PLAN OF A MAP OF THE WORLD 



RECENT PROGRESS IN THE EXECUTION OF A MAP OF THE 



WORLD ON THE UNIFORM SCALE OF i : 1,000,000 



(SIXTEEN MILES TO THE INCH) 



By Dr Albrecht Penck, of the University of Vienna 



THE Fifth International Geo- 

 graphical Congress, held at 

 Berne in 1891, resolved to con- 

 sider the plan of a map of the world on 

 the uniform scale of 1 : 1,000,000, the 

 sheets of which were preferably to be 

 limited by meridians and parallels. A 

 committee was appointed to deliberate 

 on the question, and I had the honor of 

 transmitting to it special propositions for 

 such a map. But the work of the com- 

 mittee could not advance and a formal 

 invitation to the different states to nomi- 

 nate special delegates to join the com- 

 mittee was not successful. The Con- 

 gresses held at London in 1895 and at 

 Berlin in 1899 could also not do much 

 for the plan, and thus it seemed to many 

 as if the plan would not be carried out. 



In the last five years the situation has 

 totally changed, and I am happy to be 

 able to show to this Congress three maps 

 which are worked essentially after the 

 specifications for a map of the world on 

 the scale 1 : 1.000,000. France made the 

 first steps. The geographical service of 

 the army had several years before stud- 

 ied in detail the propositions for such a 

 map, and when the Cuban war and the 

 disturbances in Persia and China at- 

 tracted the attention of military men to 

 the Antilles, Persia, and China the 

 French service issued a series of maps 

 of those parts of the world on the uni- 

 form scale of 1 : 1,000,000, limited by 

 parallels and meridians. These sheets 

 appear by execution and arrangement 

 as parts of a general map of the world. 

 Thirty-one sheets are already issued, 

 twenty are in progress, and six planned. 



The Cartographical Department of 

 the Royal Prussian Land Survey has 



begun to publish a map of eastern China 

 on the same scale of 1 : 1,000,000, the 

 sheets here also being limited by merid- 

 ians and nearly by parallels. Though 

 this map intends to represent only east- 

 ern China, it adopts the scheme of a 

 map of the world. Twenty-two sheets 

 are planned, of which two are already 

 completed. Finally, the much-discussed 

 projection of a map of India on the 

 scale of 1 : 1,000,000, with sheets lim- 

 ited by parallels and meridians, induced 

 the Intelligence Division of the War 

 Office at London to begin the publica- 

 tion on this scale and projection of a 

 large map of Africa, which will embrace 

 not less than 132 sheets, similarly lim- 

 ited. Eighteen of them have already 

 appeared. Thus we have received in 

 the last four years from France, Ger- 

 many, and Great Britain three series 

 of maps, containing 61 sheets, which 

 are worked out on the same scale and 

 on the same style of division of sheets. 

 The maps cover large parts of the earth, 

 nearly 10,000,000 square miles being 

 represented on them, and they will 

 ultimately embrace a whole continent, 

 Africa, and very large parts of another, 

 Asia, and parts of America. The maps 

 realize in a large measure the propor- 

 tions for a map of the world. They 

 are executed on the same scale and rep- 

 resent parts of the earth's surface in 

 such a way that they suffer almost 

 nothing by the deformations of the 

 chosen projection, each sheet of the 

 French and English map being repre- 

 sented on its own plane, which is a face 

 of the sphere of the earth, and the Ger- 

 man maps being drawn on a cone, 

 which touches the earth in China in 



