Atlas of Finland, 350: Landscapes, Living Environments

Atlas of Finland

Bengt Rystedt · 2015

The Atlas of Finland, the world's first national atlas, was published in six editions from 1899 to 2002, offering a unique perspective on the cartographic representation of Finland's geography and illustrating advancements in atlas production and shifts in geographical knowledge. The first four editions were issued by the Geographical Society of Finland, with early editions appearing in French to underscore the nationalistic role of academic work during Finland's time within the Russian Empire; the third edition, published in English after independence, was even more explicitly nationalistic. The fifth edition, a joint effort with the National Land Survey, comprised 25 folio volumes covering 44 subjects, with legends in multiple languages and separate text volumes. The sixth edition, published to mark the centenary of the first, aimed to introduce academic geography's achievements and trace Finland's evolution within complex interaction networks from local to global scales. A comparison of the six editions reveals significant growth in scholarship, thematic content, and cartographic techniques throughout the twentieth century. The Atlas served as a national symbol and an integral part of Finland's scientific and popular culture, with each edition's topic selection reflecting both the authors' priorities and the spirit of its time.