Historical Gazetteer of Kerala Place Names from 17th-18th Century Dutch Maps

A structured directory of place information for early modern Kerala derived from fifteen Dutch East India Company maps from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The gazetteer maps historical toponyms to modern equivalents, identifies locations, and links places to geographical features and polities. It was created as part of the Necessary Reunions Project funded by an NWO XS grant.

Use Cases

• Georeferencing historical maps based on the identified location of places.
• Analyzing the evolution of place names over time based on the mapping of historical toponyms to modern equivalents.
• Studying the political geography of early modern Kerala based on places associated with geographical regions or polities.
• Identifying patterns in the depiction of geographical features like rivers and mountains based on linked visual and textual elements.

Strengths

• Derived from fifteen specific historical maps from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries held in the National Archives in The Hague.
• Links place information across multiple dimensions: modern names, locations, geographical features, and political affiliations as indicated in the description.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to the specific set of Dutch East India Company maps and archives.

Provenance

Source

Dutch East India Company (VOC) maps from the Leupe and MIKO collections at the National Archives in The Hague.

Collection Method

Created as part of the Necessary Reunions Project from March to December 2025.

Time Range

Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-08 06:10:09; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Kerala, India.