Place names
Why cities and countries changed what they're called.
- Astana, Nur-Sultan and Astana againAkmoly → Akmolinsk → Tselinograd → Akmola → Astana → Nur-Sultan → AstanaIn 1997 Kazakhstan moved its capital north from Almaty to a small city on the steppe, which has had six names since 1830. It became Astana, “capital city”, in 1998, was renamed after its first president in 2019, and got its old name back three years later.
- Bombay to MumbaiBombay → MumbaiMarathi speakers had always called the city Mumbai. In 1995 Maharashtra’s new Shiv Sena–BJP government made that the official name in English too, over the objections of those who saw “Bombay” as the name of a cosmopolitan city.
- New Amsterdam to New YorkNew Amsterdam → New York → New Orange → New YorkThe Dutch colonial capital became New York when an English fleet took it without a shot in 1664, named for the king’s brother, James, Duke of York. The Dutch took it back in 1673 and called it New Orange, but only for a year.