Collections

The map room was founded in 1926 as a special department of KIT Library. The map collection includes approximately 25.000 topographic and thematic maps, topographic maps series at a scale of 1:250.000, city maps and and almost 800 (national) atlases of (sub) tropical countries. The map collection is particularly strong in the areas of the former Dutch colonies. You can find maps in the Library catalogue (make sure "maps only" is checked).  

The library of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) holds an important collection of books, brochures and magazines on the former Dutch colonies. KIT Library with its heritage collection belongs to one of the leading institutes for research on the shared history of Indonesia and the Netherlands, and of the Netherlands and Suriname and the Antilles..

• Heritage collection 
• Dutch colonial maps 

KIT has digitized its remarkable Dutch colonial map colllection and made it available online. One of the largest collections of maps of the former Dutch colonies is thereby accessible via Internet for scientists, cartographers and other interested parties in the Netherlands and abroad. More background information you can find here.

The Resource Center (also known as the Tropenmuseum’s museum library) is a source of information on subjects from all over the world. Here you will find books and magazines about various (sub)-tropical countries and development aid, but also about cookery, travel and music. If you have to prepare an assignment or if you are going on a trip, you will find the information you need at the Resource Centre.