The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World: 16th Edition (Times Atlas)

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Disputed bodies of water are labelled with a bit of finesse: Sea of Japan (East Sea) and The Gulf (neatly sidestepping whether it’s Arabian or Persian). Parentheses also indicate new, alternative, non-English or deprecated names, e.g. Czechia (Czech Republic), East Timor (Timor-Leste), Swaziland (Eswatini). In the introduction to the first edition, Geoffrey Barraclough notes that the desire of The Atlas was to provide a history based on the viewpoint of its creators, hence the spread of Islam, for example, is centred at Mecca, as might have been the view of the seventh century Arabs. The 15th edition of the Times Comprehensive Atlas came out on 6 September 2018 (and on 15 November 2018 in North America). HarperCollins has sent me a review copy, and I’ve been trying to come up with something to say about it.

The Atlas, first published in 1978 in London, UK, sold more than two million copies in many languages. Its stated aim was to describe the major processes and events of world history across a broad canvas and omit tiny details of, say, ruling families, minor battles etc. It wished to give a dynamic view of population migrations, economic developments such as agriculture and industrialisation, wars, the spread of religions and political ideologies. Disputed boundaries and ceasefire lines are dotted in several different and specific ways. The Nine-Dash Line is absent; territorial claims are noted on a text label. It’s less informative than the National Geographic (which privileges the political more than any other atlas), but it’s less likely to render the map out of date later on. Should You Get It? UPDATED: Atlas Shrugged? 'Outraged' Glaciologists Say Mappers Misrepresented Greenland Ice Melt". 19 September 2011. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013 . Retrieved 9 April 2017. Changes to the new edition include "5000 place name changes, most notably in Japan, Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan and Spain. Updated national parks and conserved areas including the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA), the largest conservation zone in the world. Addition of over 50 major waterfalls around the world." [8][ sic] Geopolitical changes include "Realignment of a section of the international boundary between Burkina Faso and Niger resulting from the International Court of Justice decision. New administrative structures in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya and Madagascar, and the addition of the long proposed new Indian state of Telangana. Updated population of Brazilian towns from new census information. Disputed boundary around Crimea." [8]

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Probably because it can be consulted more easily (and more often), the legend on the Times Comprehensive’s bookmark is much more detailed. There are different type sizes and symbols for cities depending on their population. Unlike other atlases, these are defined. A city of between one and five million people will appear exactly the same on every map in this atlas (national and administrative capitals are also distinguished by a coloured symbol; national capitals are also in all caps), regardless of where you are on the map. The bookmark is a pledge of consistency. A fully revised and updated fourteenth edition of this major world atlas in the authoritative and prestigious Times Atlas range. This beautifully designed atlas has all the information you need, whether planning a trip, keeping in touch with world news, solving quizzes and crosswords or just exploring the world from your armchair. A guide to how the Times World Atlas team developed new mapping of Greenland". Archived from the original on 18 January 2013 . Retrieved 3 January 2013.

Detailing our world as it is today, it includes more than 200,000 place names. At 45 cm high, this impressive world atlas will become a treasured possession. It’s not like the competition doesn’t do this: both my editions of the Oxford (the 14th) and the National Geographic (the ninth) put this information on the endpapers. But putting it there means having to flip to the front or end of the book to look up a symbol. When you’re dealing with something the size of a world atlas, that’s awfully unwieldy, even with the smaller Oxford. The symbols can be fairly hard to tell apart once they’re surrounded by the very busy maps, especially for someone with presbyopic eyes like myself. They’re all circles or squares with dots in them: more differentiation in shapes would be helpful.)Harvey, Fiona (20 September 2011). "Times Atlas publishers apologise for 'incorrect' Greenland ice statement". The Guardian. Any atlas will emphasize certain regions at the expense of others: it’s a function of the readership its publisher is trying to sell to. As an atlas published in the United Kingdom, in English, the Times Comprehensive does about as you’d expect. Of 132 map plates, 40 are of Europe, comprising 30 percent of the total. Asia is next with 31 plates, or 23.5 percent, followed by North America at 23 plates or 17.4 percent. South America gets only eight plates (six percent), less than the Oceania section (11 plates, 8.3 percent), which makes up Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Closer to home (literally!), my own village of Shawville, Quebec does not appear in any of the atlases (though smaller communities nearby do: clearly a conspiracy is afoot). Controversies Comprehensive reference mapping with 155,000 place names providing an amazingly detailed view of the world, and the illustrated thematic content covers the most important geographical issues of the day, making this atlas a valuable addition to any reference collection. According to the publisher, this "was the first entirely new edition of the atlas since the Mid-Century Edition and also the first to be produced from digital data." [2] 11th edition (2003) [ edit ]