Atlases and maps. Atlas of Canada

Summary

This paper presents an overview of the National Atlas of Canada, initiated by a 1948 government decision and published in October 1958. The atlas was produced by the Geographical Branch of the Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, coordinated by an Interdepartmental Committee, and involved 150 geographers and 25 cartographers. It contains 450 sheets, with primary maps drawn at a scale of 1:10,000,000 using the Lambert conformal conic projection; supplementary maps employ scales ranging from 1:1,000,000 to 1:50,000,000. The page format is 52 × 70 cm. The atlas is organized into thematic sections. The opening sheets illustrate major expedition routes and reproduce historical maps. A cartographic coverage summary follows, accompanied by examples of modern topographic, aeronautical, and hydrographic charts. The physical-geographic section includes maps of relief (hypsometric), geology, terrestrial magnetism, tides, climate, hydrography, soils, forests, and biogeography. The population section depicts distribution, ethnic origin, religious composition, vital statistics, and marriages. The economic-geographic section covers fisheries, various agricultural branches, energy, forestry, pulp and paper, mining, manufacturing, transportation, and communications. The final section maps public and cultural institutions (hospitals, libraries, museums, universities), land use in the eight largest cities, electoral and census districts, changes to Canada’s borders, and memberships in the British Commonwealth, United Nations, NATO, and the Colombo Plan. The atlas employs a loose-leaf, dismantlable binding, allowing individual sheets to be replaced as updated editions are issued. This comprehensive work stands as a major cartographic synthesis of mid-twentieth-century Canada, designed for long-term maintenance and revision.