I. P. Gerasimov's contribution to the creation of national atlases

Summary

This article examines the theoretical, organizational, and practical contribution of the Soviet geographer and geomorphologist I. P. Gerasimov to the preparation of national atlases in socialist countries. Following the internationally recognized Physical-Geographical Atlas of the World, Gerasimov concentrated on comprehensive national atlases of Cuba, Mongolia, and Vietnam. His strategy was grounded in global geomorphology: each country represented a major geotectural setting—oceanic Cuba, marginal-continental Vietnam, and central-continental Mongolia. The National Atlas of the Republic of Cuba, published in 1970, became the first successful model and stimulated requests for Soviet cartographic assistance from other partner states. A complete mock-up of the Vietnamese atlas was prepared under Gerasimov’s direction but was never published, while a proposed Cambodian atlas proved impracticable because the country lacked an adequate scientific and statistical foundation. The main focus is the National Atlas of the Mongolian People’s Republic, issued in Russian and Mongolian in 1990. Drawing on decades of Soviet-Mongolian geological, paleontological, biological, historical, and cultural expeditions, as well as numerous original thematic maps, it represented the culmination of Gerasimov’s national-atlas program. The article highlights innovations in its geological, tectonic, geomorphological, resource, hydrological, agricultural, and industrial sections. The geological maps refined the dating and distribution of Precambrian formations, intrusive complexes, faults, and successive tectonic stages; the neotectonic and seismotectonic maps supported seismic zoning and forecasting; and the mineral-resource maps combined established deposits with newly identified resources. Geomorphological mapping served as an integrating basis for the atlas’s physical-geographical content. A comparison of the Cuban, Vietnamese, and Mongolian atlases demonstrates how differences in scientific knowledge and source materials shaped thematic composition and scale systems. Although the Vietnamese atlas contained more industrial maps, the Mongolian atlas offered the most comprehensive and carefully processed account of agriculture. Its disciplined five-level scale sequence, based on multiples of three, facilitated comparison, quantitative analysis, and assessment of spatial processes. Gerasimov played a decisive role in selecting contributors, coordinating 56 institutions, reviewing map content, reconciling incompatible datasets, and resolving scientific and editorial disputes. His intervention increased the maps’ informational density, clarity, accessibility, and practical usefulness. The author concludes that the Mongolian atlas was the most advanced Soviet-produced national atlas by 1990: a fundamental interdisciplinary reference for resource management, economic planning, environmental modelling, education, and scientific research. It also remains both a monument to Soviet-Mongolian scholarly cooperation and an invitation to renew transnational scientific collaboration.