L'Atlas de Belgique

Summary

This article expounds on the national geographical atlas as a crucial indicator of a country's level of scientific geographical development and public appreciation thereof. It first distinguishes national atlases from ordinary dictionary-style atlases (e.g., Stieler, Bartholomew), noting that the latter merely accumulate geographical information, whereas a national atlas provides a systematic, comprehensive, and in-depth scholarly presentation of a country's geographical phenomena. The article then reviews national atlas projects undertaken since Canada's pioneering work in 1906, including those of Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, the Soviet Union, France, and Estonia. Against this backdrop, it focuses on the history of planning the Atlas of Belgium by the Belgian National Committee of Geography, from the initial 1932 report, through the expanded 1937 project, to the establishment of the Atlas Commission in 1946. It details the adopted working methods, the in-folio format with a 1:500,000 scale, and the comprehensive plan of 49 plates covering geophysics, geomorphology, climatology, hydrography, biogeography, human, agricultural, industrial, commercial, regional, and political geography. The article highlights the crucial roles of the Military Geographical Institute for execution and state funding, concluding that the atlas represents a major scientific undertaking for the nation.