The evolving nature of national and regional atlases

Summary

This paper examines the evolving nature of national and regional atlases. It begins by tracing the development of national atlases from early simple location maps to comprehensive scientific compilations in the 19th century, and discusses criteria for identifying such atlases. The paper then analyzes the shifting functions of national atlases, from serving as scientific repositories to becoming tools for state planning, leading to the rise of regional atlases with an increasing emphasis on socio-economic maps. It also highlights the pedagogical functions of atlases and their role as indicators of future research directions. The author concludes that national and regional atlases are often indistinguishable in purpose and use, falling into four broad categories: scientific repositories, state planning and development, pedagogical functions, and indicators of future geographical and cartographical research.