Introduction to the Republic of the Philippines

The Philippine archipelago is made up of more than 7,100 beautiful tropical islands. Located 560 miles off the southeast coast of China, they stretch north to south over 500,000 square miles of ocean, from Taiwan to Borneo. Even if you were to spend only one day on each island, you would need over 20 years to do it! Seven hundred of these islands are inhabited. The land area is 115,600 square miles, approximately the size of Arizona.

The Pacific Ocean lies to the east with the South China Sea to the west. There are three main land areas: Luzon island in the north (55% of the population, with the ever burgeoning metropolis of Manila – 15,000,000 plus); Mindanao to the south, known as the last frontier; and the Visayas in the center, a group of seven island of varying smaller sizes. These nine islands comprise some 90% of the landmass.

The Filipino people are of Malayan origin, enriched by centuries of contact with other nationalities including Chinese, Spanish and American. The Philippines presents a unique blend and meeting point of Eastern and Western cultures. To the casual visitor, all residents are one kind of people – Filipino – but the reality is that numerous ethnic groups make up the Philippines. Several of them are major, but many are smaller. Tagalogs, Cebuanos, Ilocanos and Bicolanos are a few examples from a diverse and varied list of racially distinct peoples. Then too, tribal groupings are numerous. Even Muslims are divided ethnically into at least thirteen differing groups.

What is the main religion in the Philippines?

For more information on language and population click here