Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was all but flattened at the end of the Second World War. The war’s conclusion saw independence granted, following a history of occupation by Spain, the USA and Japan. Most of these images, which were drawn from the archives of the Royal Geographical Society, show life in the city as it was around the turn of the 20th century, when native uprisings, combined with the Spanish–American War of 1898, forced Spain to release its 300-year grip on the nation



November 2008