Atlases of the Eastern Hemisphere: A Summary Survey

Summary

This article is a sequel to the survey of regional atlases, following Ena L. Yonge's 1962 summary and Richard Stephenson's 1972 survey of Western Hemisphere atlases. Given the torrential increase in atlas publication over the past decade, this paper selectively reviews significant regional atlases of the Eastern Hemisphere, covering Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Organized geographically, the article examines atlases country by country. For Europe, it reviews various continent-wide atlases, including road and travel atlases (e.g., Kümmerly and Frey's "Euroatlas," Bartholomew's "Road Atlas Europe," Philips' Road Atlas Europe, "Der Grosse Continental Atlas," Hallwag's "Europa Auto-Atlas"), thematic atlases (e.g., the climatic atlas of Europe published by WMO with UNESCO, the Oxford Regional Economic Atlas), historical atlases (e.g., Martin Gilbert's "First World War Atlas"), and the "Atlas of the Danubian Countries." The article also details the publication progress of national atlases for countries such as Austria, Belgium, and the United Kingdom (notably "The Reader's Digest Complete Atlas of the British Isles"). For Asia, it reviews thematic and provincial atlases of Thailand and Vietnam, including the "Vietnam Subject Index Maps." For Australasia and Oceania, it covers the descriptive atlas of the Pacific Islands, the Atlas of Australian Resources, the Atlas of Tasmania, the Atlas of New Zealand Geography, atlases of Papua and New Guinea, and Maps of Micronesia. Continuing the tradition of Yonge and Stephenson, this survey serves as a valuable reference for map curators and geographers on the publication trends of Eastern Hemisphere atlases.