Atlas of Israel

Summary

The Atlas of Israel, edited by D. H. K. Amiran and N. Kadmon of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, follows the tradition of national atlases initiated by Finland in 1899. Despite the country's small area of only 20,700 sq km, the extremely rapid pace of geographical change—nearly a 500% population increase, a shift from extensive to intensive irrigated agriculture, and rapid expansion of settlements and infrastructure—makes a full-scale national atlas worthwhile. The atlas employs relatively large scales (1:500,000 to 1:2,000,000) and adopts a distinctive guiding principle: time-sequence maps illustrate the development of as many geographical features as possible, using historical dates such as 1887–1953 for population and 1895–1956 for Jewish settlements. Compilation faces special problems: complex political changes in Palestine (Ottoman rule, British mandate, Jordanian and Israeli statehood), unreliable and uneven statistical sources, the location across a major aridity boundary, and the need to represent a vertical range from nearly 400 m below sea level (Dead Sea) to over 1,600 m, while preserving continuity in relief representation. The atlas contains 15 sections covering cartography, geomorphology, geology, climate, hydrology, phytogeography, zoogeography, landscape evolution, history, population, settlement, agriculture, industry and commerce, communications, and services. Published since 1956 in loose-leaf folders for easy updating, it is a dynamic cartographic record of the evolving geography of Israel and Palestine.