1900 Otis Map of Southern Luzon, the Philippines - Philippine-American War

This is a scare map of Central Luzon, the Philippines, issued at the height of the Philippine-American War (1899 - 1902) by the Military Governor in the Philippines, Major General Elwell Stephen Otis, and the 8th Army Engineering Corps. It ranks among the most detailed cartographic productions from the Philippine-American War.

A Closer Look

Although titled 'Southern Luzon,' this map, in fact, covers Central Luzon, specifically the lands including and just south of Manila, surrounding the Laguna de Bay, as far as the Quezon Isthmus and Isla Verde. During the early stages of the Philippine-American War, this area was primarily controlled by Philippine forces and was the most active theater, as the large number of noted engagements testifies. The map offers detailed topography via shading and identifies roadways, towns, cities, political boundaries, telegraph lines, and more.

The Philippine-American War

By the early 19th century, the Spanish colonial system that functioned for three centuries in the Philippines began to break down, and the Spanish employed increasingly harsh methods to suppress independence. These developments intersected with the 1898 Spanish-American War, when Americans backed the Emilio Aguinaldo (1869 - 1964) independence faction. After the Spanish-American War, the Philippines were ceded to the U.S., and American troops occupied Manila. As the U.S. debated what exactly they wanted to do with the Philippines, tensions grew between American forces and the indigenous revolutionaries, who were unhappy to have been passed from one colonizer to another. Conflict broke out in February 1899, with Emilio Aguinaldo leading the revolutionaries against his former backers. Aguinaldo's strongest base of support was on Luzon. In the first phase of the conflict (1899), he attempted pitched battles against American troops, which ended badly for the independence fighters. Afterward, Aguinaldo reluctantly switched to guerilla war tactics, which found some success, especially in parts of the archipelago far from Manila, but resulted in harsh reprisals by American troops on the civilian population.

The Philippine-American War lasted for over three years until most of the rebels were captured or suppressed, though some continued to fight for another decade. Meanwhile, as a gesture towards independence, the Philippine Organic Act established the Second Philippine Commission and Philippine legislature in July 1902, the first step in a long process towards limited autonomy and finally complete independence in 1946.

Estimates of Filipino civilian casualties vary wildly, from at least 200,000 to over one million, the majority of which were caused by famine and disease. The war was notable for multiple instances of well-documented atrocities, including scorched earth tactics and civilian internment in concentration camps. One American general became notorious for his order to 'kill everyone over the age of ten.' These actions led to considerable debate and discomfort in the United States. General Otis, the military governor named here who was in that office until May 1900, was savaged in the American press by anti-imperialists who had received letters from troops documenting atrocities. Otis tried to suppress these stories without success and was forced to grudgingly admit that some atrocities had likely taken place. He was also blamed in retrospect for rejecting a peace offer from Aguinaldo in the aftermath of the Battle of Manila in 1899, which might have averted the more intense and violent second phase of the war. Otis ended his stint in the Philippines, unpopular with both his troops and the American public.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by William L. Sibert under the direction of Major General E. S. Otis. It was printed by A. B. Graham Photo Lithography of Washington D. C. Four examples are cataloged in OCLC and are part of the institutional collections at Michigan State University, the University of Chicago, the University of California Davis, and the University of Southern Maine.