1943 Japanese Coprosperity Map of Luzon, the Philippines

An important and rare World War II (WWII) 1943 Showa 18 Japanese Map of the Philippines. The map covers the northern Philippine Island of Luzon. Oceanic depths are illustrated with blue shading. Air and sea routes are identified with distances noted.

The capture and control of the Philippines was vital to the success of Japanese plan to dominate the Pacific. Not only was the archipelago rich in natural resources, including rubber, oil, mineral resources, and wood, it was also centrally located and well positioned for expansion into the West Indies. Moreover, wresting control of the Philippines from the United States would have effectively undermined the American ability to wage war in the region. The Japanese, like the Spanish before them, quickly discovered that the hundreds of islands and limited infrastructure made the Philippines almost impossible to fully control. Nonetheless, the importance of the Philippines in the Japanese plan is evident in the fact that map is no. 3 in the series, following only the general map of the Co-Prosperity Sphere and East Indian Archipelago map.

This is one of less common maps from the 20-map series Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere which was issued a between 1942 and 1944. There are variations in the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity series and this map is not present in all versions of the set. In fact, we have not encountered in previously, leading us to believe it had a short publication run and was quickly replaced by the general Philippine map. The Co-Prosperity Sphere map series as published by the Japan Publishing and Distribution Company, Ltd. (日本出版配給株式會社).