South Africa

With the recent publication of the fully bilingual *Atlas of the Union of South Africa*, South Africa has joined the ranks of countries with national atlases. This atlas graphically presents, through the universal language of maps and diagrams, the country's physical features, climate, natural vegetation, soils, and natural resources, along with summaries of population distribution and structure, economic development, and external trade. Compiled by A. M. Talbot and W. J. Talbot of the Department of Geography, University of Cape Town, in collaboration with the Trigonometrical Survey Office and under the auspices of the National Council for Social Research, it serves as an invaluable reference for businesspeople, educators, regional planners, and informed citizens seeking to understand the nation's past, present challenges, and future prospects.

S. P. Jackson

This is an academic review of the Atlas of the Union of South Africa, compiled by A. M. and W. J. Talbot and published by the Government Printer, Pretoria, in 1960. The atlas originated from a 1947 invitation by the Social and Economic Planning Council to the Department of Geography at the University of Cape Town to conduct a systematic survey of the country's natural resources and dependent economic activities. It comprises seven sections and over 700 black-and-white maps and diagrams, covering physical geography, population, transport, agriculture, and trade, based on official statistics from 1910 to 1950. The review praises the high quality of the colored relief and geological maps, the exemplary clarity of the mineral resources map, and the effective use of dot symbols with transparent overlays for economic data. Despite inherent constraints of budget and cartographic methods, the atlas successfully portrays South Africa's resource exploitation and economic growth, serving as a valuable reference not only for geographers but for all interested in the country, and stands as a notable source of fundamental data on South Africa's first-half-20th-century development.

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.

T. J. D. Fair

This is a review of the Atlas of the Union of South Africa, published in 1960. Initiated in 1947 to address a serious lack of systematic information on the country's resources and socio-economic structure, the Atlas was compiled by A. M. Talbot and W. J. Talbot of the University of Cape Town. It comprises seven main sections—Relief, Geology, Mining, Soils, Vegetation and Fisheries; Climate and Water Resources; Population; Agriculture; Industries and Occupations; Transportation; and External Trade—and includes 598 maps. The authors' introduction meticulously details source materials, the merits and limitations of various mapping methods, and the reliability of the maps, with persistent attention to growth trends and changing patterns since 1911. Although funding constraints resulted in mostly monochrome printing, the Atlas is regarded as a high-standard scientific work of significant value for geographical analysis.

Riccardo Riccardi

This article offers a systematic critical review of twenty-one foreign atlases published between 1960 and 1963. The works considered include national atlases, general reference atlases, school atlases intended especially for secondary and advanced instruction, a pocket economic atlas, and a historical atlas. For each publication, the author examines its organization, thematic coverage, source materials, choice of scales, cartographic conventions, technical execution, readability, and educational usefulness, while identifying both innovations and deficiencies. Particular attention is first given to national atlases of Finland, South Africa, Austria, Turkey, and Soviet Armenia. The fourth edition of the Atlas of Finland is judged especially successful: although the number of plates increases only slightly, the number of maps rises substantially, and major sections on population, agriculture, livestock, forestry, industry, communications, and historical geography are thoroughly revised or newly created. Its balanced conception, scholarly rigor, and high technical quality place it among the finest works of its kind. The South African atlas contains abundant statistical and thematic information, with especially extensive treatment of population and agriculture and strong geological and vegetation maps. Nevertheless, its sections are markedly disproportionate, its widespread use of black-and-white statistical mapping sometimes impairs clarity, and its climatic, hydrological, geophysical, and synthetic economic coverage is inadequate. The Austrian atlas, by contrast, demonstrates considerable scholarly value through detailed geological and climatic maps and through its treatment of settlement, dialects, land use, industry, and transportation. The review then considers several world and school atlases, assessing the distribution of attention among continents, the effectiveness of relief representation, and the legibility of colors, symbols, thematic maps, diagrams, aerial photographs, and landscape illustrations. A Japanese atlas for teaching social studies in middle schools receives particular praise for its exceptionally rich portrayal of Japan and Asia through physical, political, economic, human, and historical maps. Its refined linework, delicate polychromy, and carefully chosen symbols allow even very small thematic maps to remain informative, although pale contours and altitude tints weaken the plastic effect of relief. The concluding discussion addresses a Gotha pocket economic atlas and the revised Putzger Historical World Atlas. The former successfully combines land use, livestock raising, fishing, mining, industry, and transportation, but becomes visually demanding in economically complex regions. The latter incorporates recent historical research, new pedagogical approaches, and advances in cartography, giving greater prominence to cultural history, settlement, and economic life. While many useful maps have been added, the removal of several valuable prehistoric and ancient maps is criticized. Overall, the article documents important advances in early-1960s atlas production while emphasizing recurring problems such as thematic imbalance, excessive reliance on statistical representation, uneven regional coverage, insufficient synthesis, and reduced visual clarity.

P. W. J. v. R.

The Department of Planning is compiling a Development Atlas of the Republic, designed to provide valuable information on development potential for enterprises and planners across various fields. This comprehensive project, covering a wide range of interests, is progressing well, and several sections are already available from the Government Printer. The atlas consists of loose-leaf sheets (22 in. by 19 in.) with a hard cover for binding. Each section includes one or more color maps, accompanied by descriptive pages and necessary tables, with provisions for future data updates. Users can acquire only the sections relevant to their interests. Completed sections are of high quality, suitable for staff in progressive organizations, and are reasonably priced.

The Department of Planning and the Environment has been compiling a development atlas for the Republic of South Africa since 1966, covering natural resource information such as physical background, social aspects, water, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, industry, and economic factors, in a loose-leaf format for continuous updates. The forestry section has now been completed, featuring two color maps depicting humidity zones and plantation distribution by wood species, accompanied by two pages of descriptive text. All completed sections are available from the Government Printer on Bosman Street, Pretoria.