Cartographical Survey: Atlas of Tanzania

Summary

This paper critically examines the 1967 *Atlas of Tanzania*, which replaced the 1957 *Atlas of Tanganyika* and was publicly framed as a tool for development planning. Through a comparative analysis of the atlas’s content, format, and stated objectives, the study evaluates whether it fulfills its claimed purpose. The atlas retains the costly, high-quality production and multicolored cartography of its predecessor, yet its physical size is unsuited to both classroom display and field portability. While it introduces new maps on potential land use, fisheries, and antiquities, and improves soils‑and‑agriculture coverage, notable omissions compromise its planning utility: the transparent population overlay is removed, and no dedicated communications map exists despite the sector’s large share of the development budget. The paper argues that there is little evidence of rigorous thinking about content relevant to planners—such as regional disparities in productivity ratios, malnutrition‑linked labour constraints, school enrolment proportions, interregional goods flows, road standards and seasonal impassability, or sectoral infrastructure maps—or about a format sensible for a resource‑poor country that would permit easy updating. It acknowledges that some of these data needs are being met by other duplicating‑style research outputs, but the atlas ignores them. The review attributes these gaps to a weak conventional conception of atlas content and the prohibitive expense of such cartographic quality, and suggests that the 1967 atlas will likely be the last of its kind. The paper underscores the growing imperative for developing nations to align geographic products more closely with tangible development planning requirements.