Presentation de I'atlas de France

Summary

The Atlas of France, first proposed in 1871, was realized by the French National Committee of Geography on the occasion of the International Geographical Congress in Paris, with essential financial support. The plan comprises 80 plates, roughly one-third each for physical, economic, and human geography, to be issued over five years (16 plates annually). Several sample sheets are presented: a 1:250,000 relief map with carefully designed hypsometric tints; a population-density map based on communes using a red-blue scale; a precipitation map for all France at 1:2,500,000 combining thousands of stations and vegetation-based interpretation; and a temperature sheet at 1:5,000,000 showing January and July temperatures, frost-free days, oak leafing, and wheat harvest dates. Despite the meticulous preparation of all original plates, the atlas is expected to be completed on schedule.