A Forgotten Atlas of Erwin Raisz: “Atlas de Cuba”

Abstract

The “Atlas de Cuba” was published in 1949 by the Institute of Geographical Exploration at Harvard University. This atlas is result of collaboration between Erwin Raisz, the American cartographer born in Hungary and a Cuban geographer and cartographer, Gerardo Canet. Using Canet’s words in the Introduction, the atlas is “a living picture of Cuban Geography as far as possible in 64 pages”. A total of 34 themes were represented by maps and graphics, presenting the history of the country, its’ physical geographical characteristics, the major parameters to describe the society (standard of living, health, social composition, government, etc.) and the national economy. The atlas is the rich combination of maps with pictures, charts and text. The authors not only wanted to create an atlas for scientists and specialists with the different topics represented in the maps: their intention was to make all this information available and easily understandable for the public in general. The atlas joined two peculiar cartographic styles: the delicacy of the drawing ability of Erwin Raisz and Canet’s interest to represent the broader spectrum of data collected by him, using all the graphic tools at their disposal to make the atlas more attractive. This little masterpiece of the mid-twentieth century constitutes a gem intentionally ignored by the current Cuban cartography.