Н. Ф. Леонтьев; Я. Г. Машбиц · 1971
The article by N. F. Leontiev and Ya. G. Mashbits discusses the National Atlas of Cuba, a comprehensive cartographic work produced jointly by the Institutes of Geography of the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the USSR Academy of Sciences in the framework of scientific cooperation. Published in 1970, the atlas is the first work of its kind in Latin America and the first national atlas prepared with extensive Soviet participation. The authors describe the structure and content of the atlas, which contains about 170 maps grouped into eight series: introductory, natural conditions and resources, agriculture, industry, transport and external economic relations, population, health, education and culture, and history. They emphasize the scientific and practical significance of the atlas for planning socio-economic development, studying natural resources, and developing tropical geography. The article also analyzes the experience gained during the five-year preparation, highlighting general principles for creating national atlases. In particular, the authors propose a definition of a national atlas based primarily on its purpose: to serve state institutions and planning agencies in national development. They argue that a national atlas should reflect the current state of knowledge of a country's territory, the level of socio-economic development, and be oriented to solving national problems of rational use of natural potential and development of productive forces. They also discuss the issue of comparability of indicators on maps, noting that due to uneven study of territory, some incomparability is acceptable. The experience of the Cuban atlas shows that the preparation of national atlases requires flexibility, consideration of country-specific features, and should not follow rigid templates. The authors conclude that the Cuban National Atlas is a significant contribution to national mapping and a model for other developing countries.
Г. А. Правоторова · 1976
The author describes using the 1970 National Atlas of Cuba to compile a 1:750,000 map of agricultural production types of land in Matanzas Province. The atlas supplied the general geographic base and maps of relief, karst, groundwater, soils, agriculture, sugar processing, transport and water management. These were analysed alongside supplementary soil and topographic maps and literature. Working overlays combined natural conditions with agricultural specialization to define five production types and thirteen subtypes, with additional categories for land currently outside agricultural use. The author presents the resulting map and detailed legend as evidence that national atlases can support further thematic mapping and assessments of potential agricultural land use.
Р. И. Злотин; С. В. Зонн; Д. А. Лилиенберг; Я. Г. Машбиц; А. И. Фадеев; В. П. Чичагов · 1988
In their account of national-atlas compilation, the authors describe the first National Atlas of Cuba, prepared jointly by Soviet and Cuban scholars in 1965–1970. They characterize its structure as schematic, with six sections covering introductory material, general geographical maps, nature, agriculture–industry–transport, population and culture, and history. The discussion identifies six geomorphological maps, three hydrological maps, 18 agricultural maps and 15 industrial maps, with industrial coverage including sugar, tobacco and fisheries. The authors explain that limited geographical knowledge prevented the inclusion of several important topics; two soil maps based on different concepts were included. They also emphasize the atlas’s use of synthetic general economic maps. They report that it received more than 50 reviews and was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1973.
