Atlas général du Congo = Algemene atlas van Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo · · 1948
Related Reviews & Articles
Maps of the Congo
Malcolm E. Bondy · 1951
This note reports on a valuable addition to the Map Division's African holdings: five folios of the French-Flemish Atlas Général Du Congo Et Du Ruanda-Urundi (Algemene Atlas Van Congo En Van Ruanda-Urundi), published by the Institut Royal Colonial Belge, Brussels, 1948. When complete, the atlas will consist of seven sections—History, Geodesy, the Physical World, Biogeography, Anthropology and the Social Sciences, Politics and Government, and Economics—each subdivided into folios. The five folios currently acquired cover an introduction, biogeography, history, and political affairs. The introductory folio includes a 1:3,000,000 map showing international, provincial, and district boundaries, along with towns, villages, rivers, lakes, missions, mines, roads, railroads, and airports, supplemented by a comprehensive 23-page gazetteer. Other folios delineate vegetation zones, national parks and forest reserves, routes of Congo explorers, and administrative subdivisions since 1888, each accompanied by relevant textual material. The publisher indicates additional folios in preparation on ethnology, language, population density, transportation, hydrography, boundaries, telecommunications, and economy. For topics not yet issued, researchers may consult René de Rouck's Atlas Géographique Et Historique Du Congo Belge Et Des Territoires Sous Mandat Du Ruanda-Urundi (Bruxelles, 1947) in the Map Division's reading room. This acquisition enriches cartographic resources for African studies and offers useful guidance for researchers and collection development.
National atlases: a summary
Yonge, Ena L. · 1957
This paper presents a comprehensive survey of national atlases produced worldwide up to the late 1950s. The author reviews the development, scope, and cartographic quality of more than two dozen national atlases, with an emphasis on those published after World War II. The study examines atlases across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas, analyzing their thematic coverage, scales, symbolic innovations, and accompanying explanatory texts. Key findings highlight the leading role of European countries—particularly Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and Sweden—in producing atlases that integrate physical, economic, and social geography with advanced graphic techniques. Outside Europe, emerging national atlas projects in Israel, Morocco, the Congo, Australia, and the United States are documented, though many regions remain underrepresented. The paper underscores the value of national atlases as tools for planning, education, and research, and notes the growing trend of bilingual map legends and summaries to serve international audiences. The survey reveals increasing ambition and scope in national atlas production, mirroring both rising nationalism and the demand for systematic spatial knowledge of individual countries.
Regional atlases: a summary survey
Ena L. Yonge · 1962
This article is a comprehensive review of regional atlases, written by Ena L. Yonge. The author begins by noting that, given the ever-increasing flood of atlases from around the world, individual reviews of each publication are impossible; therefore, a summary survey is adopted. She also stresses that no single reviewer can be sufficiently expert in all aspects of geography, cartography, and linguistics to render sound critical judgments. The roughly one hundred regional atlases discussed are grouped primarily by continent or large region and then arranged alphabetically by country. In the European section, the author evaluates national and thematic atlases from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, and other countries, covering topics such as road transport, historical geography, climate, population, economy, and land use. She comments in detail on cartographic quality, scales, printing techniques, and practical utility. For example, the Austrian national atlas, directed by Hans Bobek and Erik Arnberger under the Commission for Land Planning of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, was published in five annual parts and demonstrates excellent cartography and printing. The Atlas de Belgique and the Atlas du Survey National supplement each other with plates on hydrogeology, phytogeography, agriculture, basic industries, waterways, and railways. The Climatic Atlas of Czechoslovakia is praised for its beautiful large-scale maps of temperature and precipitation. The article then turns to North America, focusing on state atlases in the United States, including Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia. These atlases cover agriculture, forestry, economic resources, historical geography, and population, often compiled by universities or state agencies for educational and planning purposes. In the South American section, the author highlights notable publications such as the Atlas do Brasil, the Atlas de economía colombiana, and Venezuelan climatic and forest atlases. Throughout the review, the author acknowledges the scholarly value and cartographic achievements of many works while also pointing out occasional problems such as overly large formats or inappropriate scales. Overall, the article provides a broad and informative reference guide to regional atlases for scholars in geography, cartography, and related fields.
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