In the world there are a great many long, strange, sometimes even incomprehensible names of villages and cities, rivers and lakes, mountains and plains, and just names. All these names are generated by the human mind and imagination, the limits of which, as we know, do not exist. As an example of a flight of fancy and imagination, consider the names of some cities in the world and Russia.

In the world

On east coast The Chao Phray River, near its mouth, is one of the largest cities in Thailand with a population of five million. This is the capital of Thailand, Bangkok. However, the real name of this city sounds slightly different - Krung Tep, or City of Angels.

This city name, in terms of its length, is not impressive. The thing is that we use a name that is more concise and easier to pronounce. The historical name of Bangkok is completely different. In its native language it consists of 30 words and when translated it sounds something like this: “The City of Angels, impregnable and greatest, which is the residence emerald buddha, the greatest of the capitals of the world, blessed with 9 centuries-old stones, adorned with majestic royal palaces, beautiful as a paradise, ruled by the confidant of God, the city bestowed by Indra and rebuilt by Wissanukam."


Once upon a time, Bangkok was called the Venice of the East. This name was given to the city by ancient travelers who visited it about two hundred years ago. The name was not chosen by chance; at that time the city stood on the river bank, literally in the water. Soon, King Ram V ordered canals to be dug for drainage. This is how “water” streets appeared, making it look like Venice.


In the 19th century, these canals were filled with earth and turned into roads. The motivation for such changes was the fashion for self-propelled carriages, which dominated Europe at that time. The fashion was adopted by the Thai kings, who had the opportunity to visit this country and see, and then adopt, a fashionable innovation.


To this day, only a few neighborhoods have survived from the Venice of the East, most of which are inhabited by poor people living literally in shacks. Many of the shacks are attached to other houses and do not even have their own street address. However, here you can still see mansions surrounded by lush gardens, in which the descendants of noble people live to this day. The streets of the quarter are represented by canals, just like many years ago. They still serve as water supply and even sewage systems to this day. This ancient part of Bangkok is now of historical and cultural value and is included in tourist routes.


Modern Bangkok is a successfully developing city with a population of about 9 million people. Every year, thousands of tourists arrive at Bangkok's two major airports, Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang, to explore its attractions. Bangkok is growing and developing rapidly, becoming a modern metropolis, but it manages to preserve traditional Asian culture. The city is rich in museums, ancient and newly built Buddha temples.

In Russia

Russia is also rich in cities with long titles. Moreover, in our country there are long names of cities, consisting of the same number of letters and even words, so choosing a record holder for the length of a city name is almost impossible. It would be more appropriate to compare the length of the names of settlements rather than cities or villages.


The record-breaking long name belongs to a small village located in the Zaraisky district of the Moscow region. It's about O Central estate of the state farm named after the 40th anniversary of the Great October Revolution. The village is part of the Mashonovskoye rural settlement. Now it is home to about 1,000 people.

It appeared in 1933 and was the Central estate of a state farm engaged in breeding pigs. At that time it was called Kaganovich, but in 1957 it was renamed. Nowadays in the village there is high school, House of Culture, kindergarten, a post office, a library and a dispensary, but the pig farm no longer exists there.


The longest name of a settlement consists of 27 characters and belongs to the village of Kremenchug-Konstantinovskoe. The village is located in Kabardino-Balkaria. Founded in 1885 by so-called settlers, originally from the Kremenchug province. They went to the Caucasus in search of better living conditions. In the town of Kabarda, from a local prince named Inalov, they rented land on which they subsequently settled. The new settlers settled in separate hamlets, giving each a name derived from the name of the place from which they came. These names stuck and still exist, now as the names of the village districts.


The modern name, Kremenchug-Konstantinovskoe, appeared after the farms were united into a single settlement. Its name was based on the name of the farm of the first settlers - Kremenchug and the name of the settler founder - Konstantin. U local residents There is an unofficial short name for the village, Krem-Konstantinovka, or even shorter - Kremka.

There are two more villages in Russia that have record-breaking names. These are Verkhnenovokutlumbetyevo, which is in the Orenburg region, and Starokozmodemyanovskoye, located in the Tambov region. The names of these villages have exactly 23 letters and no hyphen.

The Kingdom of Thailand is located in the very center South-East Asia and in its outline it resembles the head of an elephant, and its area is comparable to the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.

Great Siam, never conquered in its 7 years centuries-old history, in 1932 changed the absolute monarchy to a constitutional one, and soon changed the name: the Thai word "tai"(meaning "free") was combined with the English word "land"(translated as “land”) and Thailand appeared - land of the free.

Longest capital name in the world

The capital of the kingdom is Bangkok, the 17th largest city in Asia, which, like the resorts of the kingdom, is always warm, the temperature does not drop below 22 degrees. Even during the rainy season, Bangkok is filled with sunshine, and the showers here pass as quickly as they begin. Even 100 years ago, having visited Bangkok, travelers said that they had seen the Venice of the East, and today Bangkok and its attractions are more like New York with the same skyscrapers, traffic jams and noisy streets.

Here you can meet people of any nationality, but the most smiling of all are the Thais: it is not for nothing that the world calls Thailand the land of smiles.

Bangkok is large city, in which almost 15 million people live today ( according to 2012 data). But the Thais themselves do not call it Bangkok, for them it is Krung Thep, which translated from Thai means “City of Angels”. The name of the capital of Thailand is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest name of the capital of a state in the world and consists of 30 words. Any Thai person on the street will pronounce the full name of his City of Angels without hesitation (they begin to teach it along with the alphabet in the first grade of school - website note):

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintarayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Nopparat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Avatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Vitsanukam Prasit.

And it translates like this:

Capital of the Angels great city, the immortal divine jewel and fortress, the great land that cannot be conquered, the great and prosperous kingdom, the magnificent and wonderful capital of the nine gems, the place where the greatest rulers live and is located Grand Palace, the home of the gods, the magnificent creation of the god Vishnu.

Royal altars with photographs of the monarch and his family are everywhere. Nobody forces Thais to worship them; it comes from sincere love. You can go to jail for insulting the king, but such a thing would never occur to anyone. Rama IX is a role model who has earned the honor and respect of the people during his long life.

The Thais turned their City of Angels into a modern capital, building new areas with huge shopping centers, expensive shops, luxury hotels on the top floors of skyscrapers, thousands of restaurants, and endless markets.

On the streets of Bangkok they sell absolutely everything: clothes, souvenirs, jewelry. Moreover, trade here is in full swing day and night, surprising Europeans with cheap prices. Particularly cheap at such stores are items from well-known designer brands, sewn by Thai craftswomen using their own patterns.

By the way, Thais love to bargain, and even if there is a price tag on a product, this does not mean that that is exactly what you need to pay for it.

What was the capital of Thailand like before?

Bangkok was once called the Venice of the East. 200 years ago, travelers who came here from Europe saw a luxurious city built on the water, where beautiful temples and palaces lined the streets. Bangkok was built according to the design of the former capital of Thailand - the city of Ayutthaya, i.e. on the water. King Rama V, when he chose a place for the new capital, ordered canals to be dug here. However, at the end of the 19th century, the kings of Thailand began to travel to Europe, saw that self-propelled carriages were in vogue and began to fill the canals of Bangkok with earth to build roads.

What remains today of the Venice of the East is a few poor neighborhoods with shacks. Perhaps someday they will also be covered with earth, but for now tourists are brought here to show what the capital of Thailand and the sights of Bangkok used to be like. Many of the shacks built next to other people's houses do not even have a postal address, but there are also old mansions with lush gardens where Bangkok's intelligentsia lived for generations. There are many monitor lizards and fish in the canals. And to this day, these canals serve not only as streets, but also as water supply and even sewage systems.

Thai cuisine

Gourmets around the world discovered Thai cuisine only 20-30 years ago. The culinary art of Thailand owes a lot to China and India - the food is just as spicy and is cooked mainly over an open fire, but Thai cuisine is distinguished by spices and seasonings. Thais love to mix things that cannot be mixed for European tastes: sweet and salty or bitter, hot and sour, fish and meat. You can fall in love with it, but not right away.

The Amita Thai Cuisine School is a legendary place and probably the only one of its kind, because here you can really learn how to cook several Thai dishes and, most importantly, remember how it’s done. Here you will be taught how to cook four dishes that can change Europeans' perception of Thai cuisine for the better: a hot dish, a cold appetizer, a side dish and a salad for dessert. The most difficult part, of course, is the hot one - chicken curry in coconut milk. First, they show you the whole cooking process, explaining what needs to be put in and in what order, which ingredients can be changed to taste, for example, the amount of hot curry, green pepper and beans, and which ones not - coconut milk, fish sauce and cane sugar. After cooking, you can try it all, and then cook it yourself. The lesson will cost you 3,000 baht (approximately 3,000 rubles).

A lot of food is sold on the streets of the capital. Wheeled carts are always equipped with hotplates. Thais love hot food, eating up to 6 meals a day. During a meal, it is completely pointless to distract them, because food is the main thing in the life of a Thai, because it is during food that communication takes place. Most often, Thai food looks extremely unappetizing to our foreign eyes, but contrary to popular belief, Thais eat not only grasshoppers, crickets and other insects, although this is true. Thai cuisine is exquisite, of course not on street stalls, but more on that below.

"Ancient city"

One of the attractions of Thailand, located 45 km from Bangkok, is Muang Boran Park, which translated from Thai means “ Ancient city" On an area of ​​350 hectares, the Thais have recreated 116 of their most revered and famous monuments architecture created in the Kingdom of Siam over the past 800 years. Palaces and temples are made on a scale of 1:2

The ancient city is attractive because once you visit it, you can get an idea of ​​the architecture of the entire country. The territory of the park is huge, so it is better to move around it in an electric car - this way you can see more. The cost of an excursion on an electric car is 1,400 baht, and on a general tram - 300.

floating market

80 km from the capital is the largest floating market in Thailand, “Canonam Kun Tunkin”, which is translated from Thai as “flower market”, because once upon a time there were not shopping arcades along the banks, but flower fields. Here you can buy anything you want and very cheaply, from fruits and vegetables to home furnishings.

Be sure to watch your hands so as not to get your fingers pinched by nearby boats.

The market wakes up at 6 in the morning and the first to appear on the canals are fish merchants, and by 10 they are no longer here - perishable goods give way to vegetables, fruits, souvenirs, clothes and all sorts of things that are attractive to tourists and useless to the Thais themselves)

Locals come here mainly for food and sometimes for hats, which are here for every taste: Vietnamese, Thai, colonial era.

Tourists are always delighted with the floating market: drinking coconut milk while sitting on a boat is a rare pleasure, and renting a boat costs only 100 baht per hour. There is no need for a guide at the market, and its main rule is very simple - bargain. And to the last, because the price can be reduced even 5 times, because for tourists it is specially inflated. When buying fruit, it is not customary to bargain. Food, fruits, and vegetables are mainly bought here by local Thais and all this is really very cheap, especially what seems exotic to us and is not sold in Russia!

Bangkok from the ship

Only from the water can you see how Bangkok truly lives. You can sail by boat past the shacks that have remained here since the mid-50s of the 20th century, in front of which there are modern skyscrapers 50 floors with a completely different life. A walk along the canals of Bangkok is akin to exotic for tourists: there are very few blocks left on the water, and if they used to be the center of the city, they are now considered the outskirts.

The City of Angels is one of those that doesn’t sleep at night, you can shop until 12 am, listen to music in street bars, and for those who want something special, this is the time to see night Bangkok from the side of the ship. Pleasure boats are always filled to capacity - this is much more interesting than going to a regular restaurant, especially in places where tourists gather, including large ones. shopping centers, in hotels and even in theaters, dinner is no less important than the performance. The Thais do not impose their food at all - the buffet consists of Thai, European, Indian and Japanese cuisine, especially loved by tourists from Russia.

Only from the cruise boat at dawn at 6 am or after sunset (in Bangkok it is all year round sets at 6 pm), you can see in its beauty the Wat Arun temple - the temple of the dawn. His stupa is still the tallest in Thailand - almost 80 meters. The tiers of Wat Arun symbolize the multiplicity of worlds, in the existence of which the Thais, of course, believe, and these worlds, apparently, are more beautiful than even the magnificent creation of the god Vishnu - the City of Angels, known to us as Bangkok.

Each huge metropolis and small village has its own unique name history. Some settlements were named after famous people who contributed to the development of that area. Others received names related to picturesque nature region. But there are some of the longest names of places in the world that you won’t be able to pronounce the first time.

Russian record holders

In Russia, there are several settlements with long names. These are mainly villages and towns located in the northern part of the territory Russian Federation. The longest name of a city in Russia is Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, located on Sakhalin Island. This city has the most letters in its name, but its population is extremely small (does not exceed ten thousand people).

Initially, there was a military post in its place. Later the city became a place of exile for dangerous criminals. Until 1926, the city with the longest name was called Alexander Post (it was named after one of the Russian emperors). After the city was appointed administrative center Sakhalin region, therefore it was renamed Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky. This name retained the original name of the settlement and added an indication of its location.

Longest town name in England

Llanwyre Pwllgwyngill is famous throughout the world. Many local residents love to argue with visiting tourists over the fact that travelers will not be able to clearly and correctly pronounce its entire name right away due to the specifics of the local language. Llanvair Pwllgwyngill is located in Wells, UK. Anyone who manages to pronounce the longest name of the city without hesitation can safely be hired as a television announcer.

But this area also has an unofficial, longer name - Llanwirepullguingillgogerihuirndrobullllantysiliogogogoch. The name itself can be translated from Welsh (the indigenous language of the local residents) as “The Church of St. Mary in the vicinity of a mighty hazel tree near the great whirlpool and the Church of St. Tisilio near the bloody cave.” This place is also famous for the fact that the sign on the only railway station is the most famous and visited place in the country.

Longest city name in the world

Bangkok is considered the record holder for the number of letters in its name (the city is even listed in the Guinness Book of Records). And immediately this version may seem implausible, because the word “Bangkok” has only seven letters. But this is only an abbreviated version, which is adopted for ease of pronunciation. The longest name of the city is: Krun Thep Mahanahon Amon Ratanakosin Mahintarayuthaya Mahadlok Phop Noparat Rachatani Burirom Udomratchaniwe Mahasatan Amon Piman Avata Sati Sakathattiya Vitsanukam Prasit.

And it can be translated from the local language something like this: “The city of heavenly angels, majestic city, the settlement is the eternal diamond, the indestructible settlement of the majestic god Indra, the great capital in the whole world, which was gifted with nine beautiful precious stones, happiest city, full of all kinds of benefits, unique Royal Palace, representing the divine cradle where the reborn almighty god sits, the city received by people from the great Indra and erected by the inviolable Vishnukarna.” But it is difficult to accurately interpret the meaning of the words in the name of this capital, since many words are outdated, and this moment are not used by modern Thais.

Los Angeles

Immediately behind these record holders is another city, which everyone is accustomed to calling by a shorter name. It is located in the United States of America and is better known as Los Angeles. Although the longest name of the city is pronounced: El Pueblo De Nustra Señora La Reina De Los Angeles De La Porcincula.

It means "Village" immaculate virgin Mary, Queen of Heavenly Angels, on the Porsyunkula River." Initially, this name was given to a small village, but in 1820 the area grew, becoming small town in the state of California. At the moment, the city is the largest in terms of population in the state and the second in the country.

Santa Fe

Following Los Angeles is another American city - Santa Fe. As in previous cases, this is just a familiar abbreviated name. The true name is pronounced like this: Willa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis. The settlement is located in the state of New Mexico. His unusual name can be translated this way: “Royal City of the Sacred Faith of St. Francis of Assisi.” Previously, several villages were located in its place. After several unsuccessful attempts to conquer these lands, a fairly large provincial town.

History in city names

The history of various cities is quite interesting, but even more interesting are their unusual, intriguing names. Such facts easily attract curious tourists from all over the world. Of course, despite the fact that the desire to travel appeared quite a long time ago, such names were not given with the aim of attracting anyone. They were given in honor of holy martyrs, famous personalities, reigning persons and other famous people and characters.

But the fact remains that they have survived to this day, and now many are trying to get to know these cities more deeply, to understand why such a name was given. This is quite a fascinating and amazing process that anyone can join.

Every settlement, from a giant metropolis to a tiny village, has a name and a history associated with it. Many of them were named after famous people, who made a noticeable contribution to the development of the local territory, others were named after the characteristics of the local nature. There are also cities with names so long that it is not only impossible to pronounce them, but even to remember them. What is the longest name of the city?

1. Bangkok (Thailand)

The longest city name in the world, noted in the all-knowing Guinness Book of Records, contains 168 letters and consists of 20 words. Is it possible to write this on an envelope - well, if only in microfont. And use it somewhere in the digital world when registering?
This city is known throughout the world, but under a different, much shorter name - Bangkok. The people of Thailand themselves in everyday speech call their capital Krung Thep. As for its complete official name, established in the middle of the 19th century, it sounds in Russian transcription like this:
Krun Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintarayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Nopparat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Avatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Vitsanukam Prasit.
This little “story” can be translated into Russian something like this:
The majestic city of heavenly angels, the settlement - an eternal diamond, the indestructible abode of the majestic god Indra, the greatest capital of the whole world, which was endowed with nine beautiful precious stones, the happiest city, full of all kinds of blessings, the unique Royal Palace - the divine cradle, where the reborn almighty god sits, the city bestowed people by the great Indra and erected by the inviolable Vishnukarn.
Now it is no longer possible to accurately interpret the meaning of the words used in the name of Bangkok, since many of them have fallen out of use and are not familiar to modern Thais. By the way, in Thai the name of the capital is shortened to 132 letters. Of course, it is unlikely that any ordinary person will be able to pronounce it, so in everyday life the name was shortened to Krung Thep. Local children are taught the full name in school, but they, just like Europeans, require translation into a modern language. The Thais even came up with a special song, the lyrics of which simply give the full name of the country's capital. It was specially invented to make it easier for the population to learn the name of the capital that occupies a paragraph.
As for the word “Bangkok”, which is used all over the world, it is most likely an abbreviation of the word “bangmakok”, which can be roughly translated as “wild olive village on the river”. For a very long time, ordinary Thais used this particular name, and it was this name that became entrenched among the international community, since it is easier for different peoples to pronounce.

2. Los Angeles (USA)

The next city with an indecently long name is located in the USA, which few people know, but its short name is well known all over the world - Los Angeles.
His full name sounds like this: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porzencula , which translated from Spanish means “Village of Our Lady, Queen of Heavenly Angels on the Porcenkula River.” It was originally a small village, but by 1820 it had grown so much that it became small town in the state of California. Currently, Los Angeles has become the most big city this state and the second most populous in the United States after New York. But the Americans did not stop at shortening the name of this city to Los Angeles, compressing it into two letters - LA, which is a little more than 3.5% of the length of the full name of the city. Despite this compression in area, it ranks first in the United States.
The first European to come to the local coast was the Spaniard Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542, and the next one came here was Gaspar de Portola only in 1769, bringing here the Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi, who assessed this area as suitable for living. They set up a camp on the Porcencula River, calling it “El Rio de Noistra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porcencula.” A couple of years later, the French built the settlement of San Gabriel a few miles north, and 12 years later, the Spanish governor of California, Felipe de Neve, formally founded a settlement with a 63-letter name.


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3. Santa Fe (USA)

In the same United States, in the state of New Mexico, there is another city with a long name, of which only a short fragment remains in everyday use - Santa Fe. The full name of the city is: La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís , which in Spanish means "Royal City of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi."
Initially, there were several settlements in its place. The Spaniards made several unsuccessful attempts to seize these lands, until, in the end, a fairly large provincial town grew up here. Santa Fe is considered the second oldest city in the United States founded by colonists from the Old World that has survived to this day. Only St. Augustine (1565) from Florida is older.

4. Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky (Russia)

Surprisingly, in Russia there are several settlements with rather long names. Most often, such towns or villages are located in the northern regions. But the city with the longest name in Russia is located not in the north, but in the east of the country - this is Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky . Its name contains the largest number of letters, although its population, on the contrary, is very modest - about 10,000 people.
Here it all started with a military post, which later became a place of settlement for dangerous criminals. Until 1926 this locality was called the Alexander Fast in honor of Emperor Alexander II. At different historical periods it was the administrative center of Sakhalin. Since 1926, in the name of the city, a reference to its location was added to the original name, and this is how Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky turned out.


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5. Freixo de Espada à Cinta (Portugal)

This Portuguese city with a rather long name is located in the wine region and is famous for its beautiful almond trees blooming in the spring. Translated from Portuguese, the name of the city means “ash tree girded with a sword” and there are different hypotheses regarding its origin.
Some believe that the city was named after a certain medieval aristocrat Espada Cinta, others pay attention to the coat of arms, which depicts a tree with a sword. This is consistent with the version about the Portuguese king who founded this city in the 14th century, who decided to take a nap under an ash tree, so he took off his sword and hung it on the branches of a tree.

6. Truth or Consequences (USA)

In the US state of New Mexico there is another city with a very bizarre name. Truth or Consequences , which means “truth or consequences.” It was formerly known as Hot Springs, but was renamed in 1950 as part of a promotion to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the successful NBC game show. To this day, the city continues to celebrate this holiday on April 1, and on the first weekend of May it holds a fiesta in honor of Ralph Edwards. It is located between the cities of Las Cruces and Albuquerque. Nearby, private companies Space X and Virgin Galactic launch their spacecraft. Only about 7,300 people live in this water-climatic resort.

7. Fuerstenfeldbruck (Germany)

German nouns are famous for their length, which is why such long city names arise here. In the Russian version, the name of the city sounds like Fürstenfeldbruck . Approximately 35,000 people live in this pretty German town, and it is located in the south of Bavaria, in the Five Lakes region. There are many ancient buildings here, for example, a former monastery, which was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in 1263.
The word Furstenfeldbruck consists of three words: “furstenfeld” - “princely field” and “bruck” - “bridge”. There was a market for a long time near the bridge over the Ampere River, since the city lay on a busy trade route. After the final decision on the fate of the monastery in 1803, the city received the opportunity for further development. It received city status only in 1935. Now in this modern city The infrastructure is well developed, there are enterprises representing several industries.