Nemzeti és regionális atlaszok

Summary

This article examines the emergence, functions, and interrelationship of complex national and regional atlases within the rapid postwar development of atlas cartography. Such atlases are not mere collections of thematic maps; rather, they are coordinated cartographic systems designed to synthesize the natural environment and socioeconomic life of a country or region. Their development reflects both advances in geography and cartography and growing practical demand for the rational use of natural resources, spatial organization of production, regional planning, and economic administration. The establishment of the International Geographical Union’s Commission on National Atlases in 1956 promoted this trend by encouraging international coordination of atlas themes, legends, representation methods, and principles of generalization. Drawing on international examples and Hungarian experience, including the National Atlas of Hungary and the planned regional atlas series, the authors compare the two atlas types according to three principal criteria: the character of the territory represented, the thematic structure, and the purpose of publication. A national atlas covers the clearly delimited territory of a sovereign state and generally treats the whole country with relatively uniform thematic depth. It emphasizes scientific synthesis, records the achievements of geographic disciplines, and facilitates comparison between countries. A regional atlas may cover an administrative unit, economic district, planning region, natural region, or development area whose boundaries are less self-evident. Its contents and level of detail therefore depend more strongly on local characteristics, development problems, and planning objectives. Although scientific considerations tend to predominate in national atlases and practical concerns in regional atlases, the authors reject a rigid separation between theory and application: both types combine scientific analysis with practical utility in different proportions. The article also classifies atlases by their primary motivation. One group chiefly presents a country’s or region’s geography through comprehensive scientific synthesis; another focuses on resources and seeks to encourage their assessment and exploitation, especially in developing countries and resource-rich territories; a third consists of planning atlases intended to support the rational territorial distribution of productive forces and spatial development; and a fourth includes specialized thematic, statistical, commercial, and marketing atlases. These categories overlap and express tendencies rather than fixed boundaries. The central conclusion is that national atlases and nationwide systems of regional atlases are neither identical nor interchangeable. National atlases offer standardized, generalized, and internationally comparable information for the country as a whole, whereas regional atlases provide greater detail and highlight local conditions, resources, disparities, and development priorities. Together they form complementary instruments of geographic knowledge, cartographic synthesis, resource evaluation, and rational territorial planning.