Reviews: Atlas of the Union of South Africa

Summary

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.