Der „Atlas der Donauländer“ des österreichischen Ost- und Südosteuropa-Institutes

Summary

The Austrian Institute of East and Southeast European Studies in Vienna has decided to publish a collection of thematic maps of the middle and lower Danube region and its neighboring areas under the title "Atlas of the Danube Countries," in order to meet an urgent scientific and practical need for information. Although geographical research in the countries of this large region has made significant progress in recent decades, its results are not always easily accessible and have mostly been presented and published only on a per-country basis. This atlas aims to provide the missing overview and the necessary basis for comparison, while deliberately excluding historical aspects and focusing on the modern state of affairs. The project dates back to 1957, when it was initiated by Dr. W. Krallert, who gained the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and the institute. The atlas covers six countries in full and seven partially, making international cooperation particularly essential, especially in obtaining comparable data. The atlas uses a scale of 1:2,000,000 with a sheet format of 66 × 93 cm, and legends and text supplements will be quadrilingual (German, English, French, and Russian), published in installments. The content encompasses physical geography, population, economy, and transport, including land use, agriculture, industry, and transportation networks. Methodologically, the atlas pays special attention to the complexity of ethnic and linguistic distribution, emphasizing that ethnicity is a subjective characteristic that cannot be defined solely by language, religion, or statehood. It also addresses social issues such as illiteracy, educational attainment, and agricultural collectivization. The project faces considerable challenges in data acquisition and comparability, but through extensive international cooperation, support has been secured from geographical institutes, academies of sciences, and statistical offices in multiple countries, ensuring the successful implementation of the work.