For  tlif  jtltiftiml  nnd  crotu*n%*- 
^<-<>£f!lJ>'jl/    (>f    till'    I     S^/t 
THE  "SON 
Soviit  ail.xM's.  woilil  .>iK>m-v  ^\  \.\v}J  a<  tlxm-  rievoU'd  to  thr  USSR 
itM  If.  I».i\i"  n : t . u 1 1 1 x t  .«  ili  c<'>"  *'l  c.»t«»,ir.iphu  «  \vvllrmv  which  ranks 
llii-m  ;r.nnn£  tin-  U  »l  in  th«-  «\«M.  YIutv  arv  «*>  Arm-man  atbsrs 
inmparaMr  to  them,  mv  .nrv  tlutv  liLrK  soon  to  ho.  given  the  con- 
tvpt  of  Aim-rKMit  juiiiltvht  c\  th*t  m\  atl.ts  i%  "«  collection  of  maps 
in  a  volttmr."  '  Tin-  rontr.i*tui\;  S*niet  concept  Ii.in  Iwvn  summari7«,d 
In  tin-  ii'»td|  Stixnt  f.m.'ci.«i  !>' '  ^-  A.  S.i'.  OlIha:  "An  atlas  is  not 
jmt  a  grouping  of  various  £oop"*plnc  inu,u  nv  their  moclianical 
■jsrmblapr.  It  i\  an  .ntrgTal  system  of  rrup*  which  arc  organically 
rrlatod  and  cornph  *r»mt  oik*  ai*otbrr.  a  syMcm  that  is  governed  by 
tin-  purpose  of  tin    utl.is  um.I  tfw  p*vttluritu-\  of  its  use."* 
dwTitl  Atlases  of  thr  VSSll 
Tin-  Ust  ii.itiiiti.il  »ll.is_ol  tl*r  S«nti-t  I'mon  i<  ctinrrntly  the  Atlas 
SSSH  pnbhshfd  in  19fC       It  »x  a  awrwvhcruivc  c«rtogr*phic  study 
'Monrr.   W.  C,   A   D*-t*m*ry  atf  Orf*?^.     (Wtwwre:   Pwpjin   Book*. 
IW-2  ) 
tvknv  t.itrratun-.  19V)  ) 
tiuuitriU.o   v*i 
Approved  for  Releasa 
'  2  2  SEP  f988
Tha  Soviat  Atlas 
of  the  country  and  contains  an  excellent  series  of  general  regional 
maps  -covering  (he  Soviet  Union  at  scales  up  to  1:3,000.000.  It  has 
a  physical  g«-ography  section  comprising  various  geologic,  climatic 
vegetation.il.  and  fauna!  map*  and  an  economic  £eograph\  section 
covering  such  topics  as  industry'.^  agriculture,  and  transportation. 
There  arc  also  maps  of  the  former  twenty  economic  regions  showing 
the  distribution  of  different  types  of  economic  activities  within  each. 
The  Soviets  have  also  published  a  number  of  regional  atlases 
covering  particular  political  units.4  Doth  these  and  the  Atlas  SSSH 
contain  a  wealth  of  physical  geographic  information,  both  general 
ami  specific.  The  general  maps  do  wh.it  it  expected  of  them — %l*>w 
physical  and  cultural  features  and  give  place  names,  indicate  relief 
by  shades  of  green  ascending  from  sea  level  to  shades  of  brown  for 
higher  elevation,  give  the  highest  elevations  in  each  region  in  meters, 
and  indicate  water  depth  by  descending  shades  of  blue.  But  these 
are  backed  up  by  a  number  of  specific  topical  maps  devoted  to 
geology  (the  underlying  strata,  tectonics,  and  rock  types),  geomor- 
phology  (terrain),  climate,  vegetation,  soils,  forests,  zoogeography 
(types  and  distribution  of  fauna),  and  mineral  extraction  (distribution 
of  various  mining  activities). 
Of  the  topical  maps,  those  devoted  to  dimate  give  the  most  com- 
prehensive coverage.  The  Atlas  SSSR  has  eleven  of  them  showing 
chrnaUc  renons.  solar  radiation,  prevailing  wind  directions,  seasonal 
air  temperatures,  average  daily  air  temperature,  frost-frer  periods, 
snow  cover,  precipitation,  radiation  balance,  and  seasonal  air  pressure 
and  giving  considerable  detailed  information  in  each  of  these 
categories.         f 
The  economic  section  of  Soviet  atlases,  either  national  or  regional. 
i\  brokrn  down  essentially  into  four  topics — industry,  agriculture, 
population,  and  transportation.  The  industrial  maps  have  such  themes 
as  fuel  and  electro-energy  production,  ferrous  and  non-ferrous  metal- 
lurgy, machine  building  and  metal  fabrication,  chemical  and  petro- 
leum products,  building  materials,  lumber  and  paper  production, 
licht  products  manufacturing,  and  focd  production.  The  agricultural 
mAps  show  the  location  and  specialization  of  state  farms,  the  extent 
*  As    of    thts    writing^  the    following    regional    atJ&sct    have    bem    publuhoJ: 
I'Vuinun  SSH.*FVlnrusJ*ian  SSn.  Kfolcfaxun  SbR.  Georgian  SSR.  Arawun  SSH. 
A.vrhayd/han  SSR:  Uzbek  SSR.  Ttdmnyy  Kt»\.  Karelian  ASSR.  k'ustana\  OSUtt. 
trLnt^k    Obl.ist.    Kj!;nin    Obt.ut.    Leningrad    Obtait.    Motctr*-   Obl-iit.    Muruuruk: 
.  Oblut.  Smolensk  ObLut,  Vologda  Oblut,  and  Yaroslavl  Obdast.
T/ip  Soviet  Atlas 
■     f 
of  ploughed  or  tilled  land,  and  the  t)pe  and  distribution  of  grain, 
livestock,  and  various  other  agricultural  products.  The  population 
maps  miiaHy  cover  ethnography  along  with  distribution  «nj  dcnsirv. 
The  transportation  topic  normally  comprises  not  onlv  raids  and  rail- 
roads but  navigable  rivers,  canali,  and  major  air  Irnes. 
Specialized  Atlases 
Of  the  Soviet  atlases  entirely  devoted  to  special  topics,  the  best 
and  most  useful  are  perhaps  the  agricultural  atlas,  the  railroad  atlas, 
and  the  automobile  rond  atlas.5  The  atlas  of  agriculture  published 
in  1960.  giving  fuller  coverage  and  more  detailed  information  on 
Soviet  agriculture  than  the  national  or  regional  atlases,  is  the  most 
comprehensive  and  detailed  one  of  its  lond  ever  published.  Its  more 
than  three  hundred  pages  are  broken  down  into  nine  sections  under 
the  following  subject  heads:  introduction  to  Soviet  agriculture,  natural 
physical  conditions,  general  agricultural  characteristics,  agricultural 
pattern  including  amount  of  arable  land,  livestock,  agriculture  in  the 
Soviet  republics,  gross  production  of  agricultural  commodities,  harvest 
yields  for  individual  areas,  and  conclusions  conceminc  Soviet  agri- 
cultural production  compared  with  the  rest  of  the  world's.  Although 
its  main  value  is  to  show  the  type  and  distribution  of  Soviet  agri- 
cul!uri'  "rWit'Cf.  »t  »«  excellent  for  rVtermir-inp  th»»  acricultnral 
potential  of  any  regiun  of  the  Lmiuii. 
The  railroad  atlas  portrays  the  regional  railway  networks  in  the 
various  parts  of  the  country,  including  such  information  as  the  dis- 
tribution of  facilities,  traffic  flow,  cities  and  towns  served,  and  the 
railway's  relationship  with  the  physical  environment.  The  automobile 
atlas  gives  corresponding  information  on  roads.  It  distinguishes  be- 
tween primary  and  secondary  roads  but  gives  neither  the  kind  of 
.surfacing  nor  the  number  of  lanes  on  a  road.  ... 
*  Rcspntivcly  Alios  Sftskof^n   Khczyayrtut   SSSR,   ZArA'cjii/y'    Pomp   Si 
artd  Atlas  AKiomobiTnifkh  Dorot  SSSR  (Moskva:  CUCK,  1960.  1965.  and  1961.)
Thm  Sovitt  Atlot 
B1BLI0CRAPHY 
EL  A.  SkVJt^htr.;  Otnczr,  ICartoprdjruyc.    M^Wt:  !r*?»*r«ivw  C*«rWir+«koy 
Litrraturv.  1959. 
Alias  SSSR.     Moskva  CUCK.  1962. 
Alias  Miro.    Xfotkva-  CUCK.  1954. 
BWaAoy  Sovrtskiy  Atlas  hti*a.    Moskva:  Sovrt  Narodnykh  Komissarovi,  1939. 
Atlas  BSSR  (Bctomuw).     Maskva-Minik:  CUCK.  1956. 
Alias  Itkuttkoy  Obbuti      Matkvt-Irkubk:  CUCK.  1962. 
Atlas  Vkrointloy  SSR  t  Holdavtkoy  SSR.     Motka:  CUCK,  1962. 
Atlas  Scitkopn  tJ^zyoytlva  SSifl.     Moskva:  CUCK.  1960. 
FizikoGu>gr*fu-he*kuj  Atlas  Wira.     MosAva:  CUCK.  1964.  ,    • 
Atlas  Notfldcrc  Mire.     Motkva:  CUCK,  1964. 
tstufi&fEtnngraficheskiy  Atlas  Sibtn.     Moskva-Leningrad:   Izdatcl'stvo  AkabVmu 
Sauk.  1961. 
Atlas  L'dov.     Leningrad:  CUCK.  1960. 
Allot  AUomoljiTnykh  Dorog  SSSR.     Moskva:  CUCK,  1961. 
ZKelezntfife  Dorogi  SSSR.     Moskva:  CUCK.  1965.
(Page  37) 
For  the  physical   and  economic 
geography  of  the  USSR 
THE  SOVIET  ATLAS[Excised] 
Soviet  atlases,  world  atlases  as  well  as  those  devoted  to  the  USSR 
itself,  have  attained  a  degree  of  cartographic  excellence  which  ranks 
them  among  the  best  in  the  world.  There  are  no  American  atlases 
comparable  to  them,  nor  are  there  likely  soon  to  be,  given  the  con- 
cept of  American  publishers  that  an  atlas  is  "a  collection  of  maps 
in  a  volume."  The  contrasting  Soviet  concept  has  been  summarized 
by  the  noted  Soviet  cartographer  K.A.  Salishchev:  "An  atlas  is  not 
just  a  grouping  of  various  geographic  maps  nor  their  mechanical 
assemblage.  It  is  an  integral  system  of  maps  which  are  organically 
related  and  complement  one  another,  a  system  that  is  governed  by 
the  purpose  of  the  atlas  and  the  peculiarities  of  its  use." 
General   atlases  of  the  USSR 
The  best  national  atlas  of  the  Soviet  Union  is  currently  the  Atlas 
SSSR  published  in  1962    It  is  a  comprehensive  cartographic  study