Editing Encyclopedia:Manual of Style (section)

===Geographical items===
{{Shortcut|MOS:GEO|MOS:PLACE}}
{{See also|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names)|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Abbreviations#Special considerations}}
{{redirect|MOS:GEO|the guideline on linking comma-separated geographical names|MOS:GEOLINK|geographical coordinates|MOS:COORDS}}

<section begin="MOS:GEO" />'''Geographical''' or '''place names''' are the nouns used to refer to specific places and geographic features. These names often give rise to conflict, because the same places are called different things by different peoples speaking different languages. Many place names have a historical context that should be preserved, but common sense should prevail. There can be few places that have not been parts of more than one culture or have had only one name. As proper nouns, all such place names (but not terms for types of places) [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters#Place names|have major words capitalized]].

A place should generally be referred to consistently by the same name as in the title of its article {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names)]])}}. An exception may be made when there is a widely accepted historical English name appropriate to the given context. In cases where such a historical name is used, it should be followed by the modern{{efn|name=recent}} name in round brackets (parentheses) on the first occurrence of the name in applicable sections of the article. This resembles linking; it should not be done to the detriment of style. On the other hand, it is probably better to provide such a variant too often than too rarely. If more than one historical name is applicable for a given context, the other names should be added after the modern English name, that is: "historical name (modern name, other historical names)".

This is an English-language encyclopedia, so established English names are preferred if they exist, and spellings in non-English alphabets should always be transcribed into the Roman alphabet. In general, other articles should refer to places by the names which are used in the articles on those places, according to the rules described at [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names)]]. If a different name is appropriate in a given historical or other context, then that may be used instead, although it is normal to follow the first occurrence of such a name with the standard modern name in parentheses.

At the start of an article, provide notable equivalent names from other languages, including transcriptions where necessary: 
:'''Cologne''' ({{langx|de|Köln|link=no}}, IPA: {{IPA|[kœln]}}) is the&nbsp;...
:{{Nihongo|'''Mount Fuji'''|富士山|Fujisan|extra=IPA: {{IPA|[ɸuʥisaɴ]}} }} is the&nbsp;...

Names in languages with no particular present-day or historical ties to the place in question (English excepted, of course) should {{em|not}} be listed as alternatives.

Avoid anachronism. An article about [[Junípero Serra]] should say he lived in [[Alta California|Alta Mexico]], not in [[California]], because the latter entity did not yet exist in Serra's time. The Romans invaded [[Gaul]], not [[France]], and [[Thabo Mbeki]] was the president of the [[Republic of South Africa]], not of the [[Cape Colony]]. To be clear, you may sometimes need to mention the current name of the area (for example "in what is now France"), especially if no English name exists for that area in the relevant historical period.<section end="MOS:GEO" />