Review: The Atlas of Egypt

Summary

This paper presents a critical review of the *Atlas of Egypt*, compiled, drawn, and printed in Egypt as the country’s contribution to the International Geographical Congress in Cambridge. The work is lauded as a delightful piece of workmanship, with primary credit given to H. Sirry Bey, Surveyor‑General of Egypt since 1927, and his collaborators. The review examines the atlas’s principal map series. The general and orographical maps by Dr. John Ball reflect the vastly increased knowledge of the desert gained through motorized exploration; they display routes of regular motor communication and major recent expeditions, notably those of Prince Kemal el‑Din Hussein. Two striking new features are the Gebel Owenat massif, revealed by Hassanein Bey in 1923, and the Qattara Depression, proven in 1926 to reach 137 m below sea level. The orographic map departs from the international millionth scheme by reserving green exclusively for arable land and using brown and gray tints for desert, thereby emphasizing the fundamental distinction between cultivated and barren terrain. Geological maps by W. F. Hume and O. H. Little supply detailed coverage, especially in the Sinai Peninsula. The meteorological section, by L. J. Sutton, includes six maps of recognized weather types and diagrams showing that relative humidity in the northern Sudan during April–May falls virtually to zero. The population‑density map (1:500 000) is extraordinarily effective, employing pale buff for desert and seven gray‑blue gradations from below 100 to over 1000 persons per km²; its pattern closely matches the map of agricultural raw material value. Economic maps and diagrams, with explanatory text by J. I. Craig, further reveal the density of cotton cultivation (maximum in the middle delta) and the prevalence of double‑cropping. The reviewer concludes that the atlas represents a major cartographic achievement, skillfully synthesizing physical, demographic, and economic data.