1886 Direccion de Hidrografia Nautical Map of the Basilan Strait, Philippines

A rare 1886 nautical map of the Basilan Strait, Sulu Sea, Mindanano, Philippines. The strait was (and remains) a critical passage through the Sulu Archipelago and major access point to the Moro Gulf, southern Mindanano, and the trans-Pacific passage.

A Closer Look

Coverage embraces the southern tip of Mindanao, known as the Zamboanga Peninsula, the northern tip of the island of Basilan, and the strait between, being the most viable deep-water pirate-safe channel between the Sulu Sea and the Moro Gulf. The chart is the result of fresh surveys by Spanish hydrographers Rafael Cabezas and José Gómez Ímaz, conducted as Zamboanga became a staging point for Spanish Campaigns ageist the Moro. Soundings are particularly dense around the Spanish forts at Zamboanga and Isabela.

The Moro Wars

This map was issued against the backdrop of the 1886-87 Moro Wars campaigns against the Rio Grande Moros. The Basilan Strait was uniquely and strategically located at the crossroads of three empires, the Spanish to the north, the Moros Sultanates of Sulu to the South and Maguidanano to the east. The Spanish were at war with both, mostly due to their Muslim faith and dogged resistance to Catholic conversion. Control of the strait, which represented the most viable naval passage between the Sulu Sea and the Moro Gulf, was fortified on both size by the Spanish, on Mindanao in Zamboanga, and in Basilan at Fort Isabela. Zamboanga was a critical Spanish staging point for troops headed both east against the Maguidanano and south against the Sulu. Ultimately the Spanish never fully suppressed the Moros. The Spanish-Moro conflict (La Guerra Español y Moro) persisted for some 330 years, only coming to an end when the American takeover at the end the Spanish-American War (April 21 - August 13, 1898). Later, the Americans had their own war with the Moros (1899 - 1913).

Publication History and Census

This chart was published by the Direccion de Hidrografia, in Madrid, in 1887. The chart was engraved by Estaban Perez y Martínez, with Salvador Bregante y Martínez engraving the text. There are earlier charts of the same title, but this chart is the result of We see examples at the Biblioteca Nacional de Españ, Biblioteca Virtual del Ministerio de Defensa. Rare.