PREFACE 
UNITED STATES BOARD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES 
The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is the official United States body created in 1890 to provide 
for uniform usage of geographic names throughout the Federal Government. Established in its present form by a 
Public Law enacted in 1947, BGN operates through several committees to standardize names of geographic features in 
the United States, foreign areas, Antarctica, undersea areas, and extraterrestrial bodies. According to the law, the 
Board shares its responsibility with the Secretary of the Interior. In the exercise of this responsibility, the Secretary 
approves names recommended by BGN, appoints members to certain committees, and ratifies principles and 
procedures. Members of the Board represent various Federal departments and agencies, and they serve for two-year 
terms. 
Essential to the Board’s function of standardizing names is the promulgation of names information. 
Traditionally, names of geographic features outside the United States have been published in a series of BGN gazet- 
teers and the needs of a wide range of users—both within the Federal Government and elsewhere—have been well 
served by these publications. The present gazetteer is one of a new series of place-name documents that is quite 
similar to the earlier BGN gazetteers. Features of the gazetteer are explained in the introduction. 
The responsibility for producing and distributing the gazetteers has been assigned to the Defense Mapping 
Agency as part of its overall mission of supporting foreign-area scientific studies for the Federal Government. The 
production of gazetteers is based on the work of linguists, geographers, and cartographers, who use a variety of source 
materials, and is accomplished, if possible, with the cooperation of the country covered. 
RICHARD R. RANDALL 
Executive Secretary 
United States Board 
on Geographic Names 
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