German Historical Geography
Why Jurisdictions are Important
A jurisdiction is an entity, corresponding to a specific geographical area, that creates and maintains records. Different jurisdictions maintained different types of records at different times.
Identifying jurisdictional changes helps locate what records were created for a place for which time periods, and where those records are found.
Understanding the Jurisdictions in the Historical "Germany"
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BYU Family History Library lecture: Understanding German Records and Jurisdictions
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FamilySearch video lecture: German Historial Geography Identifying Jurisdictions in Germany, by Daniel R. Jones. It has a handout.
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FamilySearch Catalog uses German Empire jurisdictions
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Germany-wide gazetteer available online: Meyer’s gazetteer
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Google (town, country, and national level maps and information)
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Search German Computerverein site gov.genealogy.net’s: Historic Gazettter and use its Extended Search