New materials on the cartography of Mongolia

V. Kazakevich reviews A. D. Simukov’s 1934 Atlas of the Mongolian People’s Republic, published in parallel Mongolian and Russian editions, concentrating on the Russian Geographical Atlas while also examining the Mongolian original. Its 18 maps cover physical and political geography, administrative divisions, communications, vegetation, population, and economic activities, especially livestock. He values its recent data and usefulness to economic and cultural workers, but finds economic coverage underdeveloped and criticizes schematic physical mapping, political and printing errors, and omitted wells and springs. His main discussion concerns geographical names: the Research Committee’s Dictionary Commission checked Mongolian spellings, and its Linguistic Cabinet established Russian transcription principles. He praises the Mongolian edition’s verified names and historical forms, while noting inconsistent terminology and errors. He also welcomes Russian standardization but argues that dependence on written Mongolian, special signs, inconsistent exceptions, and inadequate attention to pronunciation and dialects reduce practical usefulness. He recommends renewed discussion of transcription using ordinary Russian letters and notes discrepancies between map labels and indexes.