National and regional atlases and national/regional identity

Peter Jordan examines the shorter English National Atlas of Slovenia (2001) as a representation of Slovenian national identity. He reads the photographs of Triglav and the Slovenian flag at the United Nations as expressions of Alpine affiliation and equal international standing. Historical maps, settlement history and dialect mapping present, in his interpretation, a nation and cultural territory predating statehood, while coverage of emigrants and Slovenes in neighbouring countries positions Slovenia as the homeland of a wider national community. He also identifies landscape diversity, attachment to Alpine life, and early mining, industrial and railway development as elements of the identity conveyed by the atlas.