Historical Atlas of the Low Countries: A gis Dataset of Locality-Level Boundaries (1350–1800)

Abstract

Abstract This historical gis provides reconstructions of premodern village-level boundaries in the Low Countries, covering the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and adjacent parts of France and Germany. While some countries have historical municipal gis maps for the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this resource provides a detailed and contiguous historical gis for the premodern period. It also covers an area spanning several modern states, a rare undertaking. It combines modern and historical sources, including existing gis data, historical maps, and written records, focusing on the ‘smallest mappable units’ referred to as administrative areas in contemporary documents, such as parishes, lordships, or towns. This article accompanies the first tranche of the dataset for the 1500 cross-section, which can be used to link statistics for any period between 1350 and 1800. When completed, the gis dataset will cover four cross-sections: 1350, 1500, 1650, and 1800. Each cross-section will comprise an estimated 18.000 geographical units – typically around 5 to 10 km2 each. The dataset facilitates cross-temporal analysis of historical statistics while allowing users to consider the wider geographical and territorial micro and macro context of these statistics. The result will be an invaluable resource for historians, archaeologists, geographers, and social scientists alike.