Atlas Mapping in Tanzania: An African Case Study

Summary

This paper reviews the history and production of atlases in Africa, with a special focus on Tanzania, and discusses the impact of current digital mapping technology on the future of atlas publication. The first part systematically traces atlas publishing in Africa from the late 19th-century colonial period to the post-independence era, noting that approximately 274 atlases of Africa and its individual countries have been published to date, including over 150 single-nation atlases. The paper classifies atlases according to territorial extent (international, multinational, singlenation, intranational) and content (general, specialist/thematic, school), and provides a detailed account of the six national atlases of Tanzania: one for German East Africa (1906), three for Tanganyika (1942, 1948, 1956), and two for the Republic of Tanzania (1967, 1976). It also examines the numerous educational and thematic atlases produced for East Africa and Tanzania by government agencies, universities, and commercial publishers. Historical data show that single-nation atlas production peaked in the 1960s when nearly 80% of African countries gained independence, with 64 atlases published during that decade; production has since declined to fewer than five per year due to severe financial constraints and low priority given to national mapping compared to health, welfare, and education. The second part of the paper addresses the application of digital mapping and desktop publishing technologies to three key projects: the revision or production of a new edition of the National Atlas of Tanzania, the creation of a demographic atlas based on population census data, and the development of a small-scale cartographic database. The authors reference a series of completed sample atlas sheets of Tanzania produced by digital methods, and compare analogue and digital production techniques, highlighting issues such as data collection, cost, and collaborative effort. They argue that the lack of up-to-date atlas maps seriously hampers planners, researchers, scholars, and students both within and outside Tanzania. Although the demand for new atlases is evident, meeting this demand under prevailing economic circumstances remains difficult. The paper concludes by echoing the foreword to the 1976 Atlas of Tanzania, which warned that such a work will portray a false picture unless systematically updated, amended, and changed. This challenge, the authors contend, must be addressed by Tanzanian cartographers through the adoption of digital technology and collaborative approaches to ensure the continued relevance of atlas publication in Tanzania and Africa as a whole.