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The historical topographic map preserves rich geographic information and can provide direct assistance for the reconstruction of various geographic elements. Based on the historical data of cities throughout the Qing Dynasty, the land use scale data of cities across the country was obtained using GIS and urban perimeter conversion models. This study combines city information and city circumference records from the historical maps and archives of the late Qing Dynasty to quantitatively reconstruct the use patterns of ancient China's urban land at a spatial resolution of 1° × 1°. Uncertainty analysis of the reconstruction results was conducted using modern remote sensing image data as the validation data set. The results showed the following. (1) During the late Qing Dynasty, the total area of urban land in the various provinces and regions was 1456.015 km2. The maximum value was 208.691 km2 in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the minimum value was 1.713 km2 in Qinghai, and the average value was 56.001 km2. (2) The results of grid reconstruction show that among the 398 grids with urban land distribution, the maximum value is 64.099 km2/grid, the minimum value is 0.013 km2/grid, and the average value is 3.658 km2/grid. (3) Of all the grids with urban land, the urban land grid to the west of the Hu Line accounts for 12.5% and the east to 87.5%. (4) During the late Qing Dynasty, urban land use in China was primarily concentrated in agriculturally developed areas such as the North China Plain, the Central Plains, Jiangnan, and the Sichuan-Chongqing region. (6) The results of a kernel density estimation showed that there were obviously three core areas of urban land agglomeration in China during the late Qing Dynasty: the North China Plain-Central Plains, the Jiangsu-Shanghai-Zhejiang-Anhui area, and the Sichuan-Chongqing urban core area. This study provides basic data for urban land use during historical periods and provides a basis for the quantitative reconstruction of relevant urban land data for historical archives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karst regions are exceptionally responsive to global change with their harsh natural environment, fragile ecology, and acute human-land conflicts. The reconstruction of cropland spatial pattern in karst areas during the historical period is typical for studying human-land relations in karst areas and has important practical significance for climate study. The ecological environment changes at regional and global scales, primarily to provide essential data and a theoretical basis for studying the inverse evolution of rock desertification in karst areas. Guizhou province, a typical karst area, was selected as the research area in 1820. Based on the correction of historical population data and cropland data, a reconstruction model of cropland spatial pattern in karst areas during the historical period was constructed by selecting factors such as elevation, slope, soil types, organic matter content, climatic productivity potential, distance to river and distance from settlements to reconstruct the spatial pattern distribution of cropland in 1820 of Guizhou. The results show that the data on cropland recorded in Guizhou during the Qing dynasty is too low, mainly due to Yin-Ni and the policy of Tu-Di-Mian-Ke. In 1820, the total area of revised cropland in Guizhou was 1,851,792 hm2, with the highest proportion of 14.32% in Dading Fu and the lowest in Songtao Ting at 1.6%. Only 30% of the grid in Guizhou has a cropland distribution. It is mainly concentrated in the central part of Qianzhong District (Anshun and Guiyang Fu), the southern part of Qianbei District (Pingyue Fu and southern Zunyi Fu), the western part of Qiandongnan District, the central and eastern parts of the Qiandongbei District. The overall average reclamation rate of land in Guizhou is 10.93%, the highest reclamation intensity in Qianzhong District, with 8.5% of grids ≥ 50%, and the smallest in Qianxinan District, with only 1.65% of grids ≥ 50%. The analysis is validated by comparing the reconstruction model and the reconstruction results. It can be seen that the reconstruction model and research results of this paper can more objectively reflect the distribution of cropland in karst areas during the historical period, and the reconstruction model is suitable for karst areas with low productivity levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geographical environment of Yunnan Province in China and Han migration during the Ming Dynasty contributed to the development of the Biantun culture. Biantun toponyms (BTT) record the integration process between the Central Plains and native Yunnan cultures. The GIS analysis method of toponyms was used in this study to reproduce the settlement characteristics of BTT and the spatial development of the Biantun culture in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In addition, we have developed a toponymical landscape index to represent the degree of spatial integration between the BTT and ethnic minority toponyms in Yunnan and explore the spatial characteristics of the integration of Han immigrants and local ethnic minorities. The results show that the spatial distribution of the BTT is consistent with the sites selection of the Tuntian (屯田) in Yunnan during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the centroids of BTT spread to outskirts and intermontane area from central towns. In the Dali, Kunming, Qujing and other regions, the distribution characteristics of the integrated of BTT and ethnic minority toponyms reflect a higher degree of Sinicization in the central urban areas. Exploring the evolution of Biantun cultural development through the spatial characteristics of toponymical landscapes can help adjust policies for the development and protection of Biantun cultural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]