FAO-UNESCO Soil Map of the World

The International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) - at its seventh congress, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, in 1960 - highlighted the need for publicly available soil maps at the level of continents and major regions. Subsequently, FAO and UNESCO in 1961 began the project of the Soil Map of the World at a scale of 1: 5 000 000 and. The project was completed over a period of twenty years and 19 map sheets were produced. It was the fruit of worldwide collaboration between countless soil scientists, and it has remained the only global overview of soil resources until recently. The FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World was published in 10 volumes and 19 map sheets, from 1972 to 1977. The following high resolution scanned copy of the map sheets are now available for download: I) Legend; II) North America (Sh. 1-2) III) Mexico & Central America (not available) IV) South America (Sh. 1-2) (not available) V) Europe (Sh. 1-2) VI) Africa (Sh. 1-2-3) VII) South Asia (Sh. 1-2) VIII) North & Central Asia (Sh. 1-2-3) IX) Southeast Asia (not available) X) Australasia (Sh. 1-2)