Labels on Alien Landscapes. Placenames on Planetary Bodies as Tools for Expanding Colonialism

An indispensable part of the maps is the nomenclature, which defines a specific area, projects the depicted geographical area into cultural and linguistic space. Depending on the theme, language, and purpose of the map, the same area can have many different label systems. The present study examines a corpus of toponyms that is as far removed from political or national considerations as possible: geographical toponyms of the Solar System’s planetary bodies, which are assigned by an international committee of researchers. This corpus goes back more than four centuries. In the space age, it underwent a significant transformation, and a new naming revolution takes place in these years, partly in the spirit of American political correctness and decolonization efforts, and partly with the strengthening of space research in Europe or the Far East. The public database of planetary names is the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature maintained by the International Astronomical Union and the United States Geological Survey. My study analyses the database to reveal which names appear in this Gazeteer in which form, how this is connected to current political-cultural expectations and how these decisions influence our image of other celestial bodies and planetary research in general through maps. In this discussion paper I also point out that the internal documents that record the debates behind the decisions cannot be accessed and studied.