Britannica Atlas [antikvár]

Throughout history, educators have pointed out that a deep gulf mav separate knowledge of I something from the understanding of it. The Britannica Alias presents the latest facts about the present-day world at the same time that it attempts to add substantially to man s understanding of it. To produce a work that may give a reader this deeper insight, the editors have departed from traditional atlas-making in two important particulars: (1) greater internationalism of content and (2) complete comparability among the maps. Internationalism: Too often an atlas will cater to local prejudices and tastes. To avoid this pitfall, the publishers of this atlas-Encyclopsedia Britannica, Inc., and Rand McNally & Company-assured the truly international character of the content at the earliest planning stage by inviting a group of eminent scholars and cartographic housesfrom various parts of the world to participate in the work. The originál planning group included members from Francé, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Actual compilation of the maps was carried out in six countries-Germany, Hungary, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In keeping with the international outlook of the atlas, the metric system of measurement has been used throughout the reference maps, rather than the British-U.S. system. Map scales and elevation and depth scales on the map pages are given in both systems of measurement. In the Legend to Maps meter-foot and kilometer-mile equivalents are given. Most of the atlas carries parallel texts in English, Germán, Spanish, French, and Portuguese, Names of inhabited places and of physical features situated within the boundarics of one country appear on the maps in the local language; where space permits, the English alternate alsó is given if the local name is likely to be unfamiliar. The names of countries are in English, because somé country names are extremely unfamiliar in the local language- Druk-Yul (Bhután), Magyarország (Hungary), Nihon (Japan). On the largcr-scale maps, however, the local form of a country name is shown also. The names of large bodies of water, mountain ranges, and other major physical features that extend across international boundaries are given in English on smaller-scale maps, but on large-scale maps both the English and local forms will be found. In transliterating place names into English from languages not written in the román alphabet, every effort has been made to use internationally accepted systems of transliteration. Geographical terms such as laké, mountain, island, etc., appear on the maps in the local language. Five-language glossaries of selected terms used on a map are printed in the margins of most pages, and a glossary of all terms appears on pages 289-295. In the index, symbols are given with all entries except those naming cities or towns, to aid in identifving the features, e.g., A for mountain, ^ for cape, - for river. The symbols represent graphically the broad categories of the features named. A five-language key at the bottom of the index pages associates each symbol with the class of terms it represents. The World Scene is a separate section of topicai maps. These maps summarize in cartographic form the pattems of man's physical environment and somé of his more important economic activities, political alignments, and cultural distributions. Several maps are concerned with recent political history. In the maps that show climate, surface configurations, soils, natural vegetation, and drainage, the reader may identify the influence of the natural habitat on humán settlement and activity. Finally, the effort to ensure the international character of the atlas is manifest in the balanced coverage of the world's regions. The Britannica Atlas allots to each region of the world a map coverage that takes into account the region 's economic and cultural significance, its population, and its surface area. Aproximately two-thirds of the map pages are devoted to Anglo-America, Asia, and Europe, and about one-third to Africa, Australia/Oceania, Latin America, and the former Soviet Union. A world map on pp. xiv-xv has blocked out on it the areas and page numbers of the various maps. Comparability. All atlases have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to use uniform map scales wherever practical. This atlas has been prepared with a minimai number of map scales, selected to permit valid areal comparisons between all parts of theearth. At thebeginningof the atlas there appear political and physical maps of the world at 1:75,000,000, maps of theoceans at 1:48,000,000, and relief maps of the continents at 1:24,000,000. Next, the major world regions are uniformly presented at 1:12,000,000 (190 miles to the inch). Virtually the entire land area of the earth is portrayed again, in sections, at one of two larger scales. The less densely populated regions are at 1:6,000,000 (95 miles to the inch), and Europe, most of North America, and the most densely populated sections of South and East Asia are Foreword at 1:3,000,000 (47 miles to the inch). The 1:3,000,000 and 1:6,000,000 series are thoroughly comparable with one another. Both indicate the chief natural and man-made features of each region, showing elevations. rivers, major railroads and airports, two classes of highways, and even selected offshore water depths. Finally, the scale of 1:1,000,000 (16 miles to the inch) has been used in presenting 50 key regions of the continents characterized by exceptional economic importance, high concentration of population, complexity of transportation development, or somé combination of these. This scale is unusually large for a generál atlas. and is ordinarily reserved for small inset maps dealing with special subjeets. Its use in this atlas permits the inclusion of a multitude of place names and many other local details such as waterfalls, ruins, parks, bird and wildlife sanctuaries, shipvards, military installations, dams, and reservoirs. At the back of the atlas is a 29-page section of 60 maps of the world's major úrban centers, all at a scale of 1:300,000 (just under 5 miles to the inch). These maps display the land-use patterns and other local features of great metropolitan agglomerations. Nearly all of the most populous world metropolitan areas are shown, and a number of smaller but important areas are also included. Grouping these metropolitan maps in a separate section following the régiónál maps facilitates comparison between them and avoids interrupting continuity of the régiónál maps. The arrangement of the maps is such that the reader gets a progressively more detailed, but always comparable, view of the earth s surface. There is first a global viewof the world and of the oceans, then an overall survey of the continents, shown in hemispheres or quadrants of the earth. There follows a closer view of all regions within the continents, in maps that are primarily political. The regions are next shown in sections at a larger scale, with emphasis on the relationships between physical and cultural features. At a still larger scale, the cultural features of densely populated areas are shown in great detail. Finally, the close-up maps of cities and their environs include even more detail. A three-page Legend to Maps appears on pp. x-xii. Collection and analysis of the map data have benefited from the recent accelerated progress in aerial and satellite surveying, radar and sonar technology, and electronic data processing. The shaded relief technique was used to give the maps the effect of a third dimension. All the resources of modern graphic arts were utilized to give form to the editorial plan.