Biography

Born 1949 in Hermagor/Carinthia [Kärnten], Austria; studied geography and ethnology at the Vienna University, PhD 1979; 1998 habilitation at the Klagenfurt University; 1977-1988 map editor at the Atlas of the Danubian Countries; 1989-2014 editor-in-chief, Atlas of Eastern and Southeastern Europe with 30 instalments published; 1994-1998 project manager, Resources and Environment - World Atlas; 1997-2001 deputy director, 2002-2005 director, Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies; from 2007 at the Institute of Urban and Regional Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Research fields: Cultural and Political geography of eastern Europe, geography of tourism, toponomastics, geolinguistics, geography of transportation, atlas cartography, theoretical cartography. Teaches at the University of Klagenfurt; more than 430 scientific publications and 408 paper presentations.

Areas of Research

• Cultural and Political geography of eastern Europe
• Toponomastics
• Geolinguistics
• Geography of tourism
• Geography of transportation
• Atlas cartography
• Theoretical cartography

Research projects

• The publication of a book on the standardization of place names in minority languages in Europe ​​is planned for 2025. 
  Title of this book Minority place-name standardization. A comparison of regulations and approaches in Europe
• Politics & poetics of toponymy, identity and place in multilingual areas
• Atlas of Eastern and Southeastern Europe

Memberships

• Vice-President, International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS)
• Research fellow, University of the Free State, Faculty of the Humanities (South Africa)
• Corresponding Member, Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (StAGN)
• Chairman of the Austrian IGU National Committee
• Member, Executive Board, Austrian Geographical Society (ÖGG) Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft (ÖGG)
• Editor (together with Paul Woodman) of the toponymic book series „Name & Place. Contributions to Toponymic Literature and Research“, Verlag Dr. Kovač, Hamburg, so far 9 volumes published

Editorial board member with the periodicals

• „Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft“ (Wien)
• „Bulletin of Geography” (Thorn [Toruń])
• „Romanian Review of Regional Studies“ (Klausenburg [Cluj-Napoca])
• „Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics“ (Temeswar [Timişoara])
• „Acta Universitatis Palackianae Olomucensis, Geographica“ (Olmütz [Olomouc])
• “Földrajzi Értesitő – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin“ (Budapest)
• „Journal of Urban and Regional Analysis“ (Bukarest [Bucureşti])
• „Acta geographica Slovenica – Geografski zbornik“ (Laibach [Ljubljana])
• „Geographia Napocensis“ (Klausenburg [Cluj-Napoca])
• “Bulletin of the National Museum” (Chişinău)
• “Regional Statistics” [Területi Statisztika] (Budapest)
• “Geografický časopis” (Pressburg [Bratislava])
• “Collana Studi i Ricerche” (Rom [Roma])
• Overland, Geo. Journal of Geography, Geopolitics, Geoeconomics” (Rom [Roma])
• “Onomàstica”(Barcelona)
• “Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen” (Bozen/Bolzano)

Awards

• 1978
  Dr. Adolf Schärf Award
• 1995
  Honorary Member, Croatian Geographical Society
• 2006
  Honorary Member, Hungarian Geographical Society
• 2007
  Honorary Professor, Babes Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania
• 2014
  Honorary Member, Czech Geographical Society
  Honorary Member, Moldavian Society for Geography and Ethnology
  Great Distinction for Merits for the Republic of Austria
• 2015
  Honorary Member, Austrian Geographical Society
  Honorary Member, Romanian Geographical Society
• 2017
  Honorary Member, Association of Slovenian Geographers
  Research Fellow, University of the Free State, Südafrika
  United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Certificate of Commendation
• 2018
  Honorary Member, Polish Geographical Society
• 2019
  Einspieler Award for special merits for the Slovenian ethnic group in Austria
• 2020
  Great Badge of Honor of the State of Carinthia
• 2023
  International Cartographic Association (ICA) Honorary Fellow

Downloads

• Publications
• Talks
• Teachings

Recent Publications

JORDAN, Peter (2023), Functions and principles of geographical names. In: ICA Commission on Atlases (ed.): The Atlas Cookbook. Ten ingredients how to edit an atlas, pp. 61-67. Zurich, ICA Commission on Atlases. 

JORDAN, Peter (2023), The spas of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In: SKORUPAN, Mirsad (ed.): Zbornik mednarodne conference “Turizem” Rogaška Slatina, 2.6.-3.6.2023, pp. 46-65. Ljubljana, Društvo učiteljev geografije Slovenije.

JORDAN, Peter (2023), Place names as ‘condensed narratives’. Some reflections from the perspective of Critical Toponomastics on Walter Sperling’s book “Trees and Forest in the Geographical Names of Central Europe: The Bohemian Lands” (2008)”. In: Onomàstica 9, pp. 111-124.

JORDAN, Peter (2023), Die Verwendung von Exonymen in mittel- und südosteuropäischen Schulatlanten als Ausdruck des politischen Wandels. In: DAHMEN, Wolfgang; HIMSTEDT-VAID, Petra; SCHUBERT, Gabriella (eds.): Nomen est omen. Die Bedeutung von Namen in südosteuropäischen Kulturen (= Forschungen zu Südosteuropa. Sprache – Kultur – Literatur, 21), pp. 3-18. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag. 

JORDAN, Peter (2023), The Crucial and Contested Concept of the Endonym/Exonym Divide. In: BIJAK, Urszula; SWOBODA, Paweł; WALKOWIAK, Justyna B. (eds.): Onomastics in Interaction with Other Branches of Science. Proceedings of the 27^th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, Volume 1: Keynote lectures, toponomastics,
pp. 27-45. Kraków: Jagiellonian University Press.

JORDAN, Peter (ed.) (2023), Place Names as a Part of the Cultural Heritage (= Onoma, 58). Uppsala: International Council of Onomastic Sciences.

JORDAN, Peter (2023), Exonyms as parts of the cultural heritage. In: Onoma 58, pp. 241-254.

JORDAN, Peter (2023), Adequate Minority Place-Name Representation on Topographic Maps. In: Kartographische Nachrichten/Journal of Cartography and Geographic Information 73, pp. 289-299.