alternatehistory.com

So, as the story goes, when the revolutionaries won their independence from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands they could not agree on what to name their new country. They eventually decided to go with the name “Belgium”, naming the nation after a fierce Celtic warrior-tribe that supposedly lived in the area according to Ancient Roman accounts. Even though the Belgiums of the 19th century had no relation to an ancient Celtic tribe that may or may not have existed they still chose that name as part of the nation-building myth to give the people an idea of an ancient, shared identity.

So, what other countries or regions could have become “Belgiums”, taking up a long-gone ancient name (even if the current inhabitants had no relation to the ancient polity) for propaganda reasons?

The other day I was thinking it would be interesting if, in one of those “Warlord-era leaves China permanently divided” timeline, a Chinese leader decideds to “resurrect” the Xu state or an equally ancient, long gone kingdom to give his region an air of legitimacy and historical-continuity.
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