Far East (Industrial)

Southeast Asia shortly after the end of World War I.

This color lithographed map covers a broad territory across Southeast Asia; including China, Japan, French Indochina, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. The emphasis is on the products and transportation systems that defined modern capitalist democracies of the 20th century, though the tone is almost oblivious to the impending nationalist movements that would swell across the region in subsequent decades.

Railways, steamship routes, wireless stations, and consul locations are identified according to the legend in the upper right while the various industrial and agricultural products are labeled throughout the image. The upper left contains an inset map of Manila and the surrounding suburbs, then under American control.

An interesting and obvious representation of Western Imperial policies in the interwar years. The map was designed by J.T. Rapkin and published as part of Harmsworth’s New Atlas of the World around 1925.