Reading the 1954 Soviet edition of the “World atlas”

Summary

Li Haichen reviews the Soviet 1954 Atlas Mira (World Atlas) as a reference for China’s preparation of a large national atlas. Primarily comprising general geographic maps, the atlas depicts relief, hydrography, settlements, administrative divisions, and transport routes, supplemented by political and transport maps. It contains 283 map pages and a separate index of 205,000 place names. The review examines content allocation, arrangement, scale relationships, relief representation, legends and graphic design, projections, format, and paper. Particular attention is given to the progression from overview to regional maps, systematic scale ratios, and the combination of contours, hypsometric tinting, and relief shading. Li praises the atlas’s geomorphological generalization, depiction of submarine relief, and legibility despite dense labeling. Comparing its London map with that in the British Times Atlas, he argues that cartographic technique can preserve extensive detail at a smaller scale. He attributes the lack of larger-scale maps of important Soviet regions to secrecy requirements. The article also reproduces a Chinese translation of the atlas’s preface and its complete contents, documenting sources, compilation dates, place-name transliteration, and projection choices.