Saudi Arabia
National Atlases
The national atlas tradition of Saudi Arabia reflects the kingdom’s post-oil modernization, where cartography served both administrative planning and national identity. The three atlases in this collection, spanning 1978 to 2015, trace a shift from foreign academic publishing to domestic institutional production. The 1978 volume, issued by Oxford University Press, was an early collaborative effort, presenting the kingdom’s geography in a Western academic style. The 1999 and 2015 editions, both produced under the Ministry of Higher Education, mark a transition to national authorship, with Arabic as the primary language and English as a secondary. These later atlases emphasize thematic mapping—population, resources, infrastructure—and adopt a standardized, data-rich layout. Together, they illustrate how Saudi Arabia’s cartographic voice matured, moving from external expertise to internal state-led scholarship. Their enduring significance lies in their role as official references for planners, educators, and researchers, and in their reflection of the kingdom’s evolving self-representation on the world stage.
Versions and Their Documents
Contemporary and Later Comment
- Journal Article1981Atlas & Book Reviews: Atlas of Saudi Arabia, 3rd ed.
Al Fleischman
This is an academic review of the Atlas of Saudi Arabia (3rd ed., 1978) by Hussein Hamza Bindagji. The review highlights the atlas's significance given Saudi Arabia's growing importance due to oil, strategic location, and political influence. It details the atlas's contents, including historical, settlement, physical, economic, transportation, administrative, and city maps, while noting both strengths and weaknesses. Strengths include effective use of color and a fascinating tribal map; weaknesses include unclear legends, lack of a gazetteer, unmarked undefined borders, and absence of maps on cultural, educational, medical, and water resource indicators. The review concludes that despite shortcomings, the atlas is a valuable addition to map collections, with hopes for future improvements.
From the Physical Collection
Photographs are being prepared for this hall.