Criticism and Bibliography. Atlas of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Summary

This article provides a review and introduction to the Atlas of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. The atlas is a comprehensive, scientific-reference cartographic work designed for party, governmental, economic, and scientific workers, as well as for university students and the broader public studying the republic's nature, economy, culture, and the history of the Armenian people. As the second comprehensive national atlas after that of the Belarusian SSR, it is also the first relatively large-scale atlas of a country with highly complex mountainous terrain. The atlas was created by a young team from the Geography Sector of the Institute of Geological Sciences of the Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences, with the participation of various scientific institutions and prominent scholars. The chief scientific editor is Professor A. B. Baghdasaryan, Doctor of Geographical Sciences. The atlas is in album format (34.6 × 33.4 cm), comprising 120 pages, and was published simultaneously in Armenian and Russian. It is dedicated to the fortieth anniversary of the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia. The atlas contains 182 maps (143 main and 39 supplementary), covering a wide range of topics including natural conditions, geology, geomorphology, climate, hydrology, soils, vegetation, fauna, population, culture, industry, agriculture, economy, and history. Its distinctive features include broad structural coverage, practical orientation, integrated representation of phenomena, and innovative depiction of complexes. The atlas particularly emphasizes the practical value of climatic, agro-climatic, and phenological maps, as well as geological, seismotectonic, and engineering-geological maps. The economic section includes over 45 maps, illustrating the development and layout of industry, agriculture, and overall economy. The historical section presents key stages from the Urartu period to the Soviet era. Overall, the atlas represents a milestone in Armenian science and culture, embodying Lenin's methodological principles of comprehensiveness, unity, and historicism, and has been highly praised by Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences N. N. Baransky.