Former Names of Cities Trivia Quiz

Answer: New Orange

New York was originally a trading post for Dutch settlers and the post became "New Amsterdam" in 1626. The city came under British control in 1664 and named "New York",after the Duke of York. However, the Dutch took control again and named it "New Orange" in 1673 after William III, the Prince of Orange, but it gained the continuous name of "New York" since November 1674 after the Treaty of Westminster.

Answer: Bombay

Mumbai is the largest city in India and was formerly called Bombay. The name Bombay was a legacy of British colonialism and the city changed the name to "Mumbai" in 1995 to pay tribute to the goddess Mumbadevi to reflect its Maratha heritage.

Answer: Salisbury

The city of Salisbury was founded in 1890 and named Fort Salisbury after the UK Prime Minister at the time, Lord Salisbury. Salisbury became the seat of the government of Rhodesia and the name was retained until 1982. The city was renamed "Harare" on the second anniversary of the new state of Zimbabwe after independence from the UK.

Answer: Bytown

Bytown was named in 1826 after John By who was a Colonel in the British Royal Engineers for the construction of the Rideau Canal where it meets the Ottawa River. However, it became the City of Ottawa in 1855.

Answer: Lutetia

The Paris area was inhabited by the Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, during the third century BC. The Romans conquered the area in 52 BC and renamed it "Lutetia" or more fully "Lutetia Parisiorum". The city was later called "Parisius" by the Romans which would later become "Paris" in French.

Answer: Anfa

The Berber (an ethnic group of North and West Africa) Joannes Leo Africans (1494-1554), a diplomat and author referred to the ancient Casablanca as "Anfa". He referred to the Berber Kingdom of 744 AD and that "Anfa" was a prosperous city on the Atlantic coastline. In 1468 the Portuguese took control of the city and rebuilt Anfa as a military fortress and renamed it Casa Branca (White House) in Portuguese. In the 18th Century Spanish merchants named it Casablanca (White House). The French at one time called in Maison Blanche (White House).

Answer: Saigon

Initially called Gia Dinh, the city became "Saigon" in the 18th century. The French colonised Vietnam in 1859 and the country was ceded to France by the 1862 Treaty of Saigon. After Vietnam's independence from France in 1955 it remained Saigon. At the conclusion of the Vietnam War in 1975 and the unified communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam the city was renamed in honour of the late communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

Answer: Edo

Tokyo was originally a fishing village named "Edo". The capital of Japan was "Kyoto" in which the Emperor lived from 794-1868. In 1869 the Emperor Meiji moved to Edo and renamed the city "Tokyo" (meaning Eastern Capital). The city of "Tokyo" was officially established in May 1889.

Answer: Reval

Tallinn is the largest and capital city of Estonia. However, in 1219, after the Danish conquest the town was known as "Reval" in the German, Swedish and Danish languages. This remained the name until 1918. The name Tallinn is Estonian and is thought to be derived from "taani-linn" (meaning Danish-Town).

Answer: Byzantium

Istanbul is the most populous city in Turkey and straddles the Bosporus strait which separates Europe and Asia. The city was known as "Byzantium" during the Byzantine Empire (also known as the Eastern Roman Empire) and was an ancient Greek city. It was renamed "Constantinople" and dedicated in 330 by Emperor Constantine the Great. From the 5th - 13 Century it was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. Constantinople was the capital city of the Ottoman Empire until 1923 when the capital was moved to Ankara. The city was then named "Istanbul" in 1930.