PAN AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Created by the Sixth International Conference of American States (Havana, 1928), the Pan American Institute of Geography and History provides technical assistance, conducts training at research centers, distributes publications and organizes technical meetings in the areas of cartography, geography, history and geophysics. It has its headquarters in Mexico City and its Secretary General is Dr. Chester J. Zelaya-Goodman.

At the Thirtieth Meeting of the Directing Council, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in November, Spain was officially made a PAIGH Observer and cooperation projects with that country were approved.

Publications program

The regular issues of the following periodicals were published: the Revista Cartográfica; the Revista Geográfica; the Revista de Historia de América; the Revista Geofísica; Folklore Americano; and the Boletín de Antropología Americana.

Other publications were also released;

Documents related to the work of the Institute were also published.

Technical cooperation program

In the area of Cartography, in June a working meeting was held on three-dimensional cartography as a teaching/learning tool for the visually impaired, in Santiago, Chile. Also in Santiago in June, the Aeronautical Charts Committee completed its review of the Specifications of Aeronautical Charts on a scale of 1:1,000,000.

A seminar on Geographic Information Systems was held in July in Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia. A Working Seminar was held by the Committee on Cartographic Applications of Remote Sensing in September 1994, in Quito, Ecuador. The Hydrography Committee met in October in Valparaiso, Chile.

The PAIGH also held courses on Geographic Information Systems and Map-making in Santa Fé de Bogotá.

In the field of geography, the XXII International Course was held in Quito, Ecuador, June 6 through August 19. This year's theme was political geography and planning: integral development management.

In September, San Salvador, El Salvador, was the site of the workshop for instituting a geography degree program in Central America; in November, Quito was the site of the Second International Course on Geographic Information Systems.

The PAIGH continued studies already instituted on issues related to urbanization and development in several Latin American countries.

In the area of history, the national project on cave painting continued in Bolivia.

In May, a meeting of the Working Group on Regional History and Integration in the Southern Tier was held in Santiago, Chile. Lima was the site of a meeting of the Working Group on Archeology in June and of a Seminar on Accessibility to Archival Documents in August. Research got under way on bibliographical bulletins in Costa Rica and the study on the modernization of and crisis in coffee-growing in Central America continued in Costa Rica.

In the realm of geophysics, a number of research projects were conducted: Gravimetric Systems in Argentina and Gravimetric Surveys of the Chicxulub Crater in Mexico. Data continued to be compiled on seismic risk. At the same time, the process of compiling data for the History of Earthquakes and Natural Disasters in Costa Rica was completed.

In September, the Central American Workshop on Remote Sensing was held in San José, Costa Rica. The total eclipse of the sun on November 3, 1994, was an opportunity to conduct important studies on the magnetic field in Southern Brazil.

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