The fire insurance maps of Taiwan and Sakhalin owned by the Chiyoda City's Hibiya Library & Museum

Abstract

Large-scale city maps are very useful for our deep understanding of the urban history for various cities and areas. The existence of the fire insurance map, which are one of the large-scale maps, for the area under the Japanese administration before World War II had not been previously confirmed. However, the fire insurance maps for Taiwan and Karafuto (Sakhalin) before World War II were newly discovered at the Chiyoda City's Hibiya Library & Museum. Over 380 of these fire insurance maps for Taiwan and Karafuto (Sakhalin) were scanned and digitalized. These maps were compared with various other similar maps: topographic maps, commercial and industrial guide maps, city planning maps, residential maps, bird eye city maps etc., in order to identify their characteristics. In addition, the usefulness of these fire insurance maps for Taiwan and Karafuto (Sakhalin) was examined. These fire insurance maps are the most accurate and the most large-scale. Moreover, these maps also contribute more useful information.