United Nations Expert Group on Geographic Names

The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (Engl. United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names , UNGEGN) is a body that deals with the global standardization of place names is concerned (place names) and relevant documentation structures. It was founded in 1959 and is assigned to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, which forms a sub-division of the Statistical Commission. UNGEGN presents itself in the form of ten working committees, which are made up of national experts and which are subject to the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names , which takes place every five years .

Focus of work

The priorities of the conference and UNGEGN include

the promotion of the national documentation of place names in the interest of a clear designation
A simplified implementation of place names in Latin script through official national specifications
promoting the protection of historical place names or endonymic names in minority languages

Due to the global orientation of the committee, a large number of different issues are dealt with. The topics range from the process of naming Indonesian islands - here only less than half of the 17,500 islands have official names - to the culturally and historically oriented documentation of place names of the Aborigines in Australia to recommendations for the development of pronunciation databases. Neither the UNGEGN nor the conference determine names, nor do they make decisions in disputes or maintain their own lists of names: Both bodies limit themselves to promoting methods and documenting national activities.

structure

UNGEGN prepares the conferences that take place every five years ( United Nations Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names ). For this purpose, it usually holds twice so-called sessions in the period between the conferences . The UNGEGN is divided into country divisions on the one hand , and working groups on the other .

UNGEGN country divisions

The individual states involved in UNGEGN are grouped into country divisions on the one hand according to linguistic and on the other hand according to geographical criteria. Some states are members of more than one country division. There are currently 23 different divisions (listed below by their English names in alphabetical order):

Africa Central Division
Africa East Division
Africa South Division
Africa West Division
Arabic Division
Asia East Division (other than China)
Asia South-West Division (other than Arabic)
Baltic Division
Celtic Division
China Division
Dutch and German speaking division
East Central and South-East Europe Division
Eastern Europe, Northern and Central Asia Division
East Mediterranean Division (other than Arabic)
French-speaking division
India Division
Latin America Division
North division
Pacific South-West Division
Portuguese-speaking division
Romano-Hellenic Division
United Kingdom Division
USA / Canada Division

UNGEGN working groups

As part of the UNGEGN over the years, several research groups (were working groups ), founded devote to specific aspects of the standardization of geographical names across the country divisions. In addition to these working groups, the so-called Task Team for Africa has a special status . A coordinator for toponymic guidelines also coordinates the efforts of the individual state standardization bodies to create toponymic guidelines .

There are currently nine working groups (original English name in brackets):

Working Group on Country Names
Working Group on Toponymic Data Files and Gazetteers
Working Group on Toponymic Terminology
Working Group on Publicity and Funding
Working Group on Umschriftsysteme (Working Group on Romanization Systems)
Working Group on Training Courses in Toponymy
Working Group on Evaluation and Implementation
Working group on exonyms (Working Group on exonym)
Working Group on Geographical Names as part of cultural heritage (Working Group on Geographical Names as Cultural Heritage)

UNGEGN representation from the German-speaking area

UNGEGN provides for closer collaboration between national experts in 23 sub-departments based on linguistic or geographical areas. Germany , Austria , Switzerland , the Netherlands , Belgium , South Africa and Suriname have assigned themselves to the DGSD department (Dutch- and German-speaking Division) . Austria is represented by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Kartographische Ortsnamekunde , Germany by the Standing Committee for Geographical Names .

literature

Isolde Hausner: The “United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names” (UNGEGN) and the standardization of geographical names . Viennese writings on geography and cartography. In: Wolfgang Kainz, K. Kriz, A. Riedl (eds.): Aspects of cartography in change. Festschrift for Ingrid Kretschmer on her 65th birthday . tape 16 . Inst. For Geography and Regional Research d. Univ., Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-900830-54-1 , p. 184-189 .
Helen Kerfoot: Role of the United Nations in the standardization of geographical names: some fifty years on . In: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division (Ed.): Manual for the standardization of geographical names. United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (= Economic & Social affairs ). United Nations, New York 2006, ISBN 92-1161490-2 , pp. 83–97 ( unstats.un.org [PDF; 4.9 MB ]).
Helen Kerfoot: Geographical names and cultural heritage: background information from United Nations (UNCSGN / UNGEGN) materials . Viennese writings on geography and cartography. In: Peter Jordan, Hubert Bergmann, Catherine Cheetham, Isolde Hausner (eds.): Geographical names as a part of the cultural heritage . tape 18 . Inst. For Geography and Regional Research d. Univ., Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-900830-67-0 .

Web links

Official Websites (English)
UNGEGN information sheet (PDF; 1.12 MB)