Spain西班牙

Curatorial Note

The Spanish national atlas tradition, as preserved in this collection, began in the early 1960s—a period when the country was opening to international cartographic standards while asserting its own territorial identity. The earliest item, the 1961 New Atlas of Spain, published by Aguilar, marked a commercial yet systematic attempt to present the nation’s geography to a broad audience. This was followed in 1965 by a series of official publications under the title National Atlas of Spain, including a geographical survey and a toponymic index, indicating a shift toward rigorous, state-sponsored compilation. The collection then spans two decades, with a notable gap until the 1982 geographic atlas, and resumes with two volumes in 1996 and a toponymic index in 1997. These later volumes reflect a mature editorial structure: thematic organization, detailed regional coverage, and standardized nomenclature. The atlas’s bilingual and multilingual editions (Spanish, English, French) underscore its role as a diplomatic and scientific tool. Over time, these atlases have served as authoritative references for scholars, planners, and the public, establishing a continuous cartographic record of Spain’s changing landscape. Their legacy lies in setting a national standard for atlas-making, influencing subsequent regional and thematic mapping projects.