National Atlas of Cuba: Concept, Implementation, Experience

Summary

The article by N. F. Leontiev and Ya. G. Mashbits discusses the National Atlas of Cuba, a comprehensive cartographic work produced jointly by the Institutes of Geography of the Cuban Academy of Sciences and the USSR Academy of Sciences in the framework of scientific cooperation. Published in 1970, the atlas is the first work of its kind in Latin America and the first national atlas prepared with extensive Soviet participation. The authors describe the structure and content of the atlas, which contains about 170 maps grouped into eight series: introductory, natural conditions and resources, agriculture, industry, transport and external economic relations, population, health, education and culture, and history. They emphasize the scientific and practical significance of the atlas for planning socio-economic development, studying natural resources, and developing tropical geography. The article also analyzes the experience gained during the five-year preparation, highlighting general principles for creating national atlases. In particular, the authors propose a definition of a national atlas based primarily on its purpose: to serve state institutions and planning agencies in national development. They argue that a national atlas should reflect the current state of knowledge of a country's territory, the level of socio-economic development, and be oriented to solving national problems of rational use of natural potential and development of productive forces. They also discuss the issue of comparability of indicators on maps, noting that due to uneven study of territory, some incomparability is acceptable. The experience of the Cuban atlas shows that the preparation of national atlases requires flexibility, consideration of country-specific features, and should not follow rigid templates. The authors conclude that the Cuban National Atlas is a significant contribution to national mapping and a model for other developing countries.