Regionalatlas över Västafrika

This article introduces the International Atlas of West Africa, a long-planned and ambitious bilingual cartographic work whose first sheets were published in autumn 1968. Comprising some 50 maps, the atlas covers a wide range of themes, including geoscientific topics (relief, geology, geomorphology, pedology, climate) and human geography (history, languages, cultures, peoples, industrialisation, urban and regional planning). Compiled by the geographical department of IFAN (formerly Institut Français d'Afrique Noire) in Dakar, the atlas is published under the auspices of the OAU and with support from the Ford Foundation. The article also briefly reviews the history of Swedish globe-making, from the oldest globe in Erik XIV's royal orb to the establishment of the Cosmographical Society in Uppsala and the successive globe-makers Åkerman, Åkrel and others.