Hungary

Tivadar Bernát; László Lackó

This paper provides a comprehensive academic review of the National Atlas of Hungary (MNA). The authors state that the publication of the atlas is a major event in Hungarian scientific life, integrating multiple disciplines and providing valuable resources for both science and practice. The atlas was prepared over approximately eight years of focused work, initiated and coordinated by the State Office of Surveying and Mapping, with significant government support. Its scientific foundation lay in the development of Hungarian geography up to the mid-1960s, while its practical conditions were ensured by the high standard of Hungarian cartography and the demand from administrative and planning bodies for diverse information processing. The atlas was produced by the Cartographic Enterprise with the active participation of experts from 17 scientific and practical institutions. The authors emphasize that the atlas fulfills the task of presenting the country's natural, economic, social, and cultural conditions through high-quality maps, fostering a complex spatial perspective and holding significant science policy importance. It also serves as a vital tool for cultural education, international information, and national economic planning. Structurally, the atlas contains around 400 maps, with socio-economic maps forming the majority (approx. 68-70%), aligning with international practice and domestic needs. Despite its clear structure and comprehensive content, the authors identify several shortcomings, including the relatively small section on industry, inconsistent timeframes across maps, and specific cartographic or content-related flaws in certain maps. The article concludes that despite these minor issues, the atlas ranks highly by international standards, is thematically rich and modern, and serves as a reliable source for planners, researchers, and educators, with its true value judged by how well its depiction of Hungarian reality is understood.

Л. Г. Каманин; Н. Ф. Леонтьев; Г.А. Правоторова

This article reviews the publication of the National Atlas of the Hungarian People's Republic and its significant place in world cartographic literature. The atlas contains 273 maps and diagrams organized into seven sections: natural conditions, population, agriculture, industry, transport and communications, trade, and culture and society. The authors highlight methodological innovations, including the flexible use of multiple scales, new thematic maps (such as surface water pollution, geomorphological, and landscape maps), and the comprehensive representation of socialist industry through integrated indicators. The article concludes that the atlas serves both economic planning and future scientific research, demonstrating Hungary's high level of cartographic achievement and its potential for international cooperation.

Wolf Tietze

This review examines the National Atlas of Hungary, edited by Sándor Radó and published by Cartographia, Budapest, in 1967. Initiated under the auspices of the IGU Commission on National Atlases, this comprehensive cartographic work integrates Hungary's geology, geomorphology, climate, hydrology, population, economy, and transportation. A distinctive feature is its systematic representation of the SW–NE-trending structural lineament, evident across tectonic, paleogeographic, climatic, and economic maps. The atlas includes high-resolution thematic maps, such as flood-risk zones and groundwater tables, offering profound insights into regional geography. Despite methodological shortcomings—such as inconsistent symbology in language maps and anonymous settlement excerpts—the atlas remains scientifically invaluable. It also documents Hungarian place names beyond state borders but omits non-Hungarian toponyms and historical landscape development. The author recommends establishing a permanent publication series to update national atlases, thereby overcoming temporal obsolescence and transcending political boundaries.

László Bassa

Peter Jordan

This is an academic book review of Volume 2 (Natural Environment) of the new National Atlas of Hungary, published in 2018. As the first released volume of a planned four-part series, it was edited by leading scholars from the Geographical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and is available in both Hungarian and English editions. The review highlights that this atlas continues Hungary's notable post-WWII tradition of producing national atlases, and its compilation involved the country's foremost experts in geography and cartography. The volume comprises 13 chapters, covering traditional physical geography topics such as geology, geophysics, relief, climate, and hydrology, while placing increased emphasis on flora, fauna, nature conservation, and landscape ecology compared to its predecessors. The reviewer praises the atlas's excellent cartographic design and its deliberate effort to contextualize Hungary within the broader Carpatho-Pannonian region and Europe, rather than presenting it in isolation. While noting minor issues like certain toponymic choices and the placement of author credits, the review concludes that the atlas successfully integrates the functions of maps, explanatory texts, and photographs, effectively serving as a comprehensive modern regional geography, and expresses strong anticipation for the forthcoming volumes.

Károly Kocsis; Zsombor Nemerkényi; László Zentai; Gábor Gercsák

The new edition of the National Atlas of Hungary will be published in four volumes in Hungarian and in English to present the dynamic spatial structure of nature, society and the economy not merely for Hungary, but wherever the required data are available, for the Carpatho–Pannonian Area. In favour of keeping relations with the broader public and meeting the requirements of the time, the National Atlas – in addition to its impressive printed form – will be published also in digital version (e-MNA) in Hungarian and English. The traditional paper-based edition will cover the most important topics in four volumes (The Hungarian State and its Place in the World; Natural Environment; Society; Economy) and in representative quality. It will serve mainly awareness-raising and information provision rather than academic research. The current volume of the new National Atlas of Hungary (MNA), which is presenting the Natural Environment, is the outcome of wide ranging professional collaboration: 19 editors, 137 authors, 220 map authors, 17 cartographers, and several dozen professional and language proofreaders, translators have made their valuable contributions to it.

Peter Jordan

This is a review of the National Atlas of Hungary Vol. 3: Society, published in 2021 by the Geographical Institute in Budapest (191 p.). The volume focuses on social and demographic issues within the broader Carpathian Basin framework. The review highlights its coverage of vital statistics, migration, population structures, settlement history and systems, urban and rural development, and quality of life, with special attention to topics such as Roma distribution, suicide rates, ethnic identity, and religious change. The atlas integrates areal thematic mapping with hill shading, supplemented by tables, diagrams, and photos, achieving an exemplary cartographic standard. The review praises the volume for revealing spatial socio-economic disparities and for its cross-national comparative perspective, considering it a model of modern national atlas production and raising expectations for forthcoming volumes.

Gábor Gercsák; Károly Kocsis; Zsombor Nemerkényi; László Zentai

The current volume, National Atlas of Hungary – Society, is Part 3 of the series. It presents the special world of Hungarian society and, according to the availability of data, also that of the Carpatho–Pannonian Area. By combining the tools of statistics, geography and cartography, the maps present the spatial structure accompanied by numerous graphs, photos, texts and infographics. The present volume of the National Atlas, Society, contributes to a much deeper understanding of processes and a better understanding of the relationships between phenomena through the presentation of the spatial diversity of demographic and social processes in historical perspective. This is a significant record of the period also showing the challenges that Hungarian society faces at the end of the second decade of the 21st century. This addition to the National Atlas of Hungary – with its extensive body of knowledge presented in this work – is an important document of great benefit not only to geographers but also to historians, economists, politicians, and all other interested parties.