Thematic maps in Eugeniusz Romer’s Geographical and Statistical Atlas of Poland from 1916 – the historical and methodological perspective (on the 100-year anniversary of the publication)

The Geograficzno-statystyczny atlas Polski (Geographical and Statistical Atlas of Poland), printed in Vienna in 1916, was elaborated due to remind the world about Poland and the Polish issue. At that time Poland had been partitioned for over 120 years and it was very important to provide comprehensive information about historical Polish territory and its inhabitants before the end of the ongoing war. It was a significant decision because the atlas appeared to be crucial to establishing borders of the Second Polish Republic at the Paris Peace Conference. In 2016 the hundredth anniversary of first edition of atlas is a great occasion for a historical and methodical brief outline.

The atlas was the fundamental work of Eugeniusz Romer, a distinguished geographer, cartographer and geo-politician. All of the 65 maps and 5 diagrams were elaborated by himself and his collaborators: W. Semkowicz, J. Nowak, W. Szafer, S. Weigner, J. Rutkowski, K. Nitsch, B. Chodkiewicz. It includes maps showing physiograpy, administrative division, history of the Polish territory, population, nationality, religion, agriculture, industry and transport, developed on the basis of official data sources. It is noteworthy that E. Romer introduced the isarithmic method on a large scale to present both population and socio-economic phenomena.

As an all-embracing work, Atlas played a major role in drawing the boundaries of the reborn Poland in post-war Europe. This also shows that thematic cartography has been an essential instrument in argumentation for the national interest of Poland.