myanmar in 1988.