Reviews: Atlas of Sierra Leone

Summary

This review critically evaluates the newly published Atlas of the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate produced by the Survey and Lands Department, Freetown. The purpose is to assess the atlas’s cartographic quality, thematic coherence, and intended audience. Through detailed map-by-map examination, the review identifies strengths, such as the inclusion of authoritative physical, soil, political, population density, geological, and climatic maps, and the utility of climatic graphs. However, significant weaknesses are revealed: certain maps are oversimplified (vegetation and tribal distributions), poorly designed (agricultural products map with ten commodities), or marred by coarse symbolization and dubious accuracy (township maps, particularly Freetown’s road representation). The review questions the atlas’s dual purpose—whether intended for schools or as an authoritative reference—since neither goal is fully realized. Errors like mislabeling a river as a motorable road and misplacing a port town further detract from reliability. Despite these shortcomings, the review concludes that the atlas is an indispensable resource for serious geographical study of Sierra Leone and expresses hope that a future, more affordable edition will permit revision, thereby transforming a flawed but important work into an excellent one.