The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago country of over 70 independent provinces over 7107 islands in the PacificOcean and South China Sea. It has a total area of 300, 000 km2. The climate is tropical marine with a north-east monsoon from November to April and a south-west monsoon from May to October. The terrain is mostly mountains with narrow to extensive coastal lowlands. Natural resources are timber, crude oil, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, salt, copper. The religion is 83% Roman Catholic, 9% Protestant, 5% Muslim, 3% Buddhist and other religions. Over seventy native languages (with over 500 variations or dialects) are spoken as well as English, Chinese and Malay with Filipino (based on Tagalog) the national language though English is spoken in school and widely understood. Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines for Europe in 1521, and named the islands after the king of Spain. The islands were ruled by Spain from the 16th century until the 19th century when armed revolts took place and the Philippines declared independence only to be taken by the USA, achieving self-rule in 1935 and becoming an independent republic in 1946. Research Philippines
Abbreviations
Gazetteer
Research Philippines