Philippines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Philippines (/ˈfɪləpiːnz/ ( listen) FIL-ə-peenz; Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs] or Filipinas [ˌfɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially

the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas),[a] is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Situated in

the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands [20] that are categorized broadly under three main geographical

divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most

populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila.[21] Bounded by the South China Sea on the west, the Philippine

Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea on the southwest, the Philippines shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the

north, Japan to the northeast, Vietnam to the west, Palau to the east, and Malaysia and Indonesia to the south.

The Philippines' location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and close to the equator makes the Philippines prone to earthquakes

and typhoons, but also endows it with abundant natural resources and some of the world's greatest biodiversity. The

Philippines is the world's 5th largest island country with an area of 300,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi).[22][4][5] As of 2015, had a

population of at least 100 million.[7] As of January 2018, it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most

populated country in the world. Approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas,[23] comprising one of the world's

largest diasporas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritoswere some

of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples.[24]Exchanges

with Malay, Indian, Arab and Chinese nations occurred. Then, various competing maritime states were established under the

rule of datus, rajahs, sultans and lakans.

The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for the Spanish, in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in

1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the

archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in

1565, the first Hispanic settlement in the archipelago was established. [25] The Philippines became part of the Spanish

Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Catholicism becoming the dominant religion. During this time, Manila

became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons.[26]

As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, the Philippine Revolution quickly followed, which then spawned the short-

lived First Philippine Republic, followed by the bloody Philippine–American War.[27] The war, as well as the ensuing cholera

epidemic, resulted in the deaths of thousands of combatants as well as tens of thousands of civilians. [28][29][30][31] Aside from

the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, when the

Philippines was recognized as an independent nation. Since then, the unitary sovereign state has often had a tumultuous

experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution.[32]

The Philippines is a founding member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian

Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and the East Asia Summit. It also hosts the headquarters of

the Asian Development Bank.[33] The Philippines is considered to be an emerging market and a newly industrialized country,
[34]
which has an economy transitioning from being based on agriculture to one based more on services and manufacturing.
[35]
Along with East Timor, the Philippines is one of Southeast Asia's predominantly Christian nations