A GIS approach to cultural and historical toponymic research in Nebraska

Abstract

ABSTRACTHistorical geographic information systems (HGIS) offer a great deal methodologically to the cultural geographic study of place names. A growing body of research in the area of toponymy utilizes HGIS techniques that combine spatial statistics with qualitative historical analysis while remaining attentive to critical toponymic research. Such approaches allow the field of toponymy to address questions about the relationships between place names and the inscription of power onto the landscape at smaller geographic scales. This study illustrates an HGIS approach to the study of town toponyms in Nebraska that combines critical, qualitative cultural, and historical analysis with quantitative GIS methodologies like nearest neighbor analysis and kernel density estimation. It identifies and discusses a number of unique and discrete toponymic landscapes in their temporal, geographical, and political contexts during the most active era of place naming in Nebraska at the end of the nineteenth century.