A historical geographic information system has been constructed at the department of Modern History at Ghent University for the Territorial structures of Belgium.

This "HISGIS" is based on two historical databases, which have been developed since 1990. One database contains the digitised statistical data for population, agriculture and industry for the period 1800 – 1961. The other database consists of hundreds of digitised historical maps, representing the boundary changes for the period 1800 – 2000. The maps (in vector format, georeferenced to Belgian Lambert 72 map projection) are stored per province. It is possible to visualise the statistical data at different points of time at different territorial levels, ranging from province to municipality, using the historical borders which are valid for the selected point of time. A repertory (in paper-format) has been published with a full overview of the territorial history of the Belgian municipalities from 1796 till 1963. The historical maps have been reconstructed with the highest possible precision, based on various sources (see for details: “technical background”). In some cases the exact location of historical borders could not be reconstructed, due to a lack of reliable sources. As we go further back in time, these inaccuracies increase. This finding, however, does not affect the usability of cartographic material: on the one hand the deviations are limited and on the other hand the aim of our website is not the provision of geographical accurate maps of the historical territorial units of Belgium. According to the aim of the project, the maps are rather used as “containers” to visualise historical statistics and to perform spatial analysis.