It’s a bit unsettling how arbitrary things are when you really stop to think about it. Take what countries call themselves, for example. There’s nothing intrinsic about the country that gives it its name, or else the USA would probably be called Big Open Land That’s Mostly Empty.
In fact, as a country you don’t even have to stick to your name, no matter how long people have been calling you that.
Take Thailand, which has been gone by that name since only about 1939, when Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram decided it needed an update. Meaning “Land of the Free,” Thailand is a wonderful country full of wonderful people — who just so happen to be living in a country whose name some dude literally just made up. And, well, that’s basically the case for all of us when you think about it.
Before it was known by its modern name, what did the country of Thailand used to be called?
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The answer is: Siam. For anyone who’s played risk recently, you may remember seeing Siam on the board roughly where modern-day Thailand is today. As a geographical term, Siam was used beginning in the 1600s, all the way up until a decree in 1939 changed it. Source
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