---
license: other
license_name: chgis-tgaz
license_link: https://chgis.fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/
pretty_name: TGAZ (Temporal Gazetteer) SQLite
language:
  - zh
  - en
  - bo
tags:
  - history
  - gazetteer
  - china
  - historical-gis
  - sqlite
size_categories:
  - 10K<n<100K
---

# TGAZ-SQLite

The **Temporal Gazetteer (TGAZ)** of the China Historical GIS (CHGIS) as one SQLite file.
It has 82,117 historical placenames from 763 BCE to 1911 CE, with 245,042 spellings
(simplified and traditional Chinese, pinyin, Tibetan), jurisdiction links over time,
and historical notes.

## Files

| File | What it is |
|---|---|
| `tgaz_20260325.zip` | the database (`tgaz.db`, 228 MB unzipped, 62 MB zipped) |
| `latest.json` | the current release: file name, SHA-256 checksums, download URL |

## Download

The easiest way is the `setup` command of the
[tgaz-sqlite skill](https://github.com/kltng/humanities-skills/tree/main/tgaz-sqlite):

```bash
python3 scripts/query_tgaz.py setup     # downloads, checks the checksum, unzips
```

It puts the file at `~/.local/share/sino-authorities/tgaz.db`. By hand:

```bash
curl -L -o tgaz.zip https://huggingface.co/datasets/kltng/tgaz-sqlite/resolve/main/tgaz_20260325.zip
unzip tgaz.zip      # gives tgaz.db
```

## Source and credit

- Data: [China Historical GIS](https://chgis.fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/) (Harvard University and
  Fudan University), with records from the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (3,587) and the
  Historical Gazetteer of Russia (761).
- Converted from the MySQL dump in
  [fccs-dci/containerized_tgaz](https://github.com/fccs-dci/containerized_tgaz) with the scripts in
  [kltng/tgaz-sqlite](https://github.com/kltng/tgaz-sqlite). The live API is at
  https://chgis.hudci.org/tgw/.
- The upstream data has no explicit licence file. Credit CHGIS when you use it, and check the
  CHGIS site for terms of use. The conversion is by Kwok-leong Tang.

## Known data problems

- About 6,000 rows (mostly POLYGON records, `hvd_90xxx` IDs) have longitude `0.00000`. On a map
  they land in Africa. The skill's `--good-coords` flag drops them.
- 251 rows end before they begin (e.g. `hvd_112536`).
- `mv_pn_srch.parent_vn` is the earliest parent, not the parent in a given year. Use `part_of`
  for a given year.