Die kartographische Darstellung von Entwicklungslandern in National- und Regionalatlanten

Summary

This article examines the cartographic representation of developing countries in national and regional atlases. The author points out that in highly developed industrial states, national and regional atlases have become indispensable tools for understanding the core factors shaping the regional structures of nature, economy, and society. However, atlases of developing countries differ fundamentally in their overall design due to their distinctly different underlying problems. The article emphasizes that atlases are more than just data repositories; they are visual expressions revealing potential interrelationships within a specific territorial section. Since societal preferences determine the selection of themes and their scale-bound depth of detail, the compilation and publication of a national atlas precludes it from being a mere neutralist collection of facts. The author critically reviews existing atlases, noting that they select materials based on principles of regionalist ideography rather than on system interconnections, particularly suspected correlations of system variables. The latter is a prerequisite for supplementing analytical maps with those providing crucial insights into territorial-economic interrelations, understanding natural complexes in resource assessment, and urbanization. The article further discusses the specific characteristics of developing countries, such as their tropical or subtropical natural character, colonial history, and varying intensity of connections with the capitalist world market or socialist countries, which necessitate different methodological approaches to cartographic content determination. Using agricultural spaces as an example, the author illustrates how maps can highlight elements vital for the development of economically and culturally backward regions, including changes in physical structure, population growth relative to economic development, social differentiation, and cultivation systems. The article also addresses the destructive impact of slash-and-burn agriculture and its alternatives, such as the agroforestry combination proposed by Hesmer, noting that experiences from developed countries cannot be transferred without significant corrections. Finally, the author argues that through appropriate cartographic methods, even on smaller-scale maps, it is possible not only to characterize larger areas of relief, soil, climate, etc., but also to highlight cartographically the substantive features of concrete or potential function within the framework of the national economic development of developing countries.