Rare Old Map of Spanish-American War, West Indies by Goff, 1899: Cuba & Puerto Rico; Santiago, Havana insets; blockades
Restored in our London workshop from the original 1899 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.
Restored in London • Printed and framed in the EU
Restored from the original 1899 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
Choose your size
Choose your finish
(More info)
Gift message & custom finish
If you want to add a gift message, or a finish (jigsaw, aluminium board, etc.) that is not available here, please request it in the "order note" when you check out.
Every order is custom made, so if you need the size adjusted slightly, or printed on an unusual material, just let us know. We've done thousands of custom orders over the years, so there's (almost) nothing we can't manage.
You can also contact us before you order, if you prefer!
Own a piece of history
8,000+ five-star reviews
Goff's Historical Map of the Spanish-American War in the West Indies, 1898 distills a climactic year into a vivid, instructive tableau. Created...
Continue readingGoff's Historical Map of the Spanish-American War in the West Indies, 1898 distills a climactic year into a vivid, instructive tableau. Created by Eugenia Wheeler Goff and Henry Slade Goff—pioneers of accessible educational cartography—and published by The Fort Dearborn Publishing Co. in Chicago in 1899, it captures the swift sequence of operations that collapsed Spain’s Caribbean empire and redefined American power. Colorful and meticulously annotated, the map orients the viewer to the theaters that mattered most: Cuba and Puerto Rico, with the surrounding seas and straits shown as strategic corridors rather than mere backdrop. The result is both an historical summation and a tool of comprehension, turning headlines into legible geography.
The war’s decisive Caribbean campaigns are rendered with uncommon clarity. Cuba dominates the composition, its coast punctuated by labels for fortified ports, naval stations, and contested waters that propelled the U.S. invasion to victory. Puerto Rico appears not as a peripheral scene but as a concurrent, coordinated objective, linked by maritime routes across the Bahamas channel and the wider Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Annotations flag key battles and operational zones—most memorably at Santiago de Cuba—so that the viewer can trace the interplay of fleets, blockades, and landings that culminated in the Treaty of Paris and the sharp pivot in U.S. foreign policy.
A trio of insets—Santiago Campaign, San Juan Island, and Havana City and Harbor—function like magnifying lenses for the conflict’s most intricate episodes. The Santiago panel dwells on the naval chokepoints and approaches whose control determined the fate of Spain’s Caribbean squadron. The San Juan Island inset focuses attention on Puerto Rico’s principal theater, clarifying the island’s coastal access and defensive posture within the broader campaign. The Havana plan penetrates the metropolis and its harbor, where coastal batteries, channels, and urban adjacency reveal the strategic calculus of both fleets. Together, these windows supply operational granularity without sacrificing the narrative sweep of the main sheet.
Goff and Goff employ a rich, didactic palette that rewards close reading. Color fields differentiate jurisdictions and strategic zones, while crisp coastal delineations, island arcs, and labeled capes anchor the viewer amid the sweep of open water. Decorative cartouches frame the title with nineteenth-century flourish, yet the design remains purposeful: legible type, disciplined symbology, and clear hierarchies of information lead the eye from theater overview to tactical detail. The overall composition balances beauty and intent, marrying period aesthetics to a modern sense of clarity—an exemplar of the era’s faith that maps could teach not merely where events happened, but why they unfolded as they did.
Historically, the sheet marks a threshold: the dissolution of Spain’s Caribbean rule and the emergence of the United States as an imperial power. Notes referencing Puerto Rico, Cuba, and—at the map’s periphery—the Philippines and Guam, place the West Indies within a global realignment confirmed by the Treaty of Paris. Published in 1899, it carries the immediacy of fresh memory and the authority of synthesis. For collectors and historians alike, the map preserves the war’s geography in a single, coherent frame—an educational artifact elevated by artistry, and a work of cartographic narrative that links classrooms to command decisions across the Caribbean world.
Countries and regions on this map
- Cuba
- Puerto Rico
- Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic)
- Jamaica
- Bahamas
- Guam
- Philippines
- Caribbean Sea
- Gulf of Mexico
Notable Features & Landmarks
- Insets: Detailed insets of Santiago Campaign, San Juan Island, and Havana City and Harbor
- Geographical features: Large portions of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico are depicted, including notable islands and coastal regions
- Military details: Locations of fortifications, naval bases, and battles such as Santiago de Cuba
- Annotations: Historical notes and titles for various campaigns and locations, enhancing educational value
- Cartouches: Decorative elements framing the map title that add to its historical aesthetic
Historical and design context
- Themes: Key locations and events of the Spanish-American War in the Caribbean, emphasizing military engagements and territorial changes
- Key Events: U.S. invasion of Cuba; naval Battle of Santiago de Cuba; Treaty of Paris
- Design/Style: Detailed, colorful cartography highlighting significant battles, locations, and strategic points
- Historical Significance: Shows the transition from Spanish to American control in the Caribbean and the U.S. emergence as an imperial power
- Publisher: The Fort Dearborn Publishing Co., Chicago, 1899
- Creators: Eugenia Wheeler Goff and Henry Slade Goff, known for educational maps for schools and families
- Map Name: Goff's Historical Map of the Spanish-American War in the West Indies, 1898
Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.
This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.
This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 70in (180cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.
The model in the listing images is holding the 18x24in (45x60cm) version of this map.
The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.
If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.
Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.
This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.
This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.
This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.
For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.
Goff's Historical Map of the Spanish-American War in the West Indies, 1898 distills a climactic year into a vivid, instructive tableau. Created by Eugenia Wheeler Goff and Henry Slade Goff—pioneers of accessible educational cartography—and published by The Fort Dearborn Publishing Co. in Chicago in 1899, it captures the swift sequence of operations that collapsed Spain’s Caribbean empire and redefined American power. Colorful and meticulously annotated, the map orients the viewer to the theaters that mattered most: Cuba and Puerto Rico, with the surrounding seas and straits shown as strategic corridors rather than mere backdrop. The result is both an historical summation and a tool of comprehension, turning headlines into legible geography.
The war’s decisive Caribbean campaigns are rendered with uncommon clarity. Cuba dominates the composition, its coast punctuated by labels for fortified ports, naval stations, and contested waters that propelled the U.S. invasion to victory. Puerto Rico appears not as a peripheral scene but as a concurrent, coordinated objective, linked by maritime routes across the Bahamas channel and the wider Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Annotations flag key battles and operational zones—most memorably at Santiago de Cuba—so that the viewer can trace the interplay of fleets, blockades, and landings that culminated in the Treaty of Paris and the sharp pivot in U.S. foreign policy.
A trio of insets—Santiago Campaign, San Juan Island, and Havana City and Harbor—function like magnifying lenses for the conflict’s most intricate episodes. The Santiago panel dwells on the naval chokepoints and approaches whose control determined the fate of Spain’s Caribbean squadron. The San Juan Island inset focuses attention on Puerto Rico’s principal theater, clarifying the island’s coastal access and defensive posture within the broader campaign. The Havana plan penetrates the metropolis and its harbor, where coastal batteries, channels, and urban adjacency reveal the strategic calculus of both fleets. Together, these windows supply operational granularity without sacrificing the narrative sweep of the main sheet.
Goff and Goff employ a rich, didactic palette that rewards close reading. Color fields differentiate jurisdictions and strategic zones, while crisp coastal delineations, island arcs, and labeled capes anchor the viewer amid the sweep of open water. Decorative cartouches frame the title with nineteenth-century flourish, yet the design remains purposeful: legible type, disciplined symbology, and clear hierarchies of information lead the eye from theater overview to tactical detail. The overall composition balances beauty and intent, marrying period aesthetics to a modern sense of clarity—an exemplar of the era’s faith that maps could teach not merely where events happened, but why they unfolded as they did.
Historically, the sheet marks a threshold: the dissolution of Spain’s Caribbean rule and the emergence of the United States as an imperial power. Notes referencing Puerto Rico, Cuba, and—at the map’s periphery—the Philippines and Guam, place the West Indies within a global realignment confirmed by the Treaty of Paris. Published in 1899, it carries the immediacy of fresh memory and the authority of synthesis. For collectors and historians alike, the map preserves the war’s geography in a single, coherent frame—an educational artifact elevated by artistry, and a work of cartographic narrative that links classrooms to command decisions across the Caribbean world.
Countries and regions on this map
- Cuba
- Puerto Rico
- Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic)
- Jamaica
- Bahamas
- Guam
- Philippines
- Caribbean Sea
- Gulf of Mexico
Notable Features & Landmarks
- Insets: Detailed insets of Santiago Campaign, San Juan Island, and Havana City and Harbor
- Geographical features: Large portions of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico are depicted, including notable islands and coastal regions
- Military details: Locations of fortifications, naval bases, and battles such as Santiago de Cuba
- Annotations: Historical notes and titles for various campaigns and locations, enhancing educational value
- Cartouches: Decorative elements framing the map title that add to its historical aesthetic
Historical and design context
- Themes: Key locations and events of the Spanish-American War in the Caribbean, emphasizing military engagements and territorial changes
- Key Events: U.S. invasion of Cuba; naval Battle of Santiago de Cuba; Treaty of Paris
- Design/Style: Detailed, colorful cartography highlighting significant battles, locations, and strategic points
- Historical Significance: Shows the transition from Spanish to American control in the Caribbean and the U.S. emergence as an imperial power
- Publisher: The Fort Dearborn Publishing Co., Chicago, 1899
- Creators: Eugenia Wheeler Goff and Henry Slade Goff, known for educational maps for schools and families
- Map Name: Goff's Historical Map of the Spanish-American War in the West Indies, 1898
Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.
This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.
This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 70in (180cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.
The model in the listing images is holding the 18x24in (45x60cm) version of this map.
The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.
If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.
Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.
This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.
This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.
This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.
For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.
Many of our maps and art prints are chosen as thoughtful gifts for homes, offices, studies and meaningful places.
Choose a framed option for the easiest ready-to-hang gift, or choose an unframed print if the recipient may prefer to select their own frame.
We make orders locally in 23 countries around the world, so gifts can often be produced close to the recipient. This helps them arrive faster, travel more safely, and avoid customs or import duty surprises.
- We can deliver directly to the recipient
- Framed pieces arrive ready to hang
- Unframed prints are carefully packed in a strong protective tube
- Almost every order is made locally, for faster, safer gifting
- 90-day returns give the recipient time to decide
If you are not sure what to choose, please contact us. We can help you pick the right map, size, finish or delivery option.
Most orders are made locally and delivered in around 2–3 working days, depending on the product, size and destination.
We print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world, so your order is usually made close to you or your recipient. That means faster delivery, less time in transit, and no customs or import duty surprises.
Personalised and customised pieces usually take an extra 1–2 working days, because we prepare your design and send it to you for approval before printing.
Very large framed orders can take a little longer, as they need extra care in production and delivery.
Every order is carefully packaged: unframed prints are sent in a strong protective tube, while framed pieces are securely packed with protective materials around the frame.
If you need your order by a particular date, please contact us before ordering. We’ll check the best production route and delivery option for your location.
Express delivery is available at checkout for most countries. Next-day delivery is available in the UK, US, Singapore and the UAE.
Your order is covered by our 90-day returns policy and 10-year guarantee.
Our standard frame is a gallery-style black ash hardwood frame, with a simple, modern look. It is approximately 20mm (0.8in) wide. You can also view some lovely customer photos of framed maps and art.
We use super-clear acrylic glazing, also known as Perspex or Acrylite, instead of traditional glass. It is lighter, safer, and has lower reflectivity, giving the artwork a clearer, cleaner appearance.
Six standard frame colours are available at no extra cost: black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white, and antique gold. Custom framing and mounting/matting is also available for customers looking for something more specific.
Most maps, art prints, and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced wooden box frame, and then float the piece within a wooden outer frame. The finished result is beautifully presented, with no glazing between you and the artwork.
All frames are supplied ready to hang, with either string or brackets fitted to the back. Very large frames will include heavy-duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag, and other materials.
If you would prefer to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read our size guide before ordering.
Every Unique Maps piece begins with an authentic cartographic source or an original design from our London studio.
For our historic maps, we source rare originals from libraries, archives, auction houses and private collections around the world. We carefully restore each map for print—repairing age-related damage, balancing colour and improving clarity while preserving its original detail, texture and character.
Once restored, the map is prepared for your chosen size and finish. Your piece is then printed and, where selected, framed close to its delivery destination.
Our map prints use acid-free 200gsm archival matte paper and fade-resistant pigment inks, creating a rich, non-glossy finish designed to last. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
Canvas, cotton-rag and other specialist presentations are also available. Learn more about our materials and finishes.
Personalising your map
You can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. For personalised designs, we send a proof before printing and you can request changes before approval.
For more complex bespoke commissions, contact our design team.
Original or Aged
Choose Original for true-to-source colour, or Aged for a warmer, richer antique character created with our specialist ageing process. See examples of our Aged maps.
If you are not happy with your order for any reason, contact me and I'll get it fixed ASAP, free of charge. Please see my returns and refund policy for more information.
I am very confident you will like your restored map or art print. I have been doing this since 1984. I'm a 5-star Etsy seller. I have sold tens of thousands of maps and art prints and have over 5,000 real 5-star reviews. My work has been featured in interior design magazines, on the BBC, and on the walls of dozens of 5-star hotels.
I use a unique process to restore maps and artwork that is massively time consuming and labour intensive. Hunting down the original maps and illustrations can take months. I use state of the art and eye-wateringly expensive technology to scan and restore them. As a result, I guarantee my maps and art prints are a cut above the rest. I stand by my products and will always make sure you're 100% happy with what you receive.
Almost all of my maps and art prints look amazing at large sizes (200cm, 6.5ft+) and I can frame and deliver them to you as well, via special oversized courier. Contact me to discuss your specific needs.
Or try searching for something!
