The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands with a total land area of 300,000 km². The 11 largest islands contain 94% of the total land area. The largest of these islands is Luzon at about 105,000 km². The next largest island is Mindanao at about 94,600 km². The archipelago is around 800 km from the Asian mainland and is located between Taiwan and Borneo.

The islands are divided into three groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Luzon islands include Luzon itself, Mindoro, Marinduque, and Batanes Islands. The Visayas is the group of islands in the central Philippines, the largest of which are: Palawan, Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Samar and Masbate. The Mindanao islands include Mindanao itself, plus the Sulu Archipelago, composed primarily of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.

Physical setting

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The Philippine archipelago lies in Southeast Asia in a position that has led to its becoming a cultural crossroads, a place where Malays, Chinese, Spaniards, Americans, and others have interacted to forge that unique cultural and racial blend known to the world as Filipino. The archipelago numbers some 7,100 islands and the nation claims an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles from its shores. The Philippines occupies an area that stretches for 1,850 kilometers from about the fifth to the twentieth parallels north latitude. The total land area is almost 300,000 square kilometers. Only approximately 1,000 of its islands are populated, and fewer than one-half of these are larger than 2.5 square kilometers. Eleven islands make up 94 percent of the Philippine landmass, and two of these--Luzon and Mindanao--measure 105,000 and 95,000 square kilometers, respectively. They, together with the cluster of the Visayan Islands that separate them, represent the three principal regions of the archipelago that are identified by the three stars on the Philippine flag. Topographically, the Philippines is broken up by the sea, which gives it one of the longest coastlines of any nation in the world. Most Filipinos live on or near the coast, where they can easily supplement their diet from approximately 2,000 species of fish.

Off the coast of eastern Mindanao is the Philippine Trough, which descends to a depth of 10,430 meters. The Philippines is part of a western Pacific arc system that is characterized by active volcanoes. Among the most notable peaks are Mount Mayon near Legaspi, Taal Volcano south of Manila, and Mount Apo on Mindanao. All of the Philippines islands are prone to earthquakes. The northern Luzon highlands, or Cordillera Central, rise to between 2,500 and 2,750 meters, and, together with the Sierra Madre in the northeastern portion of Luzon and the mountains of Mindanao, boast rain forests that provide refuge for numerous upland tribal groups. The rain forests also offer prime habitat for more than 500 species of birds, including the Philippine eagle (or monkey-eating eagle), some 800 species of orchids, and some 8,500 species of flowering plants.

The country's most extensive river systems are the Pulangi (Rio Grande), which flows into the Mindanao River; the Agusan, in Mindanao which flows north into the Mindanao Sea; the Cagayan in northern Luzon; and the Pampanga, which flows south from east Central Luzon into Manila Bay. Laguna de Bay, southeast of Manila Bay, is the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines. Several rivers have been harnessed for hydroelectric power.

Climate

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The Philippines has a tropical marine climate dominated by a rainy season and a dry season. The summer monsoon brings heavy rains to most of the archipelago from May to October, whereas the winter monsoon brings cooler and drier air from December to February. Manila and most of the lowland areas are hot and dusty from March to May. Even at this time, however, temperatures rarely rise above 37 °C. Mean annual sea-level temperatures rarely fall below 27 °C. Annual rainfall measures as much as 5,000 millimeters in the mountainous east coast section of the country, but less than 1,000 millimeters in some of the sheltered valleys.

Monsoon rains, although hard and drenching, are not normally associated with high winds and waves. But the Philippines does sit astride the typhoon belt, and it suffers an annual onslaught of dangerous storms from July through October. These are especially hazardous for northern and eastern Luzon and the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions, but Manila gets devastated periodically as well.

In the last decade, the Philippines has been hit severely by natural disasters. In 2005 alone, Central Luzon was hit by both a drought, which sharply curtailed hydroelectric power, and by a typhoon that flooded practically all of low-lying Manila's streets. Still more damaging was the 1990 earthquake that devastated a wide area in Luzon, including Baguio and other northern areas. The city of Cebu and nearby areas were struck by a typhoon that killed more than a hundred people, sank vessels, destroyed part of the sugar crop, and cut off water and electricity for several days. The Philippines are struck by about 10 typhoons per year. Of course the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption also damaged much of Central Luzon, the lahar burying towns and farmland, and the ashes affecting global temperatures.

Building construction is undertaken with natural disasters in mind. Most rural housing has consisted of nipa huts that are easily damaged but are inexpensive and easy to replace. Most urban buildings are steel and concrete structures designed (not always successfully) to resist both typhoons and earthquakes. Damage is still significant, however, and many people are displaced each year by typhoons, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. In 1987 alone the Department of Social Welfare and Development helped 2.4 million victims of natural disasters.

Terrain

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The islands are volcanic in origin, being part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, and are mostly mountainous. The highest point in the country is the peak of Mt. Apo in Mindanao, which is 2,954 m above sea level. The second highest point can be found on Luzon at Mt. Pulog, with the peak 2,842 m above sea level.

Many volcanoes in the country are active, the most recent violent eruption being that of Mt. Pinatubo on Luzon in 1991. Taal Volcano, also located on Luzon, is one of the Decade Volcanoes.

The islands typically have narrow coastal plains and numerous swift-running streams. Every island has sand beaches, but few open onto spacious lowlands. There are few large plains or navigable rivers.

Most of the islands used to be covered in tropical rainforests, however, due to illegal logging, the forest cover has been reduced to less than 10% of the total land area.

West Side Luzon

Cordilleras and Caraballos

Ifugao

Cagayan Valley

The Batanes Islands and surrounding isles

The northernmost point of land, the islet of Y'Ami in the Batanes Islands, is separated from Taiwan by the Bashi Channel (c.50 mi/80 km wide).

Sierra Madre Mountains

Sierra Madre Mountain is the longest mountain range in the Philippines that lies in the Northwestern part of Luzon Island. The range stretches from Quezon Province to Isabela. 80 percent of the mountain range is tropical rainforest. However, due to rampant illegal logging activities in the area, the natural tropic of the range is diminishing. Only 5 percent of the mountain range is unexplored. The Sierra Madre Mountain Range serves as a western wall of Luzon Island from tropical cyclones usually coming from the Pacific Ocean.

Central Luzon Plains

Manila-Cavite-Rizal-Laguna Plains

This region is where the capital of the Philippines is located. Large rivers from bays and mountain springs traverse the plain. In the Northern part of the region, that is, Manila and Rizal, most of the plain has been converted into cities, and are thus industrialized. The plain harbors the largest inland freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, the Laguna de Bay.

Bicol Peninsula

Visayan Islands

Cotabato Valley

Bukidnon-Misamis Highlands

Davao-Surigao-Agusan Coastal Plains

Compostela Valley

Zamboanga Peninsula

Sulu Archipelago

Sulu Islands is located at the South Eastern part of the Philippine boundaries its neighboring Tawi-Tawi Islands is the remotest province of the Philippines Achipelago. Jolo is the capital town of Sulu where majority of the inhabitants are Filipino-Muslims from Tausug Tribe. The island is greatly influenced by native Muslim culture and once a peaceful island. War among Christians and Muslims is considered a big factor that detriment its development. War is traced from so called Moro Insurrecion in the Southern Mindanao when Spanish came into island but Muslims resisted the introduction of Spanish Culture. Americans colonist also came into action against the Muslim followed by the Japanese Imperial Army. Muslims continued their fight for independence protecting their territorial domains. The war between Muslims and Christian Filipinos became more serious when influential businessmen and politicians came into limelight to claim ownership of the ancestral domains of the Muslim communities not only in Sulu but also in Mindanao Island. The Muslim uprising against their Christian brothers seems not to meet the end. Thousands of lives were lost during the battle and bloodshed will never stop until they achieve their ultimate goal - the separation of Mindanao from what Muslims call the Manila Government.

Mindoro Coastal Plains

Mindoro Highlands

Palawan

Kalayaan Archipelago

Located to the west of Palawan. "Kalayaan" is a Filipino word meaning "freedom".

Other information

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Area:
total: 300,000 km²
land: 298,170 km²
water: 1,830 km²

Coastline: 36,289 km

Maritime claims: measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
continental shelf: to depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles (370 km)
territorial sea: irregular polygon extending up to 100 nautical miles (185 km) from coastline as defined by 1898 treaty; since late 1970s has also claimed polygonal-shaped area in South China Sea up to 285 nautical miles (528 km) in breadth.

Natural resources: timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, salt, copper

Land use:
arable land: 19%
permanent crops: 12%
permanent pastures: 4%
forests and woodland: 46%
other: 19% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 15,800 km² (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: astride typhoon belt, usually affected by 15 and struck by five to six cyclonic storms per year; landslides; active volcanoes; destructive earthquakes; tsunamis

Environment - current issues: uncontrolled deforestation in watershed areas; soil erosion; air and water pollution in Manila; increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps which are important fish breeding grounds

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification

Distances from Manila:

• 10,000 km -- San Francisco, California
• 8,000 km -- Honolulu, Hawaii
• 3,400 km -- Chuuk, Caroline Islands
• 2,900 km -- Tokyo, Japan
• 2,400 km -- Singapore
• 1,000 km -- Taiwan & Hong Kong

Ten largest cities
The following is a list of the ten largest cities in the country in terms of population, with their population according to the 2000 census. Component cities and municipalities of Metro Manila and Metro Cebu are taken as one to show the extent of urbanization.

Rank	City	Population in 2000
1.	Metro Manila	9,932,560
2.	Metro Cebu	1,195,568
3.	Davao City	1,147,116
4.	Zamboanga City	601,794
5.	Antipolo City	470,866
6.	Cagayan de Oro City	461,877
7.	Bacolod City	429,076
8.	General Santos City	411,822
9.	Iloilo City	365,820
10.	Iligan City	285,061

References

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Archipelagoes | Geography of the Philippines

Geografia das Filipinas