Identity crisis

How Siam became Thailand and 9 other countries that chose to rebrand

Image: pure julia

Countries rename themselves for many reasons—shedding colonial pasts, embracing local languages, or settling political disputes. Some changes are subtle, others dramatic, but each reflects deep historical, cultural, or geopolitical shifts. Here are 10 times a nation decided to swap out its old name for a new identity.

Image: Yves Alarie

In 1989, the ruling military junta of the country changed "Burma" to "Myanmar" to reflect what it said was a more inclusive, indigenous identity. The name "Burma" was strongly associated with British colonialism and the dominant Bamar ethnic group.

The UN and many countries recognized the change, but some, like the U.S. and UK, resisted for years as a political stance against the unelected military regime behind the change.

Image: S'mile Vilakati

In 2018, King Mswati III declared that Swaziland would become Eswatini, meaning "land of the Swazis" in the local language. He announced the change during the country’s 50th independence anniversary.

The king cited confusion with Switzerland and a desire to break with colonial-era names as reasons. Also, the new name had already been in unofficial use for years during local events.

Image: Hendrik Cornelissen

In 1972, the island nation officially changed its name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka after becoming a republic. "Sri Lanka" derives from Sanskrit, meaning "resplendent island."

The name "Ceylon" was tied to Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial rule. However, some companies (like Ceylon Tea) still use the old name as a global brand.

Image: Kaysha

In 1997, after the dictatorial regime of Mobutu Sese Seko was overthrown, Zaire reverted to its pre-1971 name: the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"Zaire" had been Mobutu’s attempt to Africanize the nation, but reverting to the original name also caused its own problems, since its neighbor is also named the Republic of the Congo, leading to some confusion for both locals and tourists.

Image: Ljupco Dzambazovski

After years of dispute with Greece over the name "Macedonia," the country officially became North Macedonia in 2019. Greece claimed "Macedonia" implied a territorial claim over its northern region of the same name.

The compromise unblocked North Macedonia’s path to NATO and EU talks. Though controversial domestically, the change ended a decades-long diplomatic standoff.

Image: allPhoto Bangkok

Under the Khmer Rouge regime, the country was known as Democratic Kampuchea. After the regime’s fall in 1979, the name gradually returned to "Cambodia," the anglicized form of the original name.

By 1993, with the monarchy restored and a new constitution, "Kingdom of Cambodia" became official. "Kampuchea" is still used in the Khmer language, but not internationally.

Image: Road Ahead

In 1984, revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara renamed Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, meaning "Land of Incorruptible People" in local languages. The old name referred to river tributaries of the region.

Sankara saw the change as a break from colonial legacy and a tribute to national dignity. The people became known as Burkinabé, a new term coined to reflect unity.

Image: Azhar J

This was more a rebranding than a true name change. "The Netherlands" has always been the country’s official name, whereas "Holland" refers only to two provinces. In 2020, the Dutch government stopped using "Holland" in international marketing to avoid confusion.

The change was part of a tourism and trade branding overhaul, with major events like Eurovision and the Olympics adopting "Netherlands" exclusively in their materials.

Image: Mathew Schwartz

In 1939, and again officially after WWII in 1949, the country dropped the name Siam to become Thailand, meaning "land of the free."

The change was mainly driven by a nationalist movement that sought to unify the country under a more inclusive Thai identity. While the name "Siam" carried some specific cultural connotations, the name "Thailand" emphasized sovereignty and the ethnic majority’s rule.

Image: Chloe Evans

In 1980, the unrecognized white minority government of Rhodesia was replaced, and the country became Zimbabwe, derived from "Great Zimbabwe," an ancient city of the region.

The old name honored British imperialist Cecil Rhodes. The new one reclaimed African history and identity after years of brutal conflict.

Slightly to the side

The Earth is crooked. So what?

We might refer to Planet Earth as ‘the globe’, but we know it is more like a slightly flattened sphere —experts would say it’s an oblate spheroid— that is also askew. These two details have major consequences for the climate, the night sky, the way we register locations, and even the way schools plan their academic year. How much does the Earth's being at an angle affect us? Let’s find out!

Why is Earth’s axis tilted? The most widely accepted theory is that, millions of years ago, a young planet Earth collided with another celestial body and was left permanently askew. Earth’s axis, supposedly straight before, now has a tilt of 23.5 degrees. It is also believed that the Moon is a product of this collision.

The Earth is permanently tilted, but it’s not static. The degree of the tilt varies slightly across a cycle of thousands of years, which would explain why seasons were harsher or milder across history. But what keeps the Earth from having a more extreme shift? The Moon. All celestial bodies have their own gravity, and they can affect each other. Moon’s gravity has a pull on the equatorial bulge (Earth’s widest part) and prevents it from being affected by other surrounding planets, while also keeping the axial tilt stable.

The different seasons are the first major consequence of the axial tilt. As the Earth orbits around the Sun, it remains tilted in the same direction, which means that, for half of the orbit, one pole is directly facing the Sun, while the other is directly away. For the next half of the orbit, the positions are reversed. The pole closer to the Sun experiences Summer, while the opposite pole goes through Winter (which means that yes, the Southern hemisphere celebrates Christmas during Summer).

When a compass signals North, what is it pointing towards? Spoiler: not the North Pole. The North Pole (also known as True North, or Geographic North) it is a fixed point in the Arctic Ocean intersected by the rotational axis. Maps and coordinates use this point as a reference for the North. A compass, however, points towards the North of the Earth’s magnetic field, which is constantly shifting. The difference between the two Norths is called declination, and is essential for navigation and map reading.

The Earth is a sphere, but most maps are flat. Something is not adding up, and it’s all the fault of a man called Gerardus Mercator, who, in the 16th century, mapped the Earth in a way that represented the meridians and parallels as straight lines. While this was excellent for navigation, it had its negatives: a size distortion. The farthest land masses are from the equator and closest to the poles, the most inflated in size they appear. For example, in the Mercator projection, Greenland appears close in size to the entire African continent, when in reality it is closer in size to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We all know the difference between the Northern and the Southern hemispheres, but did you know the difference between the Eastern and Western ones? Unlike North and South (which are divided by the equator and experience opposite seasons), the Eastern and Western hemispheres are more of a cultural division, even though they are separated by the Prime meridian and antimeridian. The Eastern Hemisphere is commonly associated with "the Old World" (though it includes Australia), and the Western Hemisphere is "the New World".

Hemispheres split the world equally in size, but not in content. The Northern Hemisphere contains the majority of the Earth’s land mass (around 68%), while the Southern Hemisphere holds the majority of the water (around 80%). As the Northern side has more land, it also houses the majority of the world’s population, around 90%.

North and South experience opposite seasons, but what else is opposite? Storms and whirlpools spin depending on their location—clockwise in the South, counterclockwise in the North—, and the shape of the crescent moon is perceived inverted —a waxing crescent looks like a D from the North and a C from the South.

While bigger celestial objects, such as the Sun or Moon, are visible from any point on Earth, some can only be seen depending on your location. Constellations that are located closer to the Poles are only visible from that hemisphere, and have traditionally been used for navigation and orientation. In the Northern hemisphere, the main examples are Polaris (the north star), Ursa Major (a constellation that contains the Big Dipper), Ursa Minor, Cepheus, and Cassiopeia. For the Southern Hemisphere, the main examples are Crux (the Southern Cross), Centaurus, and Carina.

Most institutions plan their year around Summer, which means that in the Northern Hemisphere, the Academic year usually starts around September and ends in May or June of the following calendar year, while there’s a Winter break in time for Christmas and New Year. In the Southern Hemisphere, the calendar and academic years are matched: the academic year usually begins in March and ends mid-December, right before the Holidays, while Winter break usually falls in July.