The Philippines constitutes an archipelago of 7,107 islands with a total land area of approximately 300,000 square kilometers (116,000 sq mi). It generally lies between 116° 40′ and 126° 34′ E. longitude, and 4° 40′ and 21° 10′ N.

latitude, and borders the Philippine Sea on the east, the South China Sea on the west, and the Celebes Sea on the south. The island of Borneo lies a few hundred kilometers southwest and Taiwan directly north. The Moluccas and Sulawesi are to the south/southwest, and Palau is to the east beyond the Philippine Sea.

The name Philippines and its Spanish counterpart, Filipinas, are derived from the name of Phillip II, the King of Spain in the late 16th century. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos used the name Las Islas Filipinas in honor of the then-Crown Prince during his expedition to the Philippines, originally referring to the islands of Leyte and Samar. Despite the presence of other names, the name Filipinas was eventually adopted as the name of the entire archipelago.

Generally, the best time to travel is in the typhoon off-season from December to the middle of May. In the Christmas and Easter breaks, however, everyone is travelling and you’ll have trouble getting a seat on any form of transport or accommodation for that matter. Holy Week (around Easter) presents similar problems.

The most colourful and lovely festivals fall between January and May, the rice terraces of Luzon look best in March and April, and the best time for island-hopping is between October and March.

The City of Manila (Filipino: Lungsod ng Maynila or Siyudad ng Maynila), or simply Manila, is the capital of the Philippines and one of the cities that make up the greater metropolitan area of Metro Manila. Manila is the center of government in the country and one of the central hubs of a thriving metropolitan area home to over 14 million people.^[1] It is located on the shores of Manila Bay just west of the geographical center of Metro Manila, also known as the National Capital Region (NCR), which lies on an isthmus between Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay in southern Luzon. The city is one of 17 cities and municipalities which form the metropolitan area.

Manila is the second most populous city proper in the Philippines, with more than 1.6 million inhabitants. Only nearby Quezon City, the country’s former capital, is more populous. The metropolitan area is the second most populous in Southeast Asia.^{[citation needed]} Manila is currently included in the roster of global cities of the world.

Well into the 13th century, the city consisted of a fortified settlement and trading quarter at the bay of the Pasig River, on top of previous older towns. The official name of the city under its Malay aristocracy was Seludong/Selurung, which was the same name given for the general region of southwestern Luzon at that time, suggesting that it was the capital of this territory. However, the city became well-known by the local name given to the city by its Tagalog inhabitants: Maynilad. The name is from the phrase may nilad, Tagalog for “there is nilad,” in reference to the flowering mangrove plant that grew on the marshy shores of the bay, used to produce soap for regional trade. It is from the name Maynilad that the city of Manila derives its modern name.

Manila became the seat of the colonial government of Spain when it controlled the Philippine Islands for over three centuries from 1565 to 1898. Beginning in 1898, the United States occupied and controlled the city and the Philippine archipelago until 1946. During World War II, much of the city was destroyed. The Metropolitan Manila region was enacted as an independent entity in 1975.

Manila has been classified as a “Gamma” global city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network.

The Philippines (Filipino: Pilipinas), officially the Republic of the Philippines (Republika ng Pilipinas; RP), is an archipelagic nation located in Southeast Asia, with Manila as its capital city. The Philippine archipelago comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, bordering countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau and the Republic of China, although it is the only Southeast Asian country to share no land borders with its neighbors. The Philippines is the world’s 12th most populous country with a population approaching 90 million people.^[3][5] Its national economy is the 47th largest in the world with a 2006 gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$117.562 billion.^[5] There are more than 11 million overseas Filipinos worldwide, about 11% of the total population of the Philippines.

The Philippines was formerly a Spanish then an American colony. The Philippine Revolution was an attempt to gain independence from Spain, and later from the U.S. in the Philippine-American War. The Philippines ultimately gained its independence from the United States on July 4, 1946 after the Pacific War (the Second World War) via the Treaty of Manila. The Philippines then became a fledgling democracy until the authoritarian rule of Ferdinand Marcos led to his overthrow in the People Power Revolution of 1986. Political upheavals alternated with peaceful transition of power on the period that followed.^[2]

Today, the Philippines has many affinities with the Western world, derived mainly from the cultures of Spain, Latin America, and the United States. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, although pre-Hispanic indigenous religious practices still exist. There are also followers of Islam.^[7] Spanish was an official language of the Philippines until 1973. Today the two official languages are Filipino and English.