1942 Mamiya Map of Latin American Natural Resources, World War II

A 1942 Japanese-language map of Latin America focusing on natural resources, edited and published by Mamiya Naoka for the Latin America Central Association. Produced in the context of war against the United States, the map reflects the growing ambitions of Japanese militarism in the heady early days of the Pacific War.

A Closer Look

Covering the entire region from Mexico through Argentina and Chile, the map displays countries, major cities, railways, aviation routes (in red), maritime routes (in blue), and waterways. Circles refer to a range of commodities and products produced in the region, including coal, cotton, sugar, petroleum, tobacco, and silver, with percentages and raw values (in tons) given for their exports to South America versus the rest of the world. A table at bottom-left provides similar information broken down by country, with a focus on large economies like Argentina and Mexico. Within the context of the Pacific War, this information would be useful for Japan's military, particularly given the strong economic and military ties of the U.S. in the region.

The Latin America Central Association (ラテンアメリカ中央會)

Following a typical model of the vast array of associations created during Japan's military expansion of the 1930s and early 1940s, the Latin America Central Association (ラテンアメリカ中央會) was a seemingly innocuous association of scholars, economists, businesspeople, and representatives from society with a special interest in the region. The association published information about Latin America in the hopes that Japan would be able to have greater influence there, with South America's notable Japanese diaspora community no doubt playing a leading role. However, this organization and others like it acted as a de facto intelligence arm of the Japanese military during the Second World War, especially during the early days of success against the United States and its allies in the early part of the Pacific War. After the war, the association was reconstituted on less imperialist grounds, but continued to function as a center for research on the region, which could be useful for economic or diplomatic purposes. It appears that in 1958 or soon afterwards, the organization changed its name to the Latin America Association (ラテンアメリカ協会) and continued to publish journals and books until 1999.

Publication History and Census

This map was edited and published by Mamiya Naoka (間宮直香) as an appendix to the February 1942 issue of Research on Latin America (ラテンアメリカ研究), a periodical published by the Latin America Central Association (ラテンアメリカ中央會). This particular issue of the journal focused on natural resources in the region. Little is known about Mamiya aside from his work on this periodical; he may or may not be the same as a linguist and anthropologist active in Indonesia in the 1950s. In any event, the current map is not noted among the collections of any institution, while the specific issue of the journal is held by the Library of Congress and several institutions in Japan. The University of Washington and University of Chicago hold issues of Research on Latin America, but it is unclear from catalog listings if their collections include the issue containing the present map.