W. B. Banage · 1963
W. B. Banage reviews the 1962 Atlas of Uganda, compiled in nine months for independence through cooperation among government departments, the Lands and Surveys Department and Makerere University College geographers. Its 37 pages of maps, mostly at 1:1,500,000, are accompanied by explanatory texts, diagrams and photographs. Banage praises the generally effective design and printing, especially the relief map, tribal-composition and railway-freight cartograms, and climate section. He criticizes map grouping, some colour choices, inconsistent base maps and place-names, historical errors, spelling and taxonomy, and weak correspondence between maps and text. He also questions the differing land-area exclusions used for cultivation and population maps and the coarse sub-county basis of population density, while commending McMaster's explicit caution about unreliable crop data. The fisheries account omits the Nilotic–Victorian faunal division and the controversy over Nile perch in Lake Victoria, and inadequately explains the replacement of Tilapia by carp in fish-farming experiments. Despite these defects and some opaque trade diagrams, Banage judges the atlas a clear, well-rounded reference on Uganda's physical and cultural landscape, particularly useful to teachers and students lacking a national geography textbook.
R. C. Bridges · 1963
The review examines the 1962 Atlas of Uganda, issued by the Department of Lands and Surveys to mark independence. Compiled and printed in Uganda under Bruce Whittaker’s direction, with cooperation from government departments and Makerere University College geographers, it contains 38 sheets, mostly at 1:1,500,000, accompanied by notes, photographs and a gazetteer. The reviewer praises its coverage of physical and human geography, including agriculture, industry, power, health and education. Local statistics and administrative units support instructive choropleth maps of population density and cultivated acreage; divided circles depict ethnic and tribal composition in 105 counties, while isopleths show food crops as percentages of total crop acreage. Historical maps locate archaeological and historical sites, trace political boundaries, and depict travellers’ routes from 1860–1913; the development of Uganda’s kingdoms is omitted because of the state of knowledge. The reviewer notes inconsistent temperature units and a few misplaced route arrows, while judging the routes themselves correct. Despite these criticisms, the reviewer considers it almost certainly the best national atlas among the three major East African countries, praising its topic selection, usefulness and reasonable price.
David N. Siriba; Daniel O. Nyangweso · 2022
The article records that the first edition of the Atlas of Uganda (1962) contained 35 maps and two city plans, all printed in colour. It was produced in nine months so that it would be available at Uganda’s independence in October 1962.
