Argentina Gazetteers

What is a gazetteer?
A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. In Spanish it is called a diccionario geográfico. Gazetteers list or describe towns and villages, parishes, municipios, states, populations, rivers, mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. Within a specific geographical area, the place-names are listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary.

You can use a gazetteer to locate the places where your family lived and to determine the civil and church jurisdictions over those places. For example, if you were to look for Mártires, the gazetteer would mention that it is a community in the province of Misiones, in the department of San Javier. It was a town that was founded as part of Jesuit missions in 1663.

There are many places in Argentina with similar or identical place-names. You will need to use a gazetteer to identify the specific town where your ancestor lived, the department the town was or is in, and the jurisdictions where records about the person was kept.

Gazetteers may also provide additional information about towns, such as:


 * The different religious denominations.
 * The schools, colleges, and universities.
 * Major manufacturers, canals, docks, and railroad stations.
 * Some gazetteers contain historical information and biographical information on some individuals (usually high ranking individuals)

Other Resources
There are many other gazetteers available both online and in microfilm. You can find them by using online catalogs such as the FamilySearch Catalog or Worldcat.

To find additional gazetteers for Argentina in the FamilySearch Catalog follow these steps:


 * 1) Go to the FamilySearch Catalog
 * 2) Click on: Place Search
 * 3) Enter: Argentina in the first box, and leave the second box empty.
 * 4) Click on: Argentina
 * 5) Click on: Argentina, Gazetteers

Note: The entries that have been microfilmed can be ordered to your local family history center. To learn more about finding your local family history center click here...

Online resources

 * Diccionario Geografico de Argentina de 1843
 * Diccionario geográfico estadístico nacional argentino (1885)
 * DICCIONARIO DE VOCABLOS GEOGRÁFICOS Y CARTOGRÁFICOS
 * Map of museums in Buenos Aires, Complete map of museums in the Capital Federal
 * Mapas de Argentina