History Main / IstanbulNotConstantinople

* In the ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'' series by Jacqueline Carey, the maps at the beginnings of the book show that it is Europe. The UK is named Alba, Ireland is Eire, Spain is Aragonia, Germany and the northern lands are Skaldia, Italy is Caerdicca Unitas - Venice, or a suspiciously Venetian city, is [[CityOfCanals La Serenissima]] - the Balkans are Illyria, Greece is Hellas, Egypt and the Maghreb is Menekhet, India is Bhodistan, China is Ch'in, Japan is the Empire of the Sun, Jebe-Barkal is Ethiopia and a bit more, The Flatlands are The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, Vralia is Russia and Drujan and Khebel-im-Akkad are different parts of Ancient Persia. France is called Terre d'Ange (literally Land of Angels) but that's because it's the land of {{Mary Sue}}s for {{backstory}} reasons.

* In ''Literature/ThirteenthChild'', by Creator/PatriciaCWrede, America is Columbia, and the three systems of magic are Avrupan (European), Aphrikan (African) and Hijero-Cathayan (Indian-Chinese, actually two systems but apparently combined due to similarity. Mind you, I might be wrong about the Hijero=Indian bit, but both China and India are economic superpowers right now.).

** [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue The first generation]] is an even a straighter example, explicitly being an alternate version of Japan's Kanto prefecture, due to the series [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness originally having an]] EarthAllAlong approach to the setting. One of Mew's Pokedex entries mentions it being from South America, while Arcanine's Pokedex entry states that it's a legend in China. Lt. Surge was even stated to be an American military veteran and had the nickname "The Lightning American."

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} IV'' has a mod -- Rhye's and Fall of Civilization (also for expansions)- that has a dynamic naming system for cities so what at first is Constantinople will become Istanbul when captured by the Turks. (Side note - It actually has Davao and Washington D.C. in the right places - 2x2 tile squares.)
** In Civ 3, if you founded enough cities to exhaust the list of names associated with that civilization, the game would start over with "[[NewNeoCity New London]]" etc., but instead of "New Istanbul" you'd get "Not Constantinople". Also, "[[Manga/{{AKIRA}} Neo Tokyo]]".
** Inverted in in Civ 5. Since the Ottoman Empire and the Byzantine Empire are both playable civilizations, it's entirely possible for a world map to feature Istanbul ''and'' Constantinople. And since they're both the capital cities of their respective empires, it ''will'' happen whenever both civs are on the board.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Many Americans of Iranian and Afghanistani decent refer to themselves as Persian and Pashto respectively because of the negative connotations of being associated with "enemy" nations.
* Eastern Orthodox Christians continue to refer to Istanbul as Constantinople for various religious and nationalist reasons.
* Many older names of countries and cities are still used in ceremonial documents and inscriptions. During the English Renaissance, the name Britannia became popular as a symbol of national identity connecting the country to the Roman Empire.
[[/folder]]

** Bretonnia, a kind of Arthurian-influnced take on medieval France, likely draws its name from the Brittany region of France. There's also the sacred isles of Albion, clearly derived from the British Isles.

** Kislev, a region roughly corresponding to Russia, seems to derive its name from a month in the Hebrew caldendar.

* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' has 'Gallia' (the Netherlands). And, just like ''TabletopGame/CastleFalkenstein'', it takes place on the continent 'Europa'.
** Switzerland might be a better fit: it's implied all Gallians have militia training, and they have a history of neutrality in continental conflicts between TheEmpire and TheFederation.
*** However, the landscape looks very Dutch. Except for the massive pit mine and the ''sandy desert''.
*** Mind you, the sandy desert is only there because of a certain cataclysmic historical event that doesn't have a counterpart in our world.
*** And according to a map in the trailer, Gallia is located somewhere around Latvia or Lithuania in this counterpart universe.
*** The in-game map does seem to have a lot of Dutch town names scattered around the larger map for no real reason.

->''"Even old [[BigApplesauce New York]], once was New Amsterdam. Why they changed it I can't say"''

** His more traditional alternate history novels feature this too, mainly for objects -- nukes become "exploding-metal bombs" (in the ''Literature/WorldWar'' series) or "superbombs" and "sunbombs" (''Literature/Timeline191''), suicide bombers become "people bombs," the Molotov cocktail is the "Featherston Fizz," and the Army's heavily armored frontline combat vehicles are "barrels," not tanks. A laser is called "skelkwank" in the ''Literature/WorldWar'' series (having been borrowed, along with invention, from [[TheReptilians the Race]]).

* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'' has 'Gallia' (the Netherlands). And, just like CastleFalkenstein,it takes place on the continent 'Europa'.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'': This comes up at least once, given the setting (i.e. ''Constantinople itself''), naturally. Specifically, the game is set shortly after the Ottomans occupied the city. Most still call it Constantinople, but offhand references are made to some young people starting to call the city Istanbul.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/FoundationSeries'': InUniverse in "Literature/TheMule", the ''[[EncyclopediaExposita Encyclopedia Galactica]]'' entry explains how planet Delicass is renamed Neotrantor after Old Trantor has been destroyed in the Great Sack.

->''"Even old [[BigApplesauce New York]], once was New Amsterdam"''

* ''Anime/ThePlacePromisedInOurEarlyDays'' is set in an AlternateHistory where the Soviet Union occupied Hokkaido and restored its old name of Ezo.

* ''Literature/AegyptCycle'', by John Crowley, approaches this obliquely: protagonist Pierce Moffett is obsessed as a child with the country of Aegypt--''not'' the historical Egypt, but its fantastic analogue in Western myth. "Aegypt" is the Egypt of imagination that was credited as the homeland of the Gypsies, of Hermetic mythology, and of the countless mystical doctrines that people supposed to have originated there.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': The setting is based on the real world, especially Europe, although it's not quite as direct as most examples under this trope. The Empire is based on the Holy Roman Empire, while Bretonnia is mainly based on France with strong Arthurian influences, including plenty of references to the magical island of Albion (which makes little appearance itself although it obviously corresponds to Britain geographically). Norsca is Scandinavia, Estalia is the Iberian peninsula, the deserts of the Tomb Kings take up most of north Africa, while the jungles of Lustria further south match central Africa, although the geography this far from the main area of interest is much less fleshed out. Cathay, Nippon and Araby are referenced as having their lands in the correct directions but are rarely actually shown on maps. Kislev and Tilea, representing eastern Europe and Italy respectively, are probably the only two major areas which have purely fictional names rather than being based on real ones (although Italy does lend its name partly to Estalia instead).

* The ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' series executes this very impressively, using many alternate etymologies and extending to objects in addition to lands. This includes Anglia (England, although England, English and "Brytain" instead of Britain are also mentioned. Scotland also exists but it's not addressed whether it's the same country as England in that universe), Muscovy (Russia), Nippon (Japan), skraelings instead of Inuit, the Peaceable Ocean, and the country of Texas in New Denmark. This also applies to objects such bas atomcraft, naphtha lamps, gyrocopters, anbaric lights ("electric" comes from a word for "amber"), and chocolatl (which is closer to the original Aztec word). Scandinavia ''is not'' Jotunheim, (it's called the Scandinavian Empire instead!) and the Svalbard archipelago is still the Svalbard archipelago (but it's an independent kingdom controlled by [[BearsAreBadNews armoured bears]]). Lapland is also mentioned as possibly independent with a population of witches.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' takes place on an alternate Earth, with the game maps being based on real world regions in Japan, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue The first generation]]'s Kanto region is a straighter example, explicitly being an alternate version of Japan's Kanto prefecture, due to the series [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness originally having an]] EarthAllAlong approach to the setting. One of Mew's Pokedex entries mentions it being from South America, while Arcanine's Pokedex entry states that it's a legend in China. Lt. Surge was even stated to be an American military veteran and had the nickname "The Lightning American."

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' seems to take place on an alternate Earth, as the game maps for the first four generations are based on actual Japanese regions (though [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Hoenn]] was rotated). The exception is the [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Kanto region]], named after the region that encompasses, among others, the prefectures of Tokyo and Gunma.
** In the [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite fifth]] [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite2 generation]], the Unova region is based not on a portion of Japan but on New York City and the surrounding area.
** The Orre region, from the [[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Gamecube games]], is also probably based in an alternate America, specifically in Arizona.
** The [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY sixth generation]] region, Kalos, is based on France, complete with analogues for the Eiffel Tower and Versailles; regardless of which language you play in, characters will still use quite a bit of French.
** The [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon seventh generation]] region, Alola, is based on Hawaii, being a tropical archipelago with a name that's one letter off from "Aloha".
** The [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield eighth generation]] region, Galar, is based on the United Kingdom flipped upside down, with the pastoral Lake District at the bottom and a London complete with London Eye at the top. A later expansion adds the Isle of Armor (based on the Isle of Man) and the Crown Tundra (based on Scotland).
** Generation One takes a far more EarthAllAlong approach to things; one of Mew's Pokedex entries mentions it being from South America, while Arcanine's Pokedex entry states that it's a legend in China. Lt. Surge was even stated to be an American military veteran (his title even being "The Lightning American"). Games from [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Generation Four]] onwards somewhat resume this approach; whatever language you play in, certain [=NPCs=] (implied to be foreigners) will [[ViewersAreGeniuses speak entirely in a different language with no translation provided]] (indeed, the different names each Pokemon has depending on the language used are all simultaneously canon, like how real languages have different words for the same animal). Generations Five and Six even have a ShowWithinAShow dedicated to talking about either the Japanese Pokemon names, or the Japanese language in general and what you would say in Japan.
* The ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series has examples of these in most of its versions: The State of San Andreas (California and Nevada), containing the cities of Los Santos (Los Angeles), Las Venturas (Las Vegas), and San Fierro (San Francisco), there is also Liberty City (New York City) and Vice City (Miami).

See also FantasyCounterpartCulture. PleaseSelectNewCityName often provides names to choose from (and real life examples should rather go there).

* The board game ''Scythe'' is set in an AlternateHistory 1920s Europe and uses different names for all the nations. Rusviet Union is the Russia/the Soviet Union, Republic of Polania is Poland, Saxony Empire is Germany, Crimean Khanate, Nordic Kingdoms are Scandinavia, Clan Albion is the British Isles, and Togawa Shogunate is Japan.