National Atlas of Mexico
Atlas Nacional de México
Mexico · Unknown · 1990
Related Reviews & Articles
National Atlas of Mexico, the whole country on your shoulder
Guevara, Germán Muñoz · 1992
The National Atlas of Mexico, produced by the Institute of Geography at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), is the most comprehensive geographic work of the country in this century. Compiled over five years by an interdisciplinary team of 300 researchers from 15 UNAM departments, six government agencies (including INEGI and CONACYT), and foreign advisors, the atlas contains 600 maps across three volumes. Thematic coverage spans history, society, nature and environment, economy, and international relations. Volume I presents general maps, historical events, and social indicators such as education, health, and migration. Volume II addresses physical geography, climate, oceanography, biodiversity (with novel maps of reptiles, butterflies, and mammals), and environmental quality. Volume III focuses on economic activities, transport, infrastructure, and foreign trade. Internationally acclaimed as the finest national atlas for its breadth and cartographic quality, it is regarded as a work of art and was printed entirely in Mexico for the first time at European standards. A major outcome is the creation of a geographic and statistical data bank that enables detailed analyses down to the municipal level. The atlas serves as a critical decision-support tool for agriculture, urban planning, environmental protection, and resource management, fostering interdisciplinary research and evidence-based policy.
Geographical Reviews: New National Atlas of Mexico
Bobinson, David J. · 2008
This review presents and evaluates the *Nuevo atlas nacional de México*, a monumental cartographic work produced by a team of 153 authors and collaborators led by Atlántida Coll-Hurtado and José María Casado Izquierdo. The purpose of the atlas is to provide a comprehensive, high-quality geographic portrait of Mexico through 726 maps and 353 graphics, drawing on data from over thirty national and international institutions, particularly the censuses of 2000 and the rich databases of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática. The work is organized into five principal sections—general, history, society, economy, and nature and environment—each introduced by texts explaining data sources, key patterns, and relevant bibliographies. The history section offers a detailed sequence of pre-Hispanic, colonial, and nineteenth-century maps, tracing exploration routes, epidemics, trade, and agrarian reform. The society section maps demographic dynamics, migration (including Mexico–U.S. flows and remittances), health, education, and regional development disparities. Economic maps cover agriculture, energy, industry, transportation, and commerce, revealing patterns such as the division between subsistence and technified farming zones, the spatial distribution of specific crops and industries, and the geography of foreign investment. The environmental section integrates climatic, geological, and biophysical data, including hazards and protected areas. The atlas demonstrates how careful combination of variables can interrelate processes and patterns, exemplified by maps of development levels and ecological protection. The review concludes that the atlas exhibits exceptional cartographic artistry, precision in color registration, and discreet documentation of authorship and scale. It stands as a landmark contribution to Mexican scholarship, and the author expresses the hope that an online version will make its riches accessible to a wider audience.
Book Reviews: New National Atlas of Mexico
Pollack, Aaron · 2009
This review analyzes the *Nuevo Atlas Nacional de México* (2007), a comprehensive cartographic and textual compendium edited by Atlántida Coll-Hurtado and produced by the Instituto de Geografía at UNAM. The review examines the atlas’s structure, coverage, and scholarly contributions across its five thematic sections—general reference, history, society, economy, and environment. The atlas integrates the work of over 150 specialists to present 726 maps, 353 tables and diagrams, and interpretive texts that juxtapose diverse datasets. The review highlights the atlas’s thorough treatment of Mexico’s territorial evolution, internal and international migration, regional inequalities in access to services and consumer goods, and the spatial restructuring of the economy under neoliberal policies and NAFTA. Special attention is given to the economy section, which documents agricultural decline, the hyperconcentration of manufacturing, the explosive growth of maquiladoras, and the dominance of the service and informal sectors. The environment section is praised for mapping soil degradation, water contamination, and aquifer depletion. The reviewer commends the atlas for making visible the connections between economic processes and social and environmental outcomes, though notes that stronger explicit linkages between the economy and environment sections would have been beneficial. Gaps, such as the omission of narcotics trafficking and voting patterns, are acknowledged. The review concludes that despite minor unevenness, the atlas is an extraordinarily useful, well-organized reference tool for researchers and students across many disciplines, offering a data-rich portrait of Mexico in the early twenty-first century and serving as a necessary addition to Latin American collections.
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