First issued in 1853. At the time this large and detailed chart was created Spain still controlled the Philippines (1565–1898) (mostly), and their cartographers were amongst the first to delineate the more than seven thousand of islands in the archipelago. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) had established a line of demarcation at 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, carving the world in two between Spain and Portugal, pole to pole. Spain had gained everything to the west, which was most of the Americas, except for the Brazilian bulge of South America; and Portugal, could claim lands to the east, including Africa… BUT,… where should the territories meet on the other side of the earth?

Charles V of Spain had a good idea: he married Isabella of Portugal in 1526, and signed a new treaty with Portugal, creating an antimerdianal line, in Zaragoza in 1529. Portugal "paid Spain 350,000 ducats for the Moluccas, and, to prevent further Spanish encroachment, the new line of demarcation was established almost three hundred leagues (or 17°) to the east of these islands. Portugal got control of all of the lands to the west of the line, including Asia, and Spain received most of the Pacific Ocean. Spain's argument that the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the world into two equal hemispheres was not recognized in the Treaty of Saragossa: Portugal's share was approximately 191°, whereas Spain's was roughly 169°, with a variation of about ±4° owing to the uncertainty of the location of the Tordesillas line. Spanish interest in the Philippines, shown by the new treaty to be on the Portugal side of the line, would become an issue in the later decades of the sixteenth century" (Princeton University online).

In 1898, the Spanish–American War began in earnest, and the conflict extended to include the Philippines. Independence from Spain was declared in June of 1898, and in December, the islands were ceded to the United States, with Puerto Rico and Guam. The First Philippine Republic was instigated in January of 1899.

Captain Claudio Montero y Gay (died 1885), was a celebrated Spanish explorer, producing very detailed charts of the Philippine Islands bfor the Dirección de Hidrografía between 1854 and 1883. They were held in high enough esteem that both the British Admiralty and the Hydrographic Office of the United States Navy often republished them.