To have only just heard of Myanmar?

[staceybeaker]

Watching the news about the coup there and I thought it must be quite a small country but now I've looked it up it's really not. Obviously I am embarrassed about my own lack of geography knowledge. Has everyone else heard of it or known much about this country before?

I find it strange. I have not heard it called Burma since I was young (I am mid 60s now) and watched those films like Bridge on the River Kwai.

I used to know someone about 20 years ago (lost touch now) who was born there and came over here in her late 20s when she married an Irish guy. She always called it Myanmar so I suppose that's why I just thought the name Burma was from old films about the war or whatever. Taken aback to hear that the BBC still referred to it as Burma up till 6 years ago.

@BusterGonad yes the flights have certainly been very sporadic. DB recently flew to Yangon from Rakhine so domestic flights have been possible. He had flights booked to UK in April but who knows what will happen before then!

Why don't you educate yourself?
I'm not going with your White Man western history, people in parts of India have been calling it that for years.

It's not "white man Western history", it's Burmese history/politics @TrappedAndDepressed.

I didn't say anything about Chennai/Madras
You wrote: It's always been called Myanma, they didn't want the English name so went back to what it was.
Just like Madras was always Chennai

I was making the point that the usage of Burma versus Myanmar is not the same as using Madras instead of Chennai, it is far more complex and controversial.

You are mocking the OP for not knowing that the name was changed in 1989 but you seem to have no understanding of who changed the name and why the UK and US government and media continued to use the name Burma for many years, and the US government and some news organisations still do or always use both names together (and that is probably why the OP still thought of the country as Burma).

they didn't want the English name
Who are they? The name "Union of Burma" was chosen at independence in 1948. The name was changed to Myanmar in 1989 without the consent of the people after a military coup crushed a nationwide pro-democracy uprising in 1988. The democratically elected government of 1990 (who were denied power by the military junta) did not support the name change. Therefore, some governments and media continued to use the name Burma as they considered it be illegitimate.

That's just the start of the story but you can read the rest for yourself in the links I posted and then you might understand why it is very different from Madras/Chennai, why some governments and media didn't recognise the name Myanmar and why some have now changed their position, and that Aung San Suu Kyi and her party prefer the name Union of Burma because they believe Myanmar is less inclusive as it refers to the majority ethnic group.

If you are an avid consumer of news, I am surprised that you haven't noticed that some politicians and journalists still use the name Burma. Apart from having heard the name Myanmar, you don't seem to know much more than the OP.

I knew my father was in Burma during ww2 but never spoke much. As my family had been in India I was aware of the colonialisation issues . But it was only when I started working on a book about my father, that I learned more. I was privileged to go there for a month a few years ago when the country was in a more hopeful place and visited the Northern battlefields where to this day the army fights minority groups off and on. There is a conflict between the exploitation issues and pushes are happening from the west as well as mainly from China. Burma / Myanmar has lots of natural resources and corruption is pretty endemic. Due to poverty among the population there is considerable trafficking of girls and women into Thailand and India .There is a strong right wing branch of Buddhist monks that have a lot of power, the temples make a huge amount of money out of believers.
Despite all this it is a fantastic country with many wonderful people who are now in despair. A friend there lost her job in tourism last year and thinks tourists will never return. Very sad to see what has just happened.

Blimey. Just to settle this, no one over there gives a shit whether you say Myanmar or Burma, honestly.

It was pretty much the first conversation I had with a local colleague.

I simply refer to it as Shwe Dagon to be truly authentic

Did not have a clue where it was I had to google it too.

I feel so ignorant now 😞

Yeah I knew it as Burma and that lots of cheap clothing is made there and that there is alleged genocide of the rohinga moslems.

We had an amazing month there in 2018, the kids were 8, 6 and 2, & still talk about it with enthusiasm.

DH’s father was born in Burma in the days of Empire. His grandfather walked out of Burma to India when the Japanese invaded - the story of the war days in that part of the world is very distressing, & I think it’s interesting that given the British obsession with the WW2 it’s not discussed more - my conclusion is that it’s because we don’t know how to discuss the whole empire aspect of why we were there in the first place...

@nowbringmethathorizon don't beat yourself up, I'd barely heard of it before I went there.

I did go on the Road to Mandalay every morning as we lived just off it!

Nellie the Elephant/ Robbie Williams depending on your vintage

Has North Macedonia been mentioned along with Czechia and Eswatini? Name changed in 2019 from Macedonia for those who like to keep up to date

@BubblyBarbara

There’s a country called Eswatini as well that’s almost as big as wales

I have never heard of that country either

Eswatini is one of the easier ones to remember imo when you remember that Swa is the running theme.

King? Mswati
Language? Swazi
Former name? Swaziland
Main ethnic group? Swazi
And so on.

They have an amazing flag too. Such an interesting country. Their Wiki is well worth a read: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eswatini

Also a lot of Indian cities renamed away from names you might remember like Bombay and Madras. If it’s a curry it’s been renamed

[quote SionnachRua]Eswatini is one of the easier ones to remember imo when you remember that Swa is the running theme.

King? Mswati
Language? Swazi
Former name? Swaziland
Main ethnic group? Swazi
And so on.

They have an amazing flag too. Such an interesting country. Their Wiki is well worth a read: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eswatini[/quote]
Ah! That's helpful, thanks. yes, I had heard of Swaziland. Hadn't realised the name had changed.

Before Burma it was Siam. Think the King and I. British rule did no favours. But then the various coups haven't. Usual thing, a far easr country to exploit

Confused then. Ignore. Siam was Thailand

I've heard of it but only because I am obsessed with travelling and researching places to travel.

No need to be embarrassed, every single one of us doesn't know something that the next person does.

@Pedallleur you're half right. The Thais don't like to admit it but much of their current territory was Burmese at various points in history and vice versa for big chunks of the Malay peninsula. Not to mention Modern day Myanmar was split into various warring kingdoms.

The best read on all of that if you want to get into it is 'The River of Lost Footsteps' by Thant Myint U.

@Mingalabar

I'm of both Nellie and Robbie vintage

No way! I'd be singing the songs constantly!

I heard of Burma a lot in my youth because my late grandad drove a tank there for the British Army fighting against the Japanese in 1942-1944, and he told me a lot of stories.
He fought in many battles including in the Battle of Ramree Island.
He named his last home Ramree.

The tank crews were not allowed out of the tanks as they had to keep advancing, but unfortunately the crews all had dysentery so you can imagine the disgusting state inside the tanks!

One time the tank navigator gave Grandad the wrong instructions & he drove the tank off a small cliff, it stayed upright but they were hurt & he suffered from a bad back ever since.

He came back from the War hating the Japanese army as they carried out many atrocities against mates of his that they captured & against the Burmese.
He also was still suffering from dysentery, malaria & nightmares (would now be called ptsd).

He had nothing but anger towards the Burmese Military who controlled Burma instead of allowing a democratic government there after Independence.
He felt that he had fought the Japanese for nothing.
He would've been devastated to learn of the genocide of the Rohingya.

In his later years he got dementia & was continually tormented by the time when a Japanese soldier attacked his tank & he had no choice but to run him over. He then had to clean the tank after, so horrible.
He also came back with what I assumed were Burmese Buddhist beliefs in Reincarnation & before he died said he was either going to Hell or going to be reincarnated as a cat!!

After his death we found a Japanese soldiers's diary & Occupation Yen in his stuff, my Nan burnt the diary because my Uncle wanted to get it translated & find relatives of the author.
My Nan felt my Grandad would have then been painted as a bad guy when actually he wasn't. He actually saved the life of a pilot from a burning plane & was mentioned in dispatches.

Sorry for the essay!!

I also have only known of it as Burma. The only thing I’ve had to do with it was when I went on a school trip to Thailand (which shares a border somewhere with Burma)...we were all going on a hike one day and could choose between a normal route and a more difficult one. About 6 kids (all aged 16/17) chose the more difficult one which crossed slightly into Burma - they all had to sign a waiver in case they were shot down by the Burmese military when crossing.

700,000 refugees had to flee in 2017 and are in refugee camps in Bangladesh. It's absolutely heart breaking. It's so sad that people don't know about it, but unsuprising! We all get wrapped up.in our own little world's! !

Gosh. Some snobby comments on here about ‘surly you must have known it changed names etc ...’.
I’d never heard of it op. Yes I’ve heard of Burma. But had no idea it changed names.
When i first heard the news i was a bit confused as I thought it was the place from TopGun ...(miramar, where the ‘best of the best’ train 🤣🤣)