With a population over 6 million, Bangkok is Thailand's capital and largest city. The population has grown by over a million people every ten years since 1950. Because so many foreigners make the city their home, Bangkok is very cosmopolitan. But only foreigners call the city Bangkok, the name which actually refers to a small historic portion of the city. To the Thai people, Bangkok has been Krung Thep for more than two centuries. Thailand sided with the Japanese during World War II, so Allied forces bombed the city on a couple of occasions near the end of the war.