Why do we in the west call the capitol of Thailand Bangkok ?

Question

The Thai people call it,,, Krung Thep ( Which is a short version of probably the longest place name in the world )

Answer 1

It is believed that the town's name derived from either

Bang Makok, bang being the Central Thai name for towns or villages situated on the bank of a river, and makok being the Thai name of either Spondias pinnata (L.f.) Kurz, Spondias mombin, or Elaeocarpus hygrophilus Kurz (both plants producing olive-like fruits),

or Bang Koh, koh meaning "island," a reference to the area's landscape which was carved by rivers and canals.

Answer 2

The name Bangkok appeared on international navigation charts as far back as the 15th century as an outpost port of Ayuthaya, the former capital where western merchant ships made frequent calls. However, Bangkok has got an official name, so auspicious and long that it goes into the Guinness Book as the longest in the world for a city. In short, the official name "Krung Thep" meaning "The City of Angels", the same name as Los Angeles.

In any case The old Bangkok was just a small river fort and trading town before it became the capital. After the sack of Ayuthaya by the Burmese the Capitol was moved to Bangkok as it was belived to be more defensible. The city's fortunes as a mechant hub were also on the rise.

Also European merchants & travelers would give names to some places if they had problems pronouncing a place name. In many cases they gave the new names outright to reflect their leaders or old places in Europe. Americans are a bit different; they would try to name the places with indigenous names. Baang-Gok is an orginal name before Krung-Thep was built. It was in common usage in European capitals and among merchants. For example Peking used to be the name of the city Bejing China's capital.

The new Krung-Thep was moved across the Chao-Phraya river from Thonburi for strategic reasons. Krung-Thep's land used to be a type of flood plain or semi swamp or Baang. The canals were dug in and around the capital city to drain off water for strategic, commerce, and travel reasons since it is difficult to build roads in the jungle and swamp areas. Bangkok was often in the past called the Venice of Asia for this reason.

Answer 3

Bangkok is actually the old name for the capitol, but internationally its still recognized as Bangkok instead of its official name Krung Thep......... People are just stuck with the name Bangkok.

Similar to Beijing, took a while, internationally for others to stop calling the capitol of China, Peking.

The same goes for Cambodia, the country's name has been changed several times from Cambodia to Kampuchea, now its officially Kingdom of Cambodia. But the whole time people just called the country Cambodia, never Kampuchea.

This happens a lot in the West, I think. I never knew about this stuff until I heard of it and looked it up.

Answer 4

In Thailand, places are usually called by the name of what those places are known for. Bang is a prefix in Thai means place. Bang Kok, literally means the place for Olive (Ma Kok). Bang Pla Ma (place for a fish call Plama: Pla is fish), Bang Si (place known for a kind of Tree call Si). Therefore, Bang Kok and the place known for Olive.
The place itself would have been called Bang Kok for a very long time before Ayudhya, the previous capital fall and a new capital was founded at Thonburi by King Taksin, who was the only King of that dynasty and the only one King of the capital Thonburi. There was a long history about this King, but I’ll skip it short as he was executed, and another dynasty called Chakri was founded when the Capital moved across the river to Bank Kok, and then the name Krungthep was bestowed upon the place. This was 200 years plus ago. Bangkok was therefore the original name of the place.
I think this name is used by Westerners either by the Portugueses or the Dutch; they came to Thailand since Ayudhaya period. The British and the French only came in the later part of Ayudhya. The name remains used to call the place perhaps by the British who were much closer to the Thais during King Rama fourth and fifth (King Chomklaw and King Chulalongkorn). King Chomklaw was the one in the story the King and I: or Anna and the King of Siam (the story which the writer said in the preface 70 % true). Anyway, King Rama fourth did keep numerous correspondences with Queen Victoria and perhaps that when the name actually established using the common name or old name of the place. The correspondences between Queen Victoria and King Chomklaw still kept and sometimes exhibited at the British Library at Queen’s garden. I’ve seen some of it during the celebration of 3 centuries of relationship between England and Thailand I think in 1989 or 90.
The official name of Bangkok is Krungthep Maha Nakorn Amorn Rattana Kosin Mahin Thara Maha Dirok Pop Nopparat Ratcha Burirom Udom Ratchanivej Maha Satan Amorn Piman Avatan Sathit Saka Tathiya Wishnukam Prasit.
Although the name can be translated which telling you how the founder thinks about the place, don’t ask me to do so, as it’ll bored me.

Answer 5

From what I've read, the name Bangkok was shown on navigation maps from as early as the 15th century for the area westerners now call Bangkok when it was just an outpost of the capitol in Ayutthaya. Why we still call it Bangkok instead of Krungthep I have no idea, and why does the airport have a BKK code instead of KTP or something short for Krungthep? Beats me.

Answer 6

why do we call it Germany when the Germans call it Deutschland?

why do we call Japan Japan when to them it's Nippon?

that's just the way language works I guess.