Replying to a message of Mimi Gallandt to Bob Ackley:

 BK>>>  Myamar used to be Ceylon.

 BA>> Myanmar used to be Burma.  Sri Lanka used to be Ceylon.  Bangladesh
 BA>> used to be East Pakistan.

 MG> Yes, that is true but changing the name of a *PLACE* does not define
 MG> the people living there out of existence. I'm not sure about Myanmar,
 MG> but when the island was called Ceylon it (and India) were under
 MG> British rule. The Brits are very fond of changing the names of places
 MG> IE Beijing was called Peking.

Burma was part of the British Empire at that time too.  Actually the Brits had
little to do with the name changes.  Burma was Burma until about 20 years ago
when the rulers decided to change the name of the place; this was probably 30
years after the Brits left.  Likewise, after Mugabe & Co. took over Rhodesia
they changed the name to Zimbabwe, various other former colonies in Africa
also changed their names, in some cases several times - I haven't really kept
up.

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