Atlas of Luxembourg

Summary

This article reviews the first installment of the Atlas of Luxembourg, published in 1971 by the Luxembourg Ministry of National Education, and evaluates its scope, cartographic design, and geographical significance. Conceived in response to the International Geographical Union’s initiative promoting national atlases, the volume uses 101 maps and 12 diagrams to provide an integrated account of Luxembourg’s natural and social environment. Most maps employ the Gauss projection at scales of 1:200,000, 1:300,000, or 1:400,000. The atlas covers historical development and linguistic boundaries, relief, geology, hydrography, climate, administrative organization, population geography, and economic activity. Population patterns—including density, change, age composition, ethnicity, labor-force distribution, and natural demographic movement—are represented through areal, dot, and cartodiagram techniques. The economic section presents agriculture, industry, transportation, and tourism, with particular attention to the evolution of iron processing, the core of Luxembourg’s economy, from the first furnaces and forges around 1600 to the industrial structure of 1969. Maps and diagrams also situate Luxembourg within Western European rail, air, and river networks and document its trade links with the European Common Market and more distant regions. The review concludes that this first installment offers a coherent and multifaceted portrayal of Luxembourg’s territory, population, and economy, especially the transformations following the Second World War, while future plates are expected to deepen its value as a national geographical reference and an instrument of international understanding.