Maps, Rizal and the Emergence of the Philippine Nation

The Philippines is a young nation with an old history. It has a long and complicated narrative that can be read, partly, through maps and cartography starting from the 16th century. The National Hero during his research in the British Library consulted old maps and from this knowledge built and designed a relief map of Mindanao in Dapitan now declared an Important National Treasure. From early descriptions of land and sea to Waze and Google Earth the geographic shape of the Philippines was formed and with it the idea and emergence of nation.

Ambeth R Ocampo is Associate Professor and former Chair at the Department of History, Ateneo de Manila, University. His research covers the late 19th C Philippines - its art, culture, and the heroes who figure in the birth of the Nation. He has published over 30 books, writes an editorial page column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and moderates a growing Facebook Public Pages.

This event is sponsored by Philippine Studies at SOAS with Sentro Rizal Manila, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and Sentro Rizal, London.