I know that Myanmar used to be Burma, but a lot of maps call African countries that changed their name their new name. Like, maps just say DRC or Democratic Republic of Congo rather than DRC (Zaire). What’s up with Myanmar?
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Because it is called Myanmar??
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In 1989, the ruling military powers changed the name to Myanmar (which is still basically the same name). But as they had rather brutally cracked down on a pro-democracy movement not long before, they weren’t looked upon very favorably among the west. The US still uses Burma officially because of this.
“I know that Myanmar used to be Burma, but a lot of maps call African countries that changed their name their new name rather than, for example, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire)”
I’m confused. The official name now is ‘Democratic Republic of the Congo’ and not Zaire, right? It’s called Myanmar, why wouldn’t it say that? Are the maps you’re talking about current?
Very simplified steps to take if you want to name a country,
– Notify the United Nations that you are a sovereign nation with country at a certain location.
– State your name.
– Wait for the United Nations to either accept of refuse the acceptance of your nation on that country.
– Wait for the United Nations to either accept or refuse your officially claimed name.
If you claim country that belongs to someone else, you will not be recognised, unless most countries insist on recognising you so that the rest of the lot can’t stand against the tide.
If you claim an official name that other countries dislike, they will refuse to accept the claimed name of your nation. Last time it happened, as I know of, was when Yugoslavia got split up and Macedonia bumped into the slight worrying issue that Greece said “actually. NONO. There is already a Macedonia. It’s a region within Greece” and eventually they settled on officially registering as the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. Only a few years ago, they *finally* got that shit sorted, and are now officially registered as North Macedonia.
When nations have two names, it’s usually because there is a name controversy within the United Nations. Some influential nation have refused to acknowledge a new name.
It’ll always be Burma to me
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