Atlas of the Gold Coast

Gold Coast Atlas

Bondy, Malcolm E. · 1951

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the fifth edition of the Gold Coast Atlas (1949) as a historical cartographic resource. The primary purpose is to document its key enhancements and evaluate its scholarly value, particularly in light of comparisons with earlier territorial atlases. The method involves a feature-by-feature examination of the atlas’s content, including its new gazetteer listing 1083 towns and villages, 161 rivers, and 62 prominent hills, as well as minor map revisions since the 1945 edition. The atlas contains 20 maps, 17 of which are dedicated to the Gold Coast, with thematic coverage spanning administrative divisions, population, tribal and linguistic distribution, physical geography, geology, minerals, rainfall, forestry, agriculture, livestock routes, and transport infrastructure. City plans for Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi and a statistical section on utilities and road/railway mileage are also included. A comparative assessment with the earlier Atlas of the Territory identifies two notable deficiencies: the absence of textual commentary accompanying the thematic maps, and the omission of disease distribution maps, such as those for sleeping sickness and malaria. The paper concludes that while the Gold Coast Atlas constitutes a rich compendium of socioeconomic and physical data for the region, its utility for medical geography is limited. Researchers in that field are advised to consult complementary mapping resources, specifically the 1947 Directorate of Colonial Surveys series on Glossina distribution and the Ash–Spits Atlas of Tropical Diseases. The work thus serves as both a catalogue of atlas contents and a pragmatic guide to its contextual usage.