1899 Fort Dearborn Pocket Map of the Philippines

A rare c. 1899 pocket map of the Philippines or Philippine Islands. The map covers the entire archipelago from northern Luzon to southern Mindanao and from Palawan to the Pacific. An inset in the upper right focuses on the Central Luzon region in the vicinity of Manila Bay. This map was published in Chicago by the Fort Dearborn Publishing Company to capitalize on general interest in the Philippine American War (1899 – 1902).

The roots of the war lay in the struggle for Filipino national sovereignty. Under the Treaty of Paris, at the end of the Spanish-American War (1898-1898), the Philippines were seceded to the United States. The Philippine people were doubtless happy to be rid of the Spanish, which they had been actively revolting against since 1896, but did not want another colonial overlord in the form of the United States, and so the struggle for independents continued.

This map was issued and distributed to various business to use as a kind of calling card. The present example was issued on the behalf of F. M .Spaulding and Company, of Claremont, New Hampshire, whose advertising and branding appear on the cardboard folio into which the map folds. The folio advertises Spaulding's business as not only as a furniture and carpet company, but also curiously as 'Funeral Directors and Embalmers.. We are aware of another variant issued for Harper and Googin of Lewiston, Maine, importers of Asian hardwoods from the Philippines.