Whatever Happened to Tanganyika?: The Place Names that History Left Behind

by Harry Campbell, Alexander McCall Smith (Foreword)

Do you still find yourself referring to Zaire or Czechoslovakia, or wondering whether it should be Moldavia or Moldova, Burma or Myanmar? Dozens of countries, cities, and counties have changed their identity over the years. Some of the names we remember from our schooldays or from news headlines just a few years ago are now gone. For example, what did happen to Tanganyika? The fascinating stories behind the place names include Affpiddle, Biafra, British Heligoland, Ceylon, Flintshire, Friendly Isles, Islands of Samson and the Ducks, Leningrad, Little Britain, Macedonia, Muscat, Pleasant Island, Stalingrad, Tanganyika, West Britain, Yugoslavia, and Zaire. From the major political movements (the Leningrads and Stalingrads of the Socialist Soviet Republic) to enticing destinations (Pleasant Islands, the Friendly Isles), Whatever Happened to Tanganyika? reveals how the atlas of yesteryear became the maps of today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Geography, Travel, Reference, Language, Trivia

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightfully addictive – and at this point, probably the only – entry in the field of “nostalgic geography," this slim book belongs on the nightstand of every armchair geographer, (and yes, I know that nightstands are generally not next to armchairs, but you know what I mean).

Written with the dry wit that only the English are truly capable of, all of the short stories here are informative; many are humorous, a number are tragic (Yugoslavia, Burma, pretty much anything in colonial Africa that came out of the brutal “carving of the African cake” at the Berlin Conference of 1884), and one which is completely fictional (you’ll have to find it yourself). But in terms of sheer anger-inducing “wrongness” (in large part due to its having been committed solely by the UK on the part of the US), nothing beats the story of the Chagos Islands, aka the British Indian Ocean Territory (BOIT), home of the island of Diego Garcia.

During the early 1970s, the US wanted an Air Force base in the Indian Ocean which provided long-range bomber access to the Middle East. Technically owned by the British (although as of 2019, the International Court of Justice had ruled that all the islands must be returned to Mauritius), the “Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia” was constructed and then leased to the US through 2036. Unfortunately, in order to build the base, Britain forcibly relocated the islands entire population (human, that is – pet dogs were gassed) to either Mauritius or the Seychelles, where many continue living in abject poverty to this day. (To learn more about this shameful episode, just Google the word “Chagossians”.)

Thankfully, most other stories are just plain fascinating, and among other things I finally learned the purpose of the Caprivi Strip, that little “handle” off the northeast corner of Namibia (formerly South West Africa). And no, I’m not telling you here – you’ll have to do your own research – but I will give you a hint: it is not the same as that of the similarly-shaped Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan (see below maps for comparison).





Campbell does devote too much time to Greater Britain (including pieces on Rutland, North Britain, Londonderry, Central Region, Piddle, Carnavon, Skildar, Ebrauc, Cathures, Skye and perhaps a few more I’ve missed), but in light of everything else I’m willing to forgive him his local pride. Were he not a classic Englishman, this book would certainly lack much of its humor, particularly its delightful and totally British footnotes, most of which are informational but also include all of the following, which appear at random throughout the book (and totally out of context here):

* Or perhaps not.
* Not to be confused with Zyzzyx, which as you know is a genus of sand wasp.
* Obviously.
* It's a calculated gamble.
* Though not by this author, who must remain strictly neutral on that point, out of both ignorance and pusillanimity.
* No tree pun intended.
* Is it true? No, of course not.
* People, of course, not black-and-white cows.
* Ovis aries, if you are a sheep-fancier, and of course no one is implying anything unsavory by that.
* Who probably never existed either.
* In 2006 (and this is truly irrelevant) it gained the dubious distinction...

Whatever Happened to Tanganyika? can be found on Amazon for just a few dollars, and so there is NO reason not to own a copy; this should belong on every travel reader's shelf, right alongside the excellent Worlds to Explore: Classic Tales of Travel and Adventure from National Geographic and the hilarious Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth - both are just outstanding. In fact, it looks like you can own "Very Good" copies of all three for under $20 - what are you waiting for??

[Nick Sweeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful fun. A charity shop buy, and the perfect frivolous read (in between trying to puzzle through J D Salinger and Byzantine journeys). Harry Campbell suggests in his intro that if you are too young to remember Tanganyika or Yugoslavia you may as well put the book down, but I disagree; all the reminders of places I'd barely remembered hearing about (Heligoland, Transcaspia, Spanish Sahara, United States of Belgium, Hispaniola, anybody?) are to-the-point, informative and very funny, at times, with a bit of history, a bit of conjecture, and the odd quote from luminaries such as James Joyce and (Captain) Edmund Blackadder. (I forgot about this book halfway through, but it doesn't matter, as it's the kind of thing you can dip in and out of.) The history in it strikes a sad as well as funny note, all these places that were, however fleetingly it may seem to us, home to people for lifetimes and generations, gave them an identity, somewhere to belong, and then they're suddenly living somewhere else - such changes often accompanied by violence and distress. Not a throwaway book at all, though it would probably be classed as such; it's a stimulating read, which has certainly sparked in me a desire to know more about the one-time places sketched out here.

[Daren · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read, with 1-4 pages on each placename - now defunct.
Old favourites like Ceylon, Zaire, Burma and the New Hebrides. Places more marginal in recognition - Tanganyika, Batavia and Spanish Sahara. And places I haven't hard of - Chagos Islands, Fernando Po,Cathures, Neutral Moresnet and Pleasant Island!

[Rowena · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great, informative book with a light and witty tone.There are also lots of historical facts included. As another reviewer said, including maps in this book would have enhanced its appeal somewhat, especially with the more obscure places that were mentioned.In spite of that, I never really expected this book to be very intellectual, just fun and interesting, and it was!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of these pop-geography/history-ish books can be of dubious quality, but the author in this case did a great job of keeping sections bite-sized, having a great mix of humor, and incorporating a lot of interesting and new stories about the place names he describes. Fun for any geography fans.

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you still using the name Burma or the Soviet Union? Wrong!!!!......as the world changes, it is difficult to keep up with the changing names of cities and countries. Reading this little book is like picking up an Atlas from the 1920s.......lots of fun looking at the changes and why they were made. Some are for the good, while others are rather puzzling. This is a great down time book for the armchair traveler and the history buff, or just the inquisitive.

[DrCalvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't much like this. I got some chuckles out of turns of phrase, but it was a slog to get through – each entry is so short, that there's almost only three modes of story to tell, and everything flows together

It was also awfully smug in tone about many horrible events due to colonialism

[Alex M · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly erudite and amusing book. Suitable for anyone fascinated by history and geography. Well worth reading.

[Gerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little book about place names..attempting to explain why they are named what the named and the historical stories behind them.

[Beth]

Some interesting parts. Written from British persepctive.

[Judith Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mother was born in 1935 and as a child and teenager, she collected stamps. I remember looking through her stamp albums (now sold) and being delighted to learn there had once been a country called "Fernando Poo". This and many other places featuring in my mum's old stamp albums are in this book. Thanks to this lovely book, I now know where Bechuanaland and even Fernando Po itself are (either my mum couldn't spell or I was a lavatorially obsessed child).

I've always been fascinated by maps and place names and how names change - I distinctly remember Dahomey changing to Benin when I was in the Brownies (probably about 1980), because we had to change a scrapbook we'd been making of pictures of Brownie uniforms around the world. Many of the countries in my much loved Children's Picture Atlas would probably be a complete mystery to children of today - sometimes even I think I imagined Afars & Issas (but I didn't, it's now Djibouti).

I'm still devastated that when I went to Czechoslovakia in 1991, they didn't stamp my passport!

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite what I expected, but enjoyable. I did learn that Tanzania was created when Zanzibar and Tanganyika merged. But I guess that was part of the problem - I didn't even know Zanzibar wasn't a country anymore, so I hadn't wondered whatever happened to it. I actually hadn't heard of probably half of the places covered in this book. Geography isn't a strong subject for me, so maybe that didn't help, either. I would really have loved it if each entry had actually had a map accompanying it, but maybe it was too expensive to bring in a cartographer for the project. As it is, I had a lot, I mean, a lot (this book was really thoroughly researched) of facts thrown at me, and I'll never remember even a tenth of them. But the author's enjoyment in writing this book came through, and that made it a lighter read than it might otherwise have been.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a book about places, Tanganyika DOESN'T CONTAIN ANY MAPS! I read reviews of this book before I finished and I saw everyone complaining about the lack of maps, and I was all "oh I got this, I know geography and stuff," and yeah I knew where pretty much every place was. But not everyone is a geography nut like I am. The mister expressed an interest in the book but had no clue where any of the places were located that I mentioned.

I got to see stamps, but not even one bloody map? The stories were interesting -- seeing how the imperialistic colonial names were slowly replaced by the nationalist names devised by their own people was still familiar but also welcome.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun research project, but it's the kind of slim volume that thrives off art design and illustration which, in the case of Whatever Happened to Tanganyika?, is unfortunately lacking. Sure, the stamps are a nice touch, but they're not enough, and (shockingly) somehow there are no maps??
The entries are ordered with no apparent logic or system (honestly, it might be better that way-- more episodic, encourages dalliance rather than straight through reading (which helps mask its redundancy)). Occasionally redundant, but such is imperialism.

[Lindsey Sparks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a weird fascination with how countries' borders and names change over time, like the former Yugoslavia countries. This book talks about some places whose names have changed, primarily during the last century and from a British perspective. I think it's strange that someone can live in multiple countries during their life without moving. This book had a hunch if fun facts, including that Freddie Mercury was of Parsi descent and was born in Zanzibar (now Tanzania) and lived there and in India until he was 17 and went to England. I wish there was more depth to most of the entries though.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The format is a 1- to 4-page snippet about a geographical place that no longer goes by that name. Some interesting stuff, but not as good as I was expecting. Each vignette has a postage stamp to illustrate. The book would have done better with a small map to orient the reader with the geographical location of each place. This was usually described in the text, but maps would have done a better job.

[Rick Bavera · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am something of a geography and history nut.

So when I saw this book, I thought, "Cool".

Still think cool, but would have liked it to be a bit longer, with more details/information.

And definitely MAPS were something that should have been included.

I enjoyed the short chapters. The "humor" that was often part of the writing was just a bit off for my American sense of humor, though.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very witty and extensively researched tome. Each of the stories are short enough to read on the toilet. I can only imagine the numbers of books the author had to read to learn all the stuff he puts in this book. (Unfortunately, he didn't include a bibliography.) I would recommend this for history/geography/linguistic/trivia buffs.

[Lise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting subject matter,but far too much use of footnotes which make it hard to read fluidly. The footnotes are also largely irrelevant rather than adding interesting asides. A slight disappointment.

[Hector · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish this book had maps. It seams this guy assumes you know the areas he is talking about. Sometimes his stories, I felt, were left hanging (as to what happened to the Place names). I wonder if people got the joke on the islands of Sans Serriffe.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is everything How the States Got Their Shapes is not - personable, engaging, informative and human

[Edith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intéressant. Mais le livre aurait été grandement amélioré s'il y avait eu des cartes géographiques.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. Series of essays about plce name changes. Somtimes whimsical, other times political. Nice companion to Atlas of Remote Islands.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 2 out of 5]

A total bathroom book; standard pop reference; certainly not amazingly interesting or compelling, but great fun for a few minutes at a time.

[J.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, even if I hadn't heard of most of the places in the book. Still, the history was intriguing.

[Vicki Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting and amusing look at place names that have disappeared. Some names are familiar but many are not. Even the footnotes are funny. However, I do wish maps had been included.

[Tori]

2013- Interesting, if a little dense at times.

[Richp · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fun in small chunks, but not more than that.