| Place-names, or toponyms, represent both location and symbolic meaning, and examining the spatial distribution of place-names across landscapes can reveal otherwise hidden cultural patterns. Including quantitative methods as part of the process of interpretive ethnocultural research has contributed to revitalizing modern scholarship in toponomy. This study takes a similar methodological approach by using spatial statistical methods to visualize general spatial patterns of French place-names in the Mississippi River Basin, combined with qualitative historical and cultural analysis of socio-political patterns at the more local scale of Minnesota. Integrated analysis of toponymy enables us to better understand how and why French toponymic power changed over time, which yields useful insights to the region's geography and history. |
