The Zapote Line was a defensive system built during the period of

Spanish occupation of the Philippines Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. It was a complex of

blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...

s and military trenches from

Fort San Antonio Abad Fort San Antonio Abad ( es, Fuerte de San Antonio Abad), also known as Fort Malate or Fort San Antonio, is a fortification located in the Malate district of Manila, Philippines, completed in 1584 during the Spanish colonial period. History Na ...

to the Zapote River. Its loss to Filipino revolutionaries by the Spanish in May/June 1898 was a critical development in the Philippine Revolution after it was rekindled by the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

. Following this loss, it was an easy matter for insurgent forces to isolate the province of

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

(formerly known as Tondo until 1859) from

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest ...

and other provinces to the South while American naval forces blockaded

Manila Bay Manila Bay ( fil, Look ng Maynila) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Phili ...

References

History of the Philippines (1565–1898) History of Manila {{Philippines-stub