Islands’ Metamorphoses: Two River Islands in Nanjing, China, as a Case Study in Historical Toponymy and Cartography

• Main Author: Xu, Duoduo
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Bailu Zhou Island; Bagua Zhou Island
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80485; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/42250; https://geografie.uvt.ro/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/08_XU_DUODUO_final.pdf
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The present study illustrates the historical toponymy and historical topography of two river islands (located in the riverbed of the Yangtze River), belonging to the Nanjing’s territory, China, starting the toponymic analysis from a collection of ancient maps. The current Bailu Zhou island has inherited its name from a Li Bai’s poem after the ancient Bailu Zhou ‘disappeared’ because of hydro-geo-morphological events over time. Bagua Zhou island, with its enigmatic name, was shaped gradually in the Yangtze River by erosion and accumulation of debris processes. Besides clarifying the historical toponymy and cartography of the two islands, the paper inserts their history among some other cases of ‘exchanged’ place names. This research reveals that both natural and human factors contribute to the toponymic replacement of islands. It shows, moreover, the relevance of the changes in hydro-geo-morphology of river islands, due to the instability of river phenomena, in their naming process.