I love old books for many reasons, including the fact that they are reminders of how things change.
During my visit to Australia, I was happy to stumble upon the New Australian World Atlas, which my family used as reference book when I was very young.
A lot has changed since these maps were drawn, and the book, which carries the imprint of The Courier-Mail newspaper but no date, must have been published at least 50 years ago. Interestingly, even at the time I was using it, in the 1960s, it was already out of date.
Per the atlas, the Soviet Union is still in existence, Yugoslavia is there, too, as is East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Thailand is called Siam — which dates that map to after 1945 but before May 1949 — and its capital is Krung Thep, with Bangkok in brackets in smaller print). The land to its east is all called Indochina.
The United Arab Emirates, which came into existence in December 1971, is listed as Trucial Oman (as opposed to the Sultanate of Oman to its south and east), but the cities of Abu Dhabi, Sharja and Debai (now better known as Sharjah and Dubai) are marked — the first two more prominently than the now much larger third.
The Arabian peninsular also includes the Aden Protectorate distinct from a small state of Yemen.
My point? Places come and go, and they change. And we, as travellers, ought to take note.
