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The Philippines , officially the Republic of the Philippines , is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia . In the western Pacific Ocean , it consists of 7,641 islands , with a total area of 300,000 square kilometers, which are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon , Visayas , and Mindanao . The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the south. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest. It is the world's twelfth-most-populous country , with diverse ethnicities and cultures . Manila is the country's capital , and its most populated city is Quezon City . Both are within Metro Manila .
Negritos , the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, were followed by waves of Austronesian peoples . The adoption of animism , Hinduism with Buddhist influence, and Islam established island-kingdoms ruled by datus , rajas , and sultans . Extensive overseas trade with neighbors such as the late Tang or Song empire brought Chinese people to the archipelago as well, which would also gradually settle in and intermix over the centuries. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan , a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for Castile , marked the beginning of Spanish colonization . In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of King Philip II of Castile . Spanish colonization via New Spain , beginning in 1565, led to the Philippines becoming ruled by the Crown of Castile, as part of the Spanish Empire , for more than 300 years. Catholic Christianity became the dominant religion, and Manila became the western hub of trans-Pacific trade . Hispanic immigrants from Latin America and Iberia would also selectively colonize. The Philippine Revolution began in 1896, and became entwined with the 1898 Spanish–American War . Spain ceded the territory to the United States, and Filipino revolutionaries declared the First Philippine Republic . The ensuing Philippine–American War ended with the United States controlling the territory until the Japanese invasion of the islands during World War II . After the United States retook the Philippines from the Japanese , the Philippines became independent in 1946. The country has had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a decades-long dictatorship in a nonviolent revolution .
The Philippines is an emerging market and a newly industrialized country , whose economy is transitioning from being agricultural to service- and manufacturing-centered. It is a founding member of the United Nations , the World Trade Organization , ASEAN , the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and the East Asia Summit ; it is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and a major non-NATO ally of the United States. Its location as an island country on the Pacific Ring of Fire and close to the equator makes it prone to earthquakes and typhoons . The Philippines has a variety of natural resources and a globally-significant level of biodiversity . (Full article... )
Major physiographic elements of the Philippine Mobile Belt
In the geology of the Philippines, the Philippine Mobile Belt is a complex portion of the tectonic boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate , comprising most of the country of the Philippines . It includes two subduction zones, the Manila Trench to the west and the Philippine Trench to the east, as well as the Philippine Fault System . Within the Belt, a number of crustal blocks or microplates which have been shorn off the adjoining major plates are undergoing massive deformation.
Most segments of the
Philippines , including northern
Luzon , are part of the Philippine Mobile Belt, which is bounded by the
Philippine Sea Plate to the east, the
Molucca Sea Collision Zone to the south,
Sunda Plate to the southwest, and the
South China Sea Basin to the west and north-west. To the north it ends in eastern
Taiwan , the zone of active collision between the
North Luzon Trough portion of the
Luzon Volcanic Arc and South China. The Philippine Mobile Belt has also been called the
Philippine Microplate and the
Taiwan–Luzon–Mindoro Belt . (
Full article... )
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The following are images from various Philippines-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Filipina in traditional attire (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 2 Old Senate Hall with
Estilo Tampinco style of carving and ornamentation (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 6 Manny Pacquiao , the only
8-division world boxing champion in history. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 9 Sungka , a traditional Filipino game. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 10 The
University of Santo Tomas , located in
Manila , was established in 1611. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 11 Mila del Sol starred in one of the earliest Filipino movies,
Giliw Ko (1939), along with
Fernando Poe Sr. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 14 The Kutkut art from Samar (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 15 Filipino traditional dance at a festival (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 17 A performer depicting a
babaylan (shaman) (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 18 Dominant ethnic groups by province. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 20 Pineapple fiber is used to create traditional Philippine garments. (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 25 Tortoise -shell and silver Salakot (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 26 An
Itneg shaman offering pigs to
anito spirits, 1922 (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 28 Bahay na bato , a traditional Filipino house (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 29 A grandmaster of
Arnis . (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 31 Carabao is a major symbol of Filipinos hard labor. And is known to be the "Filipino farmer's bestfriend". (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 35 Parol (Christmas lanterns) being sold during the Christmas season (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 36 Kalesa , a traditional Philippine urban transportation, in front of
Manila Cathedral entrance (from
Culture of the Philippines )
Image 37 Villa Escudero exhibit depicting 19th century Filipino family in traditional attire (from
Culture of the Philippines )
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