Nepal尼泊尔

Curatorial Note

Nestled between the towering Himalayas and the plains of South Asia, Nepal's cartographic tradition reflects its unique geography and political evolution. The National Atlas collection here spans three works from 1966 to 2008, all published in English, marking a steady effort to document the nation's changing landscape and society. The earliest, *Nepal in Maps* (1966), emerged from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting during a period of national consolidation, when the state sought to project a unified image of its diverse terrain and peoples. This pioneering atlas laid the groundwork for systematic mapping, emphasizing administrative boundaries, topography, and resource distribution. Two later volumes, both titled *Nepal: Atlas and Statistics* (2006 and 2008), represent a more data-driven approach, integrating statistical tables with thematic maps to address contemporary issues like population growth, land use, and infrastructure development. These atlases share a pragmatic editorial style—concise, factual, and oriented toward planning and education. Together, they trace a half-century of cartographic practice, from a foundational survey to a modern statistical reference. While not widely reviewed, their successive publication signals an enduring institutional commitment to spatial knowledge, making them essential documents for understanding Nepal's self-representation and its evolving relationship with its own geography.