Book reviews: Atlas of the People's Republic of Bulgaria

Summary

This review evaluates the 1973 National Atlas of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, a collaborative synthesis of geographical and cartographic knowledge concerning the country’s natural environment, economy, population, culture, and history. It examines the atlas’s scale system, thematic organization, statistical content, and visualization methods. Comprising more than 250 maps, the volume devotes nearly half of its coverage to physical geography while also addressing settlement, industry, agriculture, transport, education, health, tourism, and historical development. Detailed regional maps are effectively combined with small-scale analytical overviews, representative large-scale examples, municipal data, diagrams, and quantitative symbols. The reviewer concludes that the atlas is thematically balanced, information-rich, accessible, and technically accomplished. It demonstrates the strength of Bulgarian cartography and geoscience while presenting the country’s socioeconomic and cultural development in a comprehensive visual form.