Ghana加纳
Curatorial Note
AI-curated draftThe national atlas tradition of Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, is a remarkable chapter in the history of cartography, spanning from the colonial era to the early post-independence period. The collection begins with the *Atlas of the Gold Coast*, first published in 1927 by the Gold Coast Survey Department, and reissued in 1935, 1945, and 1949. These atlases, produced under British colonial administration, served as practical tools for governance, resource management, and education. The 1949 edition, noted in contemporary reviews, contained 20 maps, a gazetteer of 1,083 places, and thematic maps covering administration, physical geography, and economic activities. After independence in 1957, the newly named Survey of Ghana continued this legacy with the *Portfolio of Ghana Maps* (1962), a transitional work reflecting the nation’s new identity. The tradition culminated in the *Ghana National Atlas: Folio of Maps* (1972), compiled under the Ghana National Project of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. This later work represented a more systematic and scientific approach, integrating diverse data into a comprehensive national reference. Together, these six atlases document a shift from colonial administrative cartography to a self-determined national mapping project, and they remain valuable historical sources for understanding Ghana’s geographical knowledge and state-building process.
The Shelves
Contemporary and Later Comment
- Article1951Gold Coast Atlas
Malcolm E. Bondy
This article reports notable additions to the Library of Congress Map Division. The Gold Coast Atlas (5th edition) contains 20 maps, a gazetteer of 1,083 places, and thematic maps on administration, population, geology, agriculture, etc., supplemented by city plans and statistical tables, though it lacks textual explanations and disease-distribution maps. It also introduces postwar German topographic maps by Karl Wenschow, covering German states, Europe, the Americas, and Africa at varied scales, with boundaries, railroads, highways, and pipelines depicted, thereby enriching the collection.
- Article1957National atlases: a summary
Yonge, Ena L.
This paper presents a comprehensive survey of national atlases produced worldwide up to the late 1950s. The author reviews the development, scope, and cartographic quality of more than two dozen national atlases, with an emphasis on those published after World War II. The study examines atlases across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas, analyzing their thematic coverage, scales, symbolic innovations, and accompanying explanatory texts. Key findings highlight the leading role of European countries—particularly Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and Sweden—in producing atlases that integrate physical, economic, and social geography with advanced graphic techniques. Outside Europe, emerging national atlas projects in Israel, Morocco, the Congo, Australia, and the United States are documented, though many regions remain underrepresented. The paper underscores the value of national atlases as tools for planning, education, and research, and notes the growing trend of bilingual map legends and summaries to serve international audiences. The survey reveals increasing ambition and scope in national atlas production, mirroring both rising nationalism and the demand for systematic spatial knowledge of individual countries.
From the Physical Collection
Photographs are being prepared for this hall.