1941 Miyahara Natural Resource Map of Thailand During World War II

This is a bilingual English and Japanese 1941 Takeo Miyahara map of Thailand marking all Thai natural resources. The map depicts the region from Rangoon to Hainan and from Yunnan Province in China to Malaysia. Highly detailed, the character for each resource identifies the location of all the different natural resources, including coffee, rubber, coconut, and sugar cane. Since Thailand elected to sign an alliance with Imperial Japan in December 1941, part of their agreement with Japan was to provide resources. The aforementioned resources were vital to maintaining the Japanese war effort, as foodstuffs were always in high demand and Japan had not natural source of rubber in the home islands, so it was critical that they secure a means of procuring rubber for the manufacture of new tires and other war products. It is important to note, however, that the third column in the key situated in the lower right corner also lists several minerals that were indispensable to a modern military. These include antimony (used in flame retardants) and tungsten and molybdenum (used in many different processes but is incredibly important in the manufacture of steel).

Myriad cities, towns, and villages are labeled throughout in both Japanese and English. Provinces are also illustrated and labeled, though it is not always easy to identify exactly where the borders are. Roads, railroads, and sea and air routes are also present, with most of the sea routes stating the destination. The illustration of the road and rail network is not confined to Thailand, but instead stretches over all of Southeast Asia and into China.

This map was created by Takeo Miyahara and published by the Japan Control Map Company in March 1941. This is the second edition of this map; the first edition was published in November 1937.