Brazil巴西

Ena L. Yonge

This article is a comprehensive review of regional atlases, written by Ena L. Yonge. The author begins by noting that, given the ever-increasing flood of atlases from around the world, individual reviews of each publication are impossible; therefore, a summary survey is adopted. She also stresses that no single reviewer can be sufficiently expert in all aspects of geography, cartography, and linguistics to render sound critical judgments. The roughly one hundred regional atlases discussed are grouped primarily by continent or large region and then arranged alphabetically by country. In the European section, the author evaluates national and thematic atlases from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, and other countries, covering topics such as road transport, historical geography, climate, population, economy, and land use. She comments in detail on cartographic quality, scales, printing techniques, and practical utility. For example, the Austrian national atlas, directed by Hans Bobek and Erik Arnberger under the Commission for Land Planning of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, was published in five annual parts and demonstrates excellent cartography and printing. The Atlas de Belgique and the Atlas du Survey National supplement each other with plates on hydrogeology, phytogeography, agriculture, basic industries, waterways, and railways. The Climatic Atlas of Czechoslovakia is praised for its beautiful large-scale maps of temperature and precipitation. The article then turns to North America, focusing on state atlases in the United States, including Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia. These atlases cover agriculture, forestry, economic resources, historical geography, and population, often compiled by universities or state agencies for educational and planning purposes. In the South American section, the author highlights notable publications such as the Atlas do Brasil, the Atlas de economía colombiana, and Venezuelan climatic and forest atlases. Throughout the review, the author acknowledges the scholarly value and cartographic achievements of many works while also pointing out occasional problems such as overly large formats or inappropriate scales. Overall, the article provides a broad and informative reference guide to regional atlases for scholars in geography, cartography, and related fields.

J. S. Keates

This review compares the Atlas of Brazil and the Atlas of Israel, illustrating the contrasting problems confronting national cartography in a vast, underdeveloped country and a small, highly developed state. The Brazilian atlas, produced by the Conselho Nacional de Geografia, is essentially a geographical sketch organized by regions, national themes, and states; its maps cover relief, climate, vegetation, population, economy, and transport, using physiographic diagrams as the only novel technique, and remain simple and legible despite modest drafting. The Atlas of Israel, edited by J. Elster and M. Gordon, provides a detailed examination of physical, historical, demographic, economic, and educational distributions, incorporating a facsimile of the Madaba Map and modern topographic series. Its drafting and reproduction reach a high standard, with an experimental combination of hill-shading and coloured contours, placing it among the best national atlases.

Aage Aagesen

This review presents the newly launched Atlas Nacional do Brasil, published by the National Geography Council of Brazil. Brazil’s rich geographic diversity and great development potential have long supported active geographic research, now systematically assembled in a national atlas. The work appears in two main parts: a general volume on Brazil as a whole and a regional volume covering six regions, with maps at varied scales, supplemented by texts, diagrams, and tables. The general part includes groups on political, physical, demographic, economic, socio-cultural, and international-position maps; examples show bioclimatic regions, population distribution, agricultural production, transport, land use, and geomorphology. The atlas is an invaluable source of knowledge about half of South America and represents a major contribution to geographic planning and research.

Gerlach, Arch C.

This paper reviews the *Atlas Nacional do Brasil*, published in 1966, situating it within the context of national atlases. The atlas adopts standards recommended by the International Geographical Union to facilitate international data comparison, thereby contributing a massive block of territory to continental and world thematic mapping. Organized into five sections (Political-Administrative, Physical, Demographic, Economic, Socio-Cultural) with 50 map plates, it employs a standard polyconic projection at 1:12,500,000, leaving space for legends, data tables, and insets. The verso of each map provides supplementary analytical texts or statistical tables. Examples such as the road network map (IV-14) and hospital distribution map (V-4) illustrate the atlas’s layered integration of graphic, tabular, and cartographic information. The loose-leaf binding allows expansion and replacement of outdated sheets. The author praises the Conselho Nacional de Geografia for producing a valuable research and reference tool at minimal cost and in a short time, serving both national and international users. Minor shortcomings are noted: some topics need larger-scale treatment (e.g., double-page spreads), ocean colors lack uniformity, and the binding’s exposed screw-clamps are impractical. The review concludes that the primary future task lies in updating existing maps and adding new ones to cover additional characteristics, aspiring to an even more substantial work.

Vagács András

This review presents the first volume of the National Atlas of Brazil, published in 1966 by IBGE. The work is organized into five chapters: political-administrative, physical, demographic, economic, and social-cultural statistics, comprising 51 maps at scales 1:12,500,000 and 1:32,000,000. The atlas uses a unified base map and four-color printing with effective tones and fine screens. Each plate includes supplementary maps, statistical tables, graphs, and explanatory texts. Although the methods are not novel, they are appropriately chosen. The reviewer notes some imbalances in thematic coverage but awaits the second regional volume with interest.

S. P. Dickinson

This review evaluates the Atlas Nacional do Brasil, first published in 1966 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The loose-leaf atlas contains about sixty maps covering political, physical, demographic, socio-cultural and economic themes. Its cartography is generally high-quality and innovative. Based largely on the 1960 census, it is somewhat dated. The review praises the comprehensive coverage of agriculture, trade and regional disparities, but criticizes unclear classifications, over-reduced insets, and weak treatment of manufacturing. Overall, the atlas provides a valuable portrait of mid-1960s Brazil, revealing the concentration of economic activity in the Southeast, though its technical complexity limits general readership.