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Land of Gold
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Paul View Drop Down
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Posts: 952 		  Quote Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Land of Gold
    Posted: 30-Mar-2008 at 23:38
If anyone flies to Thailand these days they will land at the world largest airport, the newly built Suwannaphum. Apart from wondering why the Thais gave it a name so difficult to pronounce, few tourists will comprehend the significance of the name.
 
The airport took over 20 years to build and for all of them was called Nong Ngu Hao after the lake it was built on, Cobra Lake Airport. At the last moment this was changed to Suwannaphum. The government make sveral claims including, the name Cobra was unlucky or Nong Ngu Hao couldn't be pronounced by foriegn tourists.
 
The real reason is much deeper and more nationalistic. Legend tells of a great civilisation of gold existing in SE Asia 2300 years ago. The location of this SE Asian Eldorado remains a mystery. Each country from Burma to Indonesia teaching children at school and putting  displays in the national museums saying it was in their country. Thais naturally believe Suwannaphum was in Thailand. So calling the airport Suwannaphum is sending a big message to their partners in ASIAN.
 
 
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Posts: 8792 		  Quote Zagros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31-Mar-2008 at 00:38
So calling the airport Suwannaphum is sending a big message to their partners in ASIAN.


What's in a name eh, Paul?
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Posts: 952 		  Quote Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31-Mar-2008 at 00:43
Yup......... That's what I keep telling the Greeks about Macedonia.......... Will they listen.
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Posts: 8792 		  Quote Zagros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31-Mar-2008 at 09:18
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28-Apr-2008 at 20:24
I'm not so sure it is a nationalistic message meant to intimidate anyone.  There are cities and facilities in the United States with names such as Athens, Syracuse and Colosseum, and yet we can all understand what and why those names were chosen.  Probably more similarly to the airport's name we also see such place names as Canaan, Bethlehem and ... well there's plenty of places named El Dorado in the United States.  Political gesture?  I am not so sure.
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-Apr-2008 at 03:28
Originally posted by Paul

... 
The real reason is much deeper and more nationalistic. Legend tells of a great civilisation of gold existing in SE Asia 2300 years ago. The location of this SE Asian Eldorado remains a mystery....
 
There is also the hypothesis that Golden Land could have been located in Africa. Javanese-Indonesian sailors established themselves in Madagascar by that time, and they may have shipped gold back to South East Asia.
 
Wild theory? Perhaps.
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Posts: 274 		  Quote Julius Augustus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-May-2008 at 20:57
its in my back yard, I swim in it everyday. but kidding aside, I believe there is a spanish text explaining that mindanao was the land of gold, hence their numerous incursions there. 
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Sander View Drop Down
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Posts: 597 		  Quote Sander Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05-May-2008 at 21:56
Suvarna- bhumi (gold land) and suvarna dvipa ( gold island(s)) feature in some ancient sanskrit texts .  Both names were ralated to SE Asia.  But , it was pretty vague in the beginning. Some records suggest that the names were interchangeble, while other records suggest that we speak of different places. 
 
What 's sure is that since (at least) the 7th  century 'Suvarna-dvipa'  got a  more restricted sense.  Arab and  Indian text show it was used for the west of the Archipelago ( especially island Sumatra ).
 
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Posts: 98 		  Quote Voskhod Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Oct-2008 at 03:17
Curiously enough, the Ancient Greeks also called the region beyond India "Aurea Chersonesus".
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