Ethiopia埃塞俄比亚
Curatorial Note
AI-curated draftThe Ethiopian national atlas tradition emerged in the early 1960s, a period when the imperial state sought to consolidate national identity through modern cartography. The first work, a preliminary atlas published in 1962, was followed by a revised edition in 1970, both reflecting a growing reliance on official statistics from the Central Statistics Office. These early volumes laid the groundwork for a more formalized national project. In 1981, a preliminary edition of the National Atlas was issued, and in 1988, the Ethiopian Mapping Authority produced a definitive version, marking the atlas as an official state instrument. The most recent edition, released in 2015 by the successor agency, updated the country's geographical and statistical data. Across these five editions, the editorial approach shifted from modest academic compilations to comprehensive, state-led cartographic productions. Scholars have noted that the atlas series played a crucial role in constructing a national geographical imaginary, helping to unify diverse regions and peoples under a single visual framework. Today, these atlases are valued not only as reference works but as historical documents that trace Ethiopia's evolving self-representation on the map.
The Shelves
Contemporary and Later Comment
- Article1973Cartographical Survey: An Atlas of Ethiopia
Duncan Cumming
This is a review of the revised edition of An Atlas of Ethiopia by Mesfin Wolde-Mariam. The atlas updates the 1962 preliminary version with new statistics from Ethiopia's Central Statistics Office and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, serving mainly as a secondary school textbook. It contains about sixty uniform-scale maps on relief, climate, agriculture, population, and languages, supplemented by tables. The reviewer notes limitations such as the small scale, monochrome printing, and poor-quality aerial photographs, yet regards the atlas as a pioneering, economical, and practical work meeting an educational need.
- Article2022Putting a Nation on the Map: The Construction of a Geographical Imaginary through the Project for a National Atlas of Ethiopia, 1962–1987
Marie Huber
This article examines the construction of a national geographical imaginary through the National Atlas of Ethiopia, published in four editions between 1962 and 1987, and its role in nation-building. Despite the resurgence of ethnically legitimated conflicts in Ethiopia since late 2020, scholars have paid little attention to the National Atlas and the history of geography in the country. The author traces the emergence of the atlas within the context of state-led modernization during both the imperial and socialist periods, connecting it to the establishment of the Geographical Institute, the history of censuses and social surveys, and international development aid. The study shows that governments in both eras sought to constitute the Ethiopian nation-state through visual and scientific communication, countering conflicting narratives of how the country had grown historically. The thematic maps and their changes across editions document how geographical knowledge production was closely intertwined with political and economic transformations. Early editions emphasized physical geography and resources, while later ones increasingly focused on administrative divisions, languages, and population. The atlas naturalized antagonisms between periphery and centre, north and south, and cultural and economic hierarchies, thereby legitimizing the idea of a Greater Ethiopia. Internationally, the atlas served as a tool to establish Ethiopia's place in global cartographic discourse and to gain recognition. The changing world maps—from an azimuthal projection centred on Addis Ababa in 1962 to comparative views with other African countries in the 1980s—reflect shifts in foreign policy. The author concludes that cartography functioned as a communication strategy to legitimize political authority, and that the National Atlas is a crucial source for understanding the historical roots of Ethiopia's current ethnic conflicts. Further research is proposed on the atlas's reception, its use in education, and its role in economic and military planning.
From the Physical Collection
Photographs are being prepared for this hall.