Ten Cities That Shed Their Names, From Constantinople to Salisbury
In 1930, Turkey officially severed ties with Constantinople by standardizing its place names. Since 330 AD, the city had been named in honor of Emperor Constantine and served as the capital for both the Byzantine and Ottoman empires until its conquest by Mehmed II in 1453. The transformation was spearheaded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who established the republic in 1923. Other notable name changes include Bombay to Mumbai in 1995, although the Bombay Stock Exchange kept its original name, and Beijing's transition from Peking in 1958 due to the adoption of pinyin. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1976 after the North's takeover, while Oslo reverted to its medieval name on January 1, 1925. Jakarta replaced Batavia in 1942, Rangoon became Yangon in 1989, St. Petersburg returned from Leningrad in 1991, and Salisbury was renamed Harare on April 18, 1982.
Key facts
- Istanbul became the sole official name in 1930, replacing Constantinople after roughly 1,600 years
- Mumbai replaced Bombay in 1995 under Maharashtra's Shiv Sena-led government
- China made pinyin official in 1958; the UN adopted it for Chinese place names in the late 1970s
- Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1976, the year after the war's end
- Oslo restored its medieval name on January 1, 1925, after three centuries as Christiania and Kristiania
- Edo became Tokyo in 1868 when the Meiji government relocated the emperor from Kyoto
- Jakarta replaced Batavia in 1942 under Japanese occupation, made permanent after 1945 independence
- Rangoon became Yangon in 1989 under the State Law and Order Restoration Council junta
- St. Petersburg was Petrograd from 1914, Leningrad from 1924, and its founding name again after a June 1991 referendum
- Salisbury became Harare on April 18, 1982, the second anniversary of Zimbabwe's independence
Entities
Artists
- Constantine the Great
- Mehmed II
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
- Catherine of Braganza
- Charles II
- Mao Zedong
- Ho Chi Minh
- Christian IV
- Tokugawa Ieyasu
- Emperor Meiji
- Peter the Great
- Nicholas II
- Lenin
- Cecil Rhodes
- Ian Smith
- Robert Mugabe
Institutions
- Quartz
- Shiv Sena
- Bombay Stock Exchange
- Bombay High Court
- Reserve Bank of India
- East India Company
- United Nations
- Peking University
- National Assembly of Vietnam
- Dutch East India Company
- State Law and Order Restoration Council
- ZANU
- ZAPU
- British South Africa Company
- Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
- Zimbabwe Stock Exchange
- Hermitage Museum
Locations
- Istanbul
- Turkey
- Constantinople
- Ankara
- Byzantium
- Mumbai
- Bombay
- India
- Maharashtra
- Beijing
- Peking
- China
- Nanjing
- Zhoukoudian
- Shanghai
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Saigon
- Vietnam
- Hanoi
- Oslo
- Norway
- Christiania
- Copenhagen
- Denmark
- Sweden
- Akershus
- Tokyo
- Edo
- Kyoto
- Japan
- Jakarta
- Batavia
- Indonesia
- Netherlands
- Borneo
- Nusantara
- Java
- Yangon
- Rangoon
- Myanmar
- Burma
- Naypyidaw
- St. Petersburg
- Petrograd
- Leningrad
- Russia
- Leningrad Oblast
- Harare
- Salisbury
- Zimbabwe
- Britain
- Rhodesia
- Southern Rhodesia
- Masvingo
- Mutare
- Gweru
- Hwange
- Mbare
Sources
- Quartz —