Belarus

Н. Ф. Леонтьев; З. И. Мартынова; А. А. Минц

This article provides a comprehensive review of the Atlas of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, a comprehensive national atlas published to mark the 40th anniversary of the republic. The atlas integrates physical, economic, population, cultural, and historical information. The author analyzes its structure and content in detail, covering natural maps (geology, climate, hydrology, soils, vegetation), economic maps (industry, agriculture, resources), population and cultural maps, and historical maps, evaluating their cartographic methods, depth, and design quality. While recognizing the atlas as a significant achievement in Soviet cartography, the author identifies certain shortcomings, including inconsistencies between some maps, the absence of synthetic maps, excessive detail in climate mapping at the expense of key elements, and a lack of innovation in physical maps. The article concludes by emphasizing the atlas's role as a model for similar regional atlases in other Soviet republics.

В. Ф. Кремпольский

In 1958, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR and the Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs published the Atlas of the BSSR. This was the first comprehensive national atlas of a Soviet republic, covering the republic's nature, population, economy, culture, history, and political-administrative structure. Published bilingually in Russian and Belarusian, the atlas contains 140 pages of maps, including sections on geology, soils, industry, agriculture, culture, and history. Compiled in just eighteen months by the Minsk Cartographic Factory in collaboration with Belarusian scientists, the atlas represents a major achievement in Soviet cartography and serves as an authoritative reference for a wide readership.

Л. М. Бюшгенс; Е. Л. Гурари; Ю. Г. Кельнер

This article reviews the Comprehensive Atlas of the Byelorussian SSR, published in 1958 by the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR and the Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography. The atlas, comprising 140 pages of maps, covers nature, economy, population, and history, aiming to provide a multifaceted characterization of the republic's physical geography and socio-economic conditions. The review highly commends its scientific value, particularly the sections on natural conditions (geology, geomorphology, climate, hydrology) and economy (industry, agriculture), noting the innovative inclusion of morphometric maps, modern relief-forming process maps, and monthly climatic data. However, it also identifies several shortcomings, such as the absence of dedicated hydrographic, landscape, and phenological maps, inconsistencies in contour alignment between related maps, the overly generalized content of regional economic maps, and the inadequate representation of industrial structure in major cities. Overall, the atlas is regarded as a pioneering work in Soviet regional comprehensive cartography, setting a benchmark for future publications of its kind.

A. Levshinov

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, an Atlas of the BSSR was published as a comprehensive cartographic work resulting from the collective efforts of Byelorussian scientists and cartographers.

3. Г. Рябцева

This is an academic review of the Atlas of the Byelorussian SSR, published in 1958. The atlas is the first comprehensive national atlas of a Soviet republic, designed to serve as a reference work for a wide readership. The review details the atlas's structure, including sections on political, physical-geographical, industrial, agricultural, cultural, healthcare, and historical maps, as well as its technical specifications, such as the use of a direct conformal conic projection and various map scales. The reviewer notes that the atlas incorporates the latest data, reflecting the socio-economic conditions at the beginning of the Sixth Five-Year Plan, and considers it a valuable reference resource.

中村泰三

This bibliographic review introduces the Atlas of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (Атлас БССР), published in late 1958. Compiled to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Byelorussian Republic, the atlas covers natural, historical, economic, and cultural activities. The 140-page atlas is organized into six sections: introductory maps (e.g.

Ena L. Yonge

This article provides a systematic summary review of approximately one hundred regional atlases from around the world, organized primarily by continent (or other large region) and then alphabetically by country within each group. The author begins by noting that the ever-increasing flood of atlases—national, regional, topical, and special—makes individual reviews impossible, thus necessitating summary evaluations to acknowledge important publications while respecting space constraints. The review covers representative works from Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, North America, and South America, encompassing road atlases, historical-geographical atlases, national atlases, climatic atlases, economic atlases, and school atlases. Each atlas is assessed in terms of its compiling institution, editors, scales, number of plates, content structure, cartographic techniques, printing quality, and scholarly value, with notable features and shortcomings highlighted. For instance, the European section evaluates works such as the Euroatlas, Atlas östliches Mitteleuropa, Atlas von Niederösterreich, Atlas de Belgique, Climatic Atlas of Czechoslovakia, Atlas of Denmark, and Atlas of Finland, while the American section covers state atlases from Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia, as well as national atlases from Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The article emphasizes that these atlases not only reflect the research standards of geography and cartography in their respective countries but also serve as vital references for regional planning, economic development, historical research, and education. The author concludes by acknowledging that no single individual can possess sufficient expertise across all aspects of geography, cartography, and linguistics to render definitive critical judgments, yet such summaries offer valuable guidance to scholars, with a forthcoming review of world atlases and special atlases announced.

K. A. Salishchev

The author reviews work on atlases of Soviet republics and oblasts published in 1961–64, containing maps on physical geography, population, economy and culture. He finds that these atlases suffer from a lack of practical purposefulness and inadequate coordination. These weaknesses are to be remedied in a new coordinated project of natural-resource atlases of the major republics and economic regions of the USSR initiated in 1963.

В. П. Коровицын; Ю. Г. Саушкин

This article examines the socio-economic maps in comprehensive regional atlases published in the USSR during the Seven-Year Plan (1959-1965). It begins by reviewing the history of regional atlas compilation in the Soviet Union, noting that large-scale work on comprehensive regional atlases was undertaken twice since the October Revolution: during the First Five-Year Plan (published in 1933-1934) and during the Seven-Year Plan (1959-1965). Geographers from Moscow and Leningrad Universities played prominent roles in early atlas projects, and recent years have seen the publication of comprehensive atlases for numerous union republics, autonomous republics, krais, and oblasts, including Belarus, Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova, and others. The article points out that socio-economic maps, which include not only economic maps but also population, culture, and service-sector maps, generally dominate regional atlases, typically comprising more than half of all maps. The author analyzes the structure of eleven recent 'large' atlases, finding that the share of socio-economic maps ranges from 48.7% to 85.2%, and discusses the reasons for this variation. The article also addresses the types of socio-economic maps, their relationship to themes such as population, economy, culture, and services, and their practical application in national economic planning. Finally, the author argues that economic cartography lags behind economic geography and proposes improvements for socio-economic map compilation, including strengthening theoretical foundations, adopting mathematical methods, focusing on territorial production complexes, and advancing socio-economic cartography. The article emphasizes the need for an All-Union conference on socio-economic cartography to summarize experience and promote further development in this field.

Бародзіч Ірына Уладзіміраўна

The National Atlas of Belarus holds a special place among cartographic publications. As an encyclopedic work of a scientific and reference nature, presented as a system of thematically linked and mutually coordinated maps covering the history, nature, population, economy, culture, international relations, and other characteristics of the country, it reflects the level of cartographic production and is published as a work of national significance and prestige. This article reviews the historical background and process of compiling the National Atlas of Belarus, focusing on the content, structure, and significance of the first edition published in 2002, and elaborates on the comprehensive update work for the second edition (2024), driven by socio-economic development, informatization, and the latest scientific research. The second edition, while retaining the original format and main scale, has been expanded to 20 sections, 348 pages, containing 704 maps and diagrams, of which 243 are published for the first time. The new edition features structural adjustments, placing the 'History' section at the beginning, and incorporates new content reflecting recent archaeological discoveries, Belarusian folk dialects, the country's place in the world, the transport and logistics system, healthcare, scientific and educational development, and cultural and sporting achievements. It particularly emphasizes the preservation of historical truth about the Great Patriotic War and the event of national unity. The article notes that the National Atlas serves as an authoritative national source of information, and its renewal is a task of state importance aimed at comprehensively presenting the natural, social, and economic profile of contemporary Belarus and fostering national identity. Finally, the article suggests that with the advancement of information technology, creating a state atlas information system becomes a new task for cartographers.