Philippines
Updated: Sep 19, 2022
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Country Name
The Philippines, or officially the Republic of the Philippines.
Location
The Philippines is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Bounded by the South China Sea on the west, the Philippine Sea on the east, and the Celebes Sea on the southwest, the Philippines shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia and Brunei to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest.
Capital
Manila.
Reason for Naming
Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte and Samar, "Felipinas" after Philip II of Spain, then the Prince of Asturias. Eventually the name "Las Islas Filipinas" would be used to cover the archipelago's Spanish possessions. Before Spanish rule was established, other names such as Islas del Poniente (Islands of the West) and Magellan's name for the islands, San Lázaro, were also used by the Spanish to refer to islands in the region
Flag
The first use of the current flag design was in 1898. The current flag was adopted on February 12, 1998.
The flag consists of a horizontal bicolor of blue and red with a white equilateral triangle based at the hoist containing three, five-pointed gold stars at its points, and an eight-rayed gold sun at its center.
The blue color represents peace, truth, and justice, The red color represents loyalty and bravery, the white color represents liberty, equality, and fraternity, and the three yellow stars and sun represent the three main divisions of the country - Luzon, Mindanao, and the Visayas.
Language
The Philippines has 186 distinct languages, 182 of which are still spoken today, while four have no known speakers.
The official languages of the nation are Filipino and English.
Filipino is a standardized variant of Tagalog that is mostly spoken in Metro Manila. Both Filipino and English are widely used in government, education, print and broadcast media, and business, with third local languages being utilized concurrently.
The Philippine constitution allows for the optional promotion of Spanish and Arabic.
Spanish, which was widely used as a lingua franca in the late nineteenth century, has since fallen out of favor, however, Spanish loanwords may still be found in Philippine languages today, whereas Arabic is mostly taught in Islamic schools in Mindanao.
Religion
The majority religion in the Philippines is Roman Catholic Christianity, with Protestant Christianity being the second-largest religious group.
After Catholicism and Christianity, Islam is the Philippines' third-largest religion.
Hinduism, Judaism, the Baha'i Faith, Indigenous Beliefs, Other Christians, and Atheists are among the country's minor faiths.
Currency
Philippine peso (₱) (PHP).
Time Zone
+08:00 GMT.
Government Regime
Unitary presidential constitutional republic.
Climate
The climate of the Philippines is mainly tropical maritime, with a comparatively cold season from December to February when the northeast trade winds dominate, and a hot, humid, and rainy season from May to November when the southwest monsoon dominates.
The temperature rises and reaches the maximum levels of the year between March and May, notably in the center-north and interior of the bigger islands: hence, in general, the coldest (or least hot) month is January, while the warmest is May. Cool air masses can sometimes arrive in the north from December to March, with temperatures dropping to roughly 12/15 °C (54/59 °F) at night. Temperatures on the southernmost islands, near the Equator, are more consistent and remain high all year.
In the Philippines, relative humidity is usually always high, making the heat sticky, at least in the lowlands.
The northeast trade winds release a lot of moisture as rain on the exposed beaches and hills throughout the winter. This occurs less frequently on the inner islands, which are more protected, and even less frequently on the western slopes, where winter is a dry season. Except during tropical storms and typhoons, which can linger for many days and are accompanied by high winds, tropical rains normally fall in the afternoon as downpours or thunderstorms.