Cartographical Progress: Atlas of the Union of South Africa

Summary

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.