ICA - History
History of ICA The International Cartographic Association (ICA) was established by 13 founding members in Bern, Switzerland in 1959. Membership is by nation and by 1991 had grown to 62 member nations. In recent times there has been a significant further increase in membership to over 80 national members and 12 affiliates. From modest beginnings the Association has become a major international organisation. The foundation meeting of the International Cartographic Association took place in June 1959 with 13 countries attending this assembly in Wabern, near Bern. Those attending included Austria, Belgium, France, West Germany, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. A decision was made at this meeting to formally organise as the International Cartographic Association, with two official languages, English and French. The purpose of the organisation was to get international cooperation in the fields of cartography and also with the purpose of affiliating the organisation with the International Geographical Union with a certain amount of autonomy. The assembly appointed a provisional Executive Committee with representatives from seven of the participating nations. The mandate of this Committee was to organise the first General Assembly of Delegates in Paris in 1961. The first Assembly of Delegates took place in Paris in 1961. The meeting was attended by 84 delegates from 29 nations. This meeting had an extensive social programme and is probably the most glamorous the ICA has ever held. It included dinner at the Eiffel Tower, a cruise on the River Seine, a night visit to the Louvre Museum and a visit to a fashion parade at Christian Dior. As part of the business programme, delegates adopted the Statues of the organisation, thereby formally creating the ICA. There were 26 countries inaugurated as member countries. ICA is officially registered as an idealistic non-profit organisation in the Swedish national organisation register since 20 January 2000 (number 885002-1018).
|
|||||||||