đź“– About The Gazetteer
A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or index—a compendium of places and their characteristics. The word derives from "gazette" (newspaper), which itself comes from the Venetian "gazeta," a small coin that was the price of early news-sheets.
Historical gazetteers served practical purposes: helping merchants find trade routes, assisting administrators in governance, enabling travelers to prepare for journeys. But they also served imaginative purposes. To read a gazetteer was to travel without moving, to visit places you would never see.
Famous Gazetteers
- The Imperial Gazetteer of India (1881) — 26 volumes describing every district of British India
- The Columbia Gazetteer of the World (1998) — 170,000 entries, the most comprehensive modern gazetteer
- Brewster's Guide to the Perplexed Traveler (1847) — a fictional gazetteer of places that resist description
- The Codex Seraphinianus (1981) — Luigi Serafini's encyclopedia of an imaginary world
- The Dictionary of Imaginary Places (1980) — Manguel and Guadalupi's compendium of literary locations
This Gazetteer
The Gazetteer on splendid.horse generates entries for places that may or may not exist. Enter any place name and receive its geographical, historical, and cultural description. The same name on the same day produces the same entry—allowing you to share coordinates with fellow travelers.
All places described here occupy the territory between the actual and the imagined. Their coordinates may not correspond to any map. Their exports may not be tangible. Their customs may not be advisable. Travel at your own risk.
"The map is not the territory—but sometimes the territory is not the territory either."