The Philippines

officially REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

Filipino REPUBLIKA ÑG PILIPINAS,

The Philippines is a country in Southeast Asia. It is an archipelago consisting of some 7,100 islands and islets lying about 500 miles off the coast. The total land area of the Philippines is 115,800 square miles (300,000 square kilometers). It is bounded by the Philippine Sea to the east, the Celebes Sea to the south, and the South China Sea to the west and north.

The Philippines takes its name from Philip II, who was king of Spain during the Spanish colonization of the islands in the 16th century. Manila is the biggest city and the national capital. It is located on Luzon, the largest island, which has a land area of 40,420 square miles. Mindanao, at 36,537 square miles the second largest island, lies in the south.

The archipelago spreads out in the form of a triangle, with the islands south of Palawan, the Sulu Archipelago, and the island of Mindanao forming (west-east) its southern base and the Batan Islands, in the north, its apex. The islands stretch for about 1,150 miles (1,850 kilometers) from north to south and for about 700 miles from east to west at their widest extent. 

Only about two-fifths of the islands and islets have names, and only some 350 have areas of one square mile or more. The large islands fall into three groups: (1) the Luzon group in the north and west, consisting of Luzon, Mindoro, and Palawan; (2) the Visayan group in the center, consisting of Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, Masbate, Negros, Panay, and Samar; and (3) Mindanao in the south.

Because it was under Spanish rule for 333 years and under U.S. tutelage for a further 48 years, the Philippines has many cultural affinities with the West. It is, for example, the fourth most populous country in which English is an official language and the only predominantly Roman Catholic country in Southeast Asia.

Its peoples, however, are Asian in consciousness and in aspiration. In many ways Filipino society is composed of paradoxes, perhaps the most apparent being the great extremes of wealth and poverty in the nation. The Philippines is a country of rich resources, but it is in the process of developing its full potentialities. It is primarily agricultural, although a high degree of domestic and foreign investment has spurred the rapid development of its industrial potential. Educationally, it is among the most advanced of Asian countries, having a high literacy rate.