7,641 islands philippines

The Philippines , officially the Republic of the Philippines , is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. In the western Pacific Ocean , it consists of 7, islands , with a total area of roughly , square kilometers, which are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon , Visayas , and Mindanao.

With a population of over million, it is the world's twelfth-most-populous country. 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 has diverse ethnicities and a rich culture.

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. 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.

How many islands in the philippines

The arrival of the explorer Ferdinand Magellan marked the beginning of Spanish colonization. Catholicism 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. After the United States retook the Philippines from the Japanese , the Philippines became independent in The country has had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a decades-long dictatorship in a nonviolent revolution.