Sara E. Ysalgué: Author of Cuba’s National Atlas

When Sarah Esperanza Ysalgué (Guantanamo, October 26, 1894 – Havana, April 29, 1989) was just a child, the vocation for geographic sciences came out of gazing at picture-perfect natural landscapes made up of fertile valleys, fast-flowing rivers and high mountains that were all around this little girl in her hometown and other places in the island’s easternmost region.

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A humanist, geographer and pedagogue, with deep-rooted ethical and moral values, she was, until her last breath, an outstanding Cuban woman, a descendant from mambi fighters, devoted to scientific research and teaching, always in line with the destiny of her homeland.

With an abundant written work, she was the main author, along with a team of researchers and specialists, of the first Cuba’s National Atlas, published in 1970; a monumental scientific and editorial work that established her reputation.

That book not only puts together the knowledge gained by Sarah Ysalgué on the cartography of her time, but also her scientific thinking in terms of geography, geomorphology and physic geography of Cuba. She was in charge of the making of the geologic and geomorphologic map of Cuba, which represented a base to rigorously draw up the natural maps that are presently used to teach Geography of Cuba in every school of the country.

In 1911 she graduated as a professor and spent some time teaching in Holguin. She later moved to Santiago de Cuba, where she worked as an elementary school teacher at “Concha Cainet”, a school for the children of wealthy families, and between 1912 and 1914, she taught at “Padre Varela” School, in Santiago de Cuba.

In 1919 she got her PhD in Pedagogy at the University of Havana and worked as a professor in the capital city. In 1918 she chaired the Cathedra of Geography, History, Moral and Civic Instruction, as well as the methodology at the Normal School for Professors in Matanzas, where she occupied different positions. Between 1920 and 1921 Sarah Ysalgué traveled to the Teacher’s College of Columbia University, in New York, where she studied geomorphology.

In 1924 she married Salvador Massip y Valdés, the other star of Cuba’s geographic science. In that very year Sarah Ysalgué participated in the First National Congress of Women and the 3rd Pan-American Scientific Congress in Lima, Peru. Between 1931 and 1934 she attended other international geography congresses. In 1935 she represented the Havana University in a congress held in Mexico, and she was a special delegate to the International Geography Congress carried out in Holland.

In 1940 Sarah Ysalgué was a professor at the High School Institute in Vedado. She traveled to Mexico, Poland, Japan, Korea, United States, Canada, Morocco, Egypt, Thailand, Italy, Turkey and Brazil. In 1942 she got the Master of Arts title at the prestigious Columbia University, United States. In 1945 Sarah Ysalgué was tapped professor of the Geography cathedra at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Havana, where she became a Full Lecturer.

She worked in both educational institutions until they were closed down by Fulgencio Batista. Because of her civic and patriotic behavior she went into exile in Mexico, along with her husband, until the triumph of the revolutionary government.

Between 1962 and 1967 Sarah Ysalgué was a founder and consultant of the Geography Institute of Cuba’s Sciences Academy, heading its Physic Geography Department. Sarah Ysalgué was given several medals and decorations: Exemplary Worker Medal at Cuba’s Geography Institute; Grand Gold Medal by the Geographic Association of Cuba; Special Distinction for Honorary Researcher; “Ana Betancourt” Medal; Rafael María de Mendive Distinction; Félix Varela Order; Frank País Order, and Work Heroine of the Republic of Cuba.

The list of her most relevant books, along the above mentioned Cuba’s National Atlas, -some of which were written in collaboration with Salvador Massip-, is made up of: Introduction to the Geography of Cuba; Elements of Regional Geography; Physic Geography of Cuba; The Climate of Cuba; Botanical Geography of Cuba; Introduction to the Physic Geography of Cuba, y Regional Geography of Eurasia.