Readings: Atlas of Haiti

Hervé Théry reviews the Atlas d'Haïti, published by CEGET-CNRS in 1985, praising its abundant information, well-crafted maps and precise explanatory texts as a lasting reference and the national atlas Haiti had lacked. He nevertheless questions whether it achieves its stated ambition to explain the spatial dimensions of national reality. Its conventional thematic structure separates connected material, including food-production systems, rural development and landforms. Théry suggests that this arrangement facilitated work among 26 contributors granted scientific freedom and made the atlas accessible to officials, but weakened its synthesis of regional divisions, inequalities and development problems. He regrets that coordinator Christian Girault did not extend the approach of Girault's coffee-trade thesis, which traced commodity routes, enrichment and power networks. Théry calls for maps connecting peasant poverty with erosion, population pressure, migration and development interventions, alongside maps of economic, political and religious control networks, to strengthen the atlas's analysis of development.