Philippe Decraene · 1978
This brief review presents an atlas of Senegal produced over four years by forty Senegalese and French researchers and teachers. It comprises sixty-five plates and more than one hundred maps, with Régine Van-Chi-Bonnardel coordinating the work. The reviewer, Ph. D., considers its broad thematic coverage and extensive plate commentaries to make it a distinctive monograph offering a comprehensive account of Senegal across time and space.
Louis Papy · 1979
Louis Papy reviews the National Atlas of Senegal, published by IFAN in Dakar in 1977 with 148 pages and 65 map plates. Prepared by ORSTOM, IFAN and CNRS, it brought together forty French and Senegalese professors and researchers. Papy recounts the sometimes difficult preparation: the École supérieure de cartographie de Paris undertook the cartographic work, followed by final production and printing at the Institut Géographique National. Senghor's preface presents its aim of describing Senegal's history, culture and geographical setting within the world. Papy surveys the physical geography sections, including syntheses of fieldwork and oceanographic research, and particularly praises the historical plates covering prehistory, protohistory, Senegambian kingdoms, migrations and colonial conquest. He also discusses population, agriculture and pastoralism, fisheries, industry and commerce, urban geography, public facilities and regional studies. The review pays tribute to contributor Marc Vernière and singles out his urban geography chapters. Praising the generally effective colours and extensive explanatory notes, Papy judges the atlas a fundamental reference and a decisive contribution to knowledge of Senegal.
Yoro Fall · 1979
Yoro K. Fall reviews the 1977 Atlas national du Sénégal, directed by R. Nguyen Van Chi, praising its multidisciplinary contributions and teamwork while concentrating on historical plates 19–23. These cover ancient Senegambian kingdoms, seventeenth-century Senegambia, resistance to colonial conquest, nineteenth-century European imperial expansion, and kingdoms and territories around the mid-nineteenth century. Fall finds many maps expressive or excellent, but stresses the uncertainty of early political boundaries and criticizes ethnic classifications, migration chronologies, and insufficient critical comparison of archaeology, Arabic sources, and oral traditions. He welcomes the historical maps reproduced in plate 20, while calling for fuller explanations of their production, territorial divisions, the slave trade, and urban planning. He argues that plate 21 exaggerates rulers’ resistance and neglects popular resistance and its internal social conditions. For plate 22, he questions territorial delineation and the treatment of changes in French colonial policy. For plate 23, he praises the map and clear text but criticizes labeling and depictions of sparsely inhabited regions. He concludes that substantial research underlies the plates, but a new edition requires corrections.
