International Hydrographic Organization
intergovernmental organization
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO; French: Organisation Hydrographique Internationale) is an intergovernmental organization representing hydrography. As of August 2025, the IHO comprised 104 member states.
A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters are properly surveyed and charted. It does this through the setting of international standards and through its capacity building programs and offices.
The IHO enjoys observer status at the United Nations, where it is the recognized competent authority on hydrographic surveying and nautical charting. When referring to hydrography and nautical charting in conventions and similar instruments, it is the IHO standards and specifications that are normally used.
History
During the 19th century, many maritime nations established hydrographic offices to provide means for improving the navigation of naval and merchant vessels by providing nautical publications, nautical charts, and other navigational services. There were substantial differences in hydrographic procedures charts, and publications. In 1889, an International Maritime Conference was held at Washington, D.C., and it was proposed to establish a "permanent international commission." Similar proposals were made at the sessions of the International Congress of Navigation held at Saint Petersburg in 1908 and the International Maritime Conference held at Saint Petersburg in 1912.
In 1919, the national Hydrographers of Great Britain and France cooperated in taking the necessary steps to convene an international conference of Hydrographers.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “International Hydrographic Organization” is intergovernmental organization. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through International, Hydrographic and Organization, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “intergovernmental organization” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q233611. VIAF identifies the subject as 123744119. The Library of Congress control number is n80013011. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025, 1889, 1908 and 1912.
Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “International Hydrographic Organization”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow International Hydrographic Organization primary sources, International Hydrographic Organization archive and International research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “International Hydrographic Organization”?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “International Hydrographic Organization” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.