Reviews of Books: The Atlas of Kenya

Summary

This paper reviews the first edition of the Atlas of Kenya, a landmark cartographic work modeled on the celebrated Atlas of Tanganyika and published at a time of heightened international attention to Kenya. The atlas is commended for its elegant loose‑leaf binding, large format, and high‑quality printing. The core consists of 25 thematic maps at 1:3,000,000 on a standard grey or brown base, displaying key geographical distributions and administrative concerns with attractive overprinting and clear typography. Provincial maps at 1:1,000,000 show communications, settlement, drainage, and relief through contours and layer‑tinting restricted to provincial boundaries, a technique that emphasizes provincial shape but breaks continuity of physical features across borders. Twenty town maps at various scales and a selection of historical maps on buff paper enrich the collection. The review identifies the agricultural and communications maps as overly complex or crowded and suggests simplification. The population map is criticized for using a unit dot value as high as 5000, which fails to capture population structure and racial composition; maps or diagrams illustrating demographic makeup, particularly Kenya’s emerging multi‑racial society, are recommended. Although cost and specialization limit its use in school libraries, the atlas is deemed an indispensable reference for students of Kenyan geography. The Survey of Kenya is warmly congratulated for this outstanding production, and constructive suggestions for future editions are offered.