- published: 28 Aug 2011
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- author: erinegreen01
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Abkhazia
Abkhazia (Abkhaz: Аҧсны́ Apsny, IPA /apʰsˈnɨ/; Georgian: აფხაზეთი Apkhazeti; Russian: Абхазия Abkhaziya) is a disputed territory on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.
Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny. This status is recognised by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu and also by the partially recognised states of South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Georgian government and the majority of the world's governments consider Abkhazia a part of Georgia's territory. Under Georgia's official designation it is an autonomous republic, called the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, whose government sits in exile in Tbilisi. On 28 August 2008, the Parliament of Georgia passed a resolution declaring Abkhazia a "Russian-occupied territory".
The status of Abkhazia is a central issue of the Georgian–Abkhazian conflict. The wider region formed part of the Soviet Union until 1991. As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate towards the end of the 1980s, ethnic tensions grew between Abkhaz and Georgians over Georgia's moves towards independence. This led to the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia that resulted in a Georgian military defeat, de facto independence of Abkhazia and the mass exodus and ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population from Abkhazia. In spite of the 1994 ceasefire agreement and years of negotiations, the status dispute has not been resolved, and despite the long-term presence of a United Nations monitoring force and a Russian-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) peacekeeping operation, the conflict has flared up on several occasions. In August 2008, the sides again fought during the South Ossetia War, which was followed by the formal recognition of Abkhazia by Russia, the annulment of the 1994 cease fire agreement and the termination of the UN and CIS missions.[citation needed]
wn.com/Abkhazia -
Acapulco
Acapulco (officially known as Acapulco de Juárez) is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 300 kilometres (190 mi) southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history. It is a port of call for shipping and cruising lines running between Panama and San Francisco, California, United States. The city of Acapulco is the largest in the state, far larger than the state capital Chilpancingo. Acapulco is also Mexico's largest beach and balneario resorted city.
The city is best known as one of Mexico’s oldest and most well-known beach resorts, which came into prominence by the 1950s as a getaway for Hollywood stars and millionaires. Acapulco is still famous for its nightlife and still attracts many vacationers, although most are now from Mexico itself. The resort area is divided into two: The north end of the bay is the "traditional" area, where the famous in the mid 20th century vacationed and the south end is dominated by newer luxury high rise hotels.
wn.com/Acapulco -
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
i/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming part of South Asia, Central Asia, and Greater Middle East, it is also considered to be part of a broader West Asia. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of 647,500 km2 (250,001 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.
Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as 50,000 BC. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC. Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the land has been home to various peoples through the ages and witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and in modern era Western forces. The land also served as a source from which the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Timurids, Mughals and many others have risen to form major empires.
wn.com/Afghanistan -
African Union
The African Union (abbreviated AU in English, and UA in its other official languages) is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The most important decisions of the AU are made by the Assembly of the African Union, a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of its member states. The AU's secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Among the objectives of the AU's leading institutions are:
The African Union is made up of both political and administrative bodies. The highest decision-making organ is the Assembly of the African Union, made up of all the heads of state or government of member states of the AU. The Assembly is chaired by Yayi Boni, president of Benin, elected at the 18thordinary meeting of the Assembly in January 2012. The AU also has a representative body, the Pan African Parliament, which consists of 265 members elected by the national parliaments of the AU member states. Its president is Idriss Ndele Moussa.
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Agusan del Norte
Agusan del Norte (Filipino:Hilagang Agusan) is a province of the Philippines located in the Caraga, a region in Mindanao. Its capital is Cabadbaran City and it borders Surigao del Norte to the north, Surigao del Sur to the east, Agusan del Sur to the south, and Misamis Oriental to the west. It faces Butuan Bay, part of the Bohol Sea, to the northwest.
The population of Agusan del Norte (excluding Butuan City) was 314,027 at the 2007 census, making it the country's 64th most populous province. The population density is 115 per km².
The economy of Agusan del Norte is dominantly agricultural, and it is the nation's leading producer of rice.[citation needed]
Agusan del Norte is divided into 11 municipalities. The highly-urbanized city of Butuan, being geographically located in Agusan del Norte, is traditionally grouped with the province, although it is governed independently from it. Cabadbaran City is the officially-designated capital of the province per Republic Act 8811, which has a total barangays of 31, area of 311.02 km², population of 55,006 and population density of 177 per km².
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Agusan del Sur
Agusan del Sur (Filipino:Timog Agusan) is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Caraga region in Mindanao. Its capital is Prosperidad and borders, from the north clockwise, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Bukidnon, and Misamis Oriental.
In 2000 the province had a population of 559,294. This represented an increase of 44,558 persons or 7.96 % since 1995. The annual population growth rate was 1.79 %. There were 103,637 households with an average household size of 5.39 persons. The population density was 62 persons per square kilometer with a male to female ratio of 107:100.
The dominant religion is Roman Catholicism (79% of the population). Other major religions include the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Aglipay, Iglesia ni Cristo, United Pentecostal Church, Born Again and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.
Five tribal groups are found in the province: Aeta, Mamanwa, Bagobo, Higaonon, and Manobo. The Manobos live along the national highway and river towns towards the boundary with the Compostela Valley. The Higaonons live mostly on the western side of Agusan River, generally in Esperanza towards the boundary with Bukidnon.
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Aklan
Aklan is a province of the Philippines in the Western Visayas. Its capital is Kalibo. It is in the northwest portion of Panay Island, bordering Antique Province to the southwest, and Capiz Province to the east. Aklan faces the Sibuyan Sea and Romblon Province to the north.
Aklan is considered to be the oldest province in the country and is believed to have been established in the 12th century by settlers from Borneo ruled by the chieftain Datu Dinagandan which traded with its neighbouring islands.
Towards the end of the 14th century, Datu Dinagandan moved the capital from what is now Batan. In 1433, Datu Kalantiaw's grandson and successor, Datu Kalantiaw III, was said to have formulated a set of laws known today as the Code of Kalantiaw. Well respected scholarly long-term Philippine resident historian William Henry Scott, proved these "laws" to be a total fabrication. In 1437, the short-lived dynasty of Datu Kalantiaw ended when Datu Kalantiaw III was killed in battle with the tribes of Datu Manduyog, the legitimate successor of Datu Dinagandan. When Datu Manduyog became the new chieftain, he moved the capital to Bakan (now known as Banga).
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Albay
Albay is a province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in southeastern Luzon island. The capital of the province is Legazpi City, which is located in the southern foothill of Mayon Volcano, the symbol most associated with the province. This near perfectly-shaped active volcano forms a scenic backdrop to the city of Legazpi and is visible throughout the municipalities and cities of Albay including the surrounding provinces.
Albay has a total land area of 2,552.6 square kilometres (985.6 sq mi), which makes it the 26th smallest province. The province is bordered by the provinces of Camarines Sur to the north and Sorsogon to the south. To the northeast, the province lies along Lagonoy Gulf, which separates it from the province of Catanduanes. To the southwest of the province, is Burias Pass with the island of Burias, Masbate located about 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) offshore.
The province is generally mountainous with scattered fertile plains and valleys. On the eastern part of the province is a line of volcanic mountains starting with the northernmost Malinao in Tiwi, followed by Masaraga and Mayon Volcano. Separated by Poliqui Bay is the Pocdol Mountains in the town of Manito.
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Algeria
Coordinates: 28°N 2°E / 28°N 2°E / 28; 2
Algeriai/ælˈdʒɪəriə/ (Arabic: الجزائر, al-Jazā'ir; Berber: ⴷⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية, al-Jumhūriyyah al-Jazāʾiriyyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyyah ash-Shaʿbiyyah), also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a large country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.
When referring to its land area, Algeria is the largest country in Africa, Maghreb and the Arab World. It is also the largest of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea; it is also the tenth-largest country in the world. The country is bordered in the northeast by Tunisia, in the east by Libya, in the west by Morocco, in the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, in the southeast by Niger, and in the north by the Mediterranean Sea. Its size is almost 2,400,000 square kilometres (926,645 sq mi) with an estimated population of 37.1 million as of 2012. Algeria is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, OPEC and the United Nations. The country is also a founding member of the Arab Maghreb Union.
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American Samoa
American Samoa (/əˈmɛrɨkən səˈmoʊ.ə/ (
listen); Samoan: Amerika Sāmoa, IPA: [aˈmɛɾika ˌsaːˈmoa]; also Amelika Sāmoa or Sāmoa Amelika) is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the Independent State of Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa). The main (largest and most populous) island is Tutuila, with the Manuʻa Islands, Rose Atoll, and Swains Island also included in the territory.
American Samoa is part of the Samoan Islands chain, located west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga, and some 300 miles (500 km) south of Tokelau. To the west are the islands of the Wallis and Futuna group.
The 2010 census showed a total population of 55,519 people. The total land area is 76.1 square miles (197.1 km2), slightly more than Washington, D.C. American Samoa is the southernmost territory of the United States.
Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century. Jacob Roggeveen (1659–1729), a Dutchman, was the first known European to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by the French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811), who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768. Contact was limited before the 1830s which is when English missionaries and traders began arriving.
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Andorra
Andorra (i/ænˈdɔrə/; Catalan pronunciation: [ənˈdorə], locally: [anˈdɔra]), officially the Principality of Andorra (Catalan: Principat d'Andorra), also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, (Catalan: Principat de les Valls d'Andorra), is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of 468 km2 (181 sq mi) and an estimated population of 84,082 in 2009. Its capital, Andorra la Vella, is the highest capital city in Europe, at an elevation of 1,023 metres (3,356 ft) above sea level. The official language is Catalan, although Spanish, Portuguese, and French are also commonly spoken.
The Principality was formed in 1278. The role of monarch is exercised jointly by the two co-princes, the Catalan Bishop of Urgell and the President of France (the whole state is a part of Diocese of Urgell).
Andorra is a prosperous country mainly because of its tourism industry, which services an estimated 10.2 million visitors annually, and also because of its status as a tax haven. It is not a member of the European Union, but the euro is the de facto currency. The people of Andorra have the 4th highest human life expectancy in the world — 82 years at birth.
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Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (Portuguese: República de Angola, pronounced: [ʁɨˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈɡɔla];Kikongo, Kimbundu, Umbundu: Repubilika ya Ngola), is a country in southern Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city. The exclave province of Cabinda has borders with the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Portuguese were present in some—mostly coastal—points of the territory of what is now Angola, from the 16th to the 19th century, interacting in diverse ways with the peoples that lived there. In the 19th century they slowly and hesitantly began to establish themselves in the interior. Angola as a Portuguese colony encompassing the present territory was not established before the end of the 19th century, and "effective occupation", as required by the Berlin Conference (1884) was achieved only by the 1920s. Independence was achieved in 1975, after a protracted liberation war. After independence, Angola was the scene of an intense civil war from 1975 to 2002. The country has vast mineral and petroleum reserves, and its economy has on average grown at a two-digit pace since the 1990s, especially since the end of the civil war. In spite of this, standards of living remain low for the majority of the population, and life expectancy and infant mortality rates in Angola are among the worst-ranked in the world. At the same time, a minority has reached comfortable life standards, and the dominant stratum has succeeded in accumulating considerable wealth, so that social inequality in Angola is one of the highest in the world.
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Anguilla
Anguilla (
/æŋˈɡwɪlə/ ang-GWIL-ə) is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territory consists of the main island of Anguilla itself, approximately 26 km (16 mi) long by 5 km (3.1 mi) wide at its widest point, together with a number of much smaller islands and cays with no permanent population. The island's capital is The Valley. The total land area of the territory is 91 km2 (35 sq mi), with a population of approximately 13,500 (2006 estimate).
Anguilla has become a popular tax haven, having no capital gains, estate, profit or other forms of direct taxation on either individuals or corporations.
Anguilla was first settled by Amerindian tribes who migrated from South America. The earliest Amerindian artifacts found on Anguilla have been dated to around 1300 BC, and remains of settlements date from 600 AD. The date of European discovery is uncertain: some sources claim that Columbus sighted the island in 1493, while others state that the island was first discovered by the French in 1564 or 1565. The name Anguilla derives from the word for "eel" in any of various Romance languages (modern Spanish: anguila; French: anguille; Italian: anguilla; Portuguese: enguia), probably chosen because of the island's eel-like shape.
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Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda (i/ænˈtiːɡə ænd bɑrˈbjuːdə/; Spanish for "ancient" and "bearded") is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands (including Great Bird, Green, Guinea, Long, Maiden and York Islands and further south, the island of Redonda). The permanent population number approximately 81,800 (at the 2011 Census) and the capital and largest port and city is St. John's, on Antigua.
Separated by a few nautical miles, Antigua and Barbuda are in the middle of the Leeward Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles, roughly at 17 degrees north of the Equator. The country is nicknamed "Land of 365 Beaches" due to the many beaches surrounding the islands. Its governance, language, and culture have all been strongly influenced by the British Empire, of which the country was formerly a part.
Antigua was first settled by Archaic Age hunter-gatherer Amerindians, erroneously referred to as Siboney or Ciboney.Carbon-dating has established that the earliest settlements started around 3100 BC. They were succeeded by the Ceramic Age pre-Columbian Arawak-speaking Saladoid people who migrated from the lower Orinoco River.
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Antipolo
Antipolo (officially: City of Antipolo, Filipino: Lungsod ng Antipolo) is a city in the Philippines located in the province of Rizal; about 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of Manila. It is the largest city in the Calabarzon Region in terms of population. It is also the seventh most populous city in the country with a population of 633,971 in 2007.
It was converted from a municipality into a component city of Rizal Province on April 4, 1998 under Republic Act No. 8508. A new provincial capitol building was inaugurated in the city in March 2009 to replace the old capitol in Pasig which has long been outside the jurisdiction of Rizal Province; after Pasig was included in Metro Manila in 1975. With the transfer of the provincial government to Antipolo, it is highly favored to be officially designated as the new capital of the province. On March 14, 2011, Antipolo was declared a "highly-urbanized city" by President Benigno Aquino; such proclamation however still needs to be ratified in a plebiscite.
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Apayao
Apayao is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital town is Kabugao. Even during pre-Hispanic time when the provice was still the old Mountain Province, Kabugao was already the recognized as the capital of the then sub-province of Apayao. It borders Cagayan to the north and east, Abra and Ilocos Norte to the west, and Kalinga to the south. Prior to 1995, Kalinga and Apayao comprised a single province named Kalinga-Apayao, until they were split into two to better service the needs of individual native tribes in the provinces.
Apayao is devoted to agricultural production, particularly food and industrial crops such as palay, corn, coffee, root crops and vegetables. Main fruits produce are lanzones, citrus, bananas and pineapples. Rice production totals 42,602 metric tons annually, as food crops totals 96,542 metric tons.
Economic activity is also based on livestock and poultry breeding such as swine, carabao, cattle, goat and sheep. Other additional investment includes manufacturing, food processing, furniture, crafts and house wares making.
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Apo Reef
Apo Reef is a series of coral reefs encompassing 34 square kilometers within the waters of Occidental Mindoro in the Philippines. It is the world's second-largest contiguous coral reef system and the largest in the country. The reef and its surrounding waters are administered as a National Park as part of the Apo Reef Natural Park project; the Apo Reef is within the Sulu Sea.
Apo Reef can be found around 33 kilometers west off of the mid-western coast of the Philippine island of Mindoro. Two separate coral reefs make up the atoll-reef system. The two reefs are separated by a 30 meter-deep channel between them. Several environments can be found within the reef's boundaries. Aside from coral reefs, seagrass meadows, beds of macroalgae and mangrove stands are present on and around the reef proper.
The waters of Apo Reef are protected within a National Park encompassing 274.69 km2 of the reef and its surrounding area. Of the total area, 157.92 km2 comprises the Apo Reef Natural Park while the remaining 116.77 km2 constitute a buffer zone surrounding the national park.
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Arab League
The Arab League (Arabic: الجامعة العربية al-Jāmiʻa al-ʻArabiyya), officially called the League of Arab States (Arabic: جامعة الدول العربية Jāmiʻat ad-Duwal al-ʻArabiyya), is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia (Middle East). It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan (renamed Jordan in 1949), Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a member on 5 May 1945. The Arab League currently has 22 members (including Syria, whose participation was suspended in November 2011). The main goal of the league is to "draw closer the relations between member States and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries."
Through institutions such as the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the Economic and Social Council of the Arab League's Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU), the Arab League facilitates political, economic, cultural, scientific and social programs designed to promote the interests of the Arab world. It has served as a forum for the member states to coordinate their policy positions, to deliberate on matters of common concern, to settle some Arab disputes, and to limit conflicts such as the 1958 Lebanon crisis. The League has served as a platform for the drafting and conclusion of many landmark documents promoting economic integration. One example is the Joint Arab Economic Action Charter which sets out the principles for economic activities in the region.
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Argentina
Argentinai/ˌɑrdʒənˈtiːnə/, officially the Argentine Republic (Spanish: República Argentina [reˈpuβlika aɾxenˈtina]), is a country in South America, the continent's second largest by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations.
Argentina's continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south. Argentine claims over Antarctica, as well as overlapping claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom, are suspended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1961. Argentina also claims the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which are administered by the United Kingdom as British Overseas Territories.
A recognised middle power, Argentina is Latin America's third-largest economy, with a "very high" rating on the Human development index. Within Latin America, Argentina has the fifth highest nominal GDP per capita and the highest in purchasing power terms. Analysts have argued that the country has a "foundation for future growth due to its market size, levels of foreign direct investment, and percentage of high-tech exports as share of total manufactured goods", and it is classed by investors as middle emerging economy. Argentina is a founding member of the United Nations, Mercosur, the Union of South American Nations, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization, and is one of the G-15 and G-20 major economies.
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Armenia
Armeniai/ɑrˈmiːniə/ (Armenian: Հայաստան Hayastan [hɑjɑsˈtɑn]), officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն, Hayastani Hanrapetut’yun, [hɑjɑstɑˈni hɑnɾɑpɛtuˈtʰjun]), is a landlocked, mountainous country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.
A former republic of the Soviet Union, Armenia is a unitary, multiparty, democratic nation-state with an ancient and historic cultural heritage. The Kingdom of Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its religion, in the early years of the 4th century (the traditional date is 301 AD). The modern Republic of Armenia recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church, the world's oldest national church, as the country's primary religious establishment. Armenians have their own unique alphabet invented by Mesrob Mashtots in 406 AD.
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Australia
Australia ( /əˈstreɪljə/), officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. Neighbouring countries include Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north; the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east.
For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of roughly 250 language groups. After discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored and an additional five self-governing Crown Colonies were established.
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Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (
i/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ AZ-ər-by-JAHN; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası) is the largest country in the Caucasus region located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest.
Azerbaijan has an ancient and historic cultural heritage. Aside from having been the first Muslim-majority country to have operas, theater and plays, Azerbaijan today is among the Muslim-majority countries where support for secularism and tolerance is the highest. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world, was established in 1918, but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, neighboring Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, its surrounding territories and the enclaves of Karki, Yukhary Askipara, Barkhudarly and Sofulu. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which emerged in Nagorno-Karabakh, continues to be not diplomatically recognized by any nation and the region is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan, despite being de facto independent since the end of the war. Azerbaijan has come under repeated international criticism for its record on human rights.
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Bacolod
Bacolod (Filipino: Lungsod ng Bacólod), is a highly-urbanized Philippine city. It is the capital of the Negros Occidental province. Having a total of 531,943 inhabitants according to the LGPMS Census, it is the most populous city in the Western Visayas Region. It is currently ranked as the 17th most populous city in the Philippines. It is part of a metropolitan area called Metro Bacolod, which includes the cities of Silay and Talisay. It is notable for its famous MassKara Festival held during the 3rd week of October. Known for being a relatively friendly city, it bears the nickname "City of Smiles". Bacolod City recently ranked no. 1 in a survey by MoneySense Magazine as the "Best Place to Live in the Philippines". Bacolod ranks 3rd among the top ten "Next Wave Cities" of the Philippines for the best location for business process outsourcing and offshoring according to the 2010 report of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology.
Bacólod (English: Bacolod), is derived from bakólod (Old Spelling: bacólod), the Old Hiligaynon or Old Ilonggo (Old Spelling: Ylongo and Ilongo) word for a "hill, mound, rise, hillock, down, any small eminence or elevation", since the resettlement was founded on a stony, hilly area, now the barangay of Granada. It was officially called Ciudad de Bacólod (City of Bacolod) when Municipalidad de Bacólod (Municipality of Bacolod) was converted into a city in 1938.[citation needed]
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Baguio
The City of Baguio (Ilokano: Ciudad ti Baguio; Filipino: Lungsod ng Baguio) is a highly urbanized city located in northern Luzon island in the Philippines. The city has become the center of business and commerce as well as the center of education in the entire Northern Luzon thereby becoming the seat of government of the Cordillera Administrative Region(C.A.R.). According to the 2007 census, Baguio City has a population of 301,926.
Baguio City was established by Americans in 1900 at the site of an Ibaloi village known as Kafagway. The name of the city is derived from the word bagiw in Ibaloi, the indigenous language of the Benguet Region, meaning 'moss'. The city is at an altitude of approximately 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) in the Luzon tropical pine forests ecoregion conducive to the growth of mossy plants and orchids.
Because of its altitude, Baguio City was designated by the Philippine Commission as the Summer Capital of the Philippines on June 1, 1903. It was incorporated as a chartered city by the Philippine Assembly on September 1, 1909, as authored by former Philippines Supreme Court Justice George A. Malcolm. The City of Baguio celebrated its Centennial last September 1, 2009.
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Bahrain
Bahrain ( pronunciation) (Arabic: البحرين, al-Baḥrayn) (Persian: بحرين, Baḥrain), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain (Arabic: مملكة البحرين, Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn), is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,234,571, including 666,172 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.
Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands, the largest being Bahrain Island, at 55 km (34 mi) long by 18 km (11 mi) wide. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway. The peninsula of Qatar is to the southeast across the Gulf of Bahrain. The planned Qatar Bahrain Causeway will link Bahrain and Qatar and become the world's longest marine causeway.
Known for its oil and pearls, Bahrain is also home to many large structures, including the Bahrain World Trade Center and the Bahrain Financial Harbour, with a proposal in place to build the 1,022 m (3,353 ft) high Murjan Tower. The Qal'at al-Bahrain (the harbour and capital of the ancient land of Dilmun) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit.
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Banaue Rice Terraces
The Banaue Rice Terraces (Tagalog: Hagdan-hagdang Palayan ng Banawe) also called Payo, are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. It is said that if the steps are put end to end it would encircle half the globe.
Locals to this day still plant rice and vegetables on the terraces, although more and more younger Ifugaos do not find farming appealing, often opting for the more lucrative hospitality industry generated by the Rice Terraces[citation needed]. The result is the gradual erosion of the characteristic "steps", which need constant reconstruction and care. In 2010 a further problem was drought, with the terraces drying up completely in March of that year.
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Bangladesh
Coordinates: 23°N 90°E / 23°N 90°E / 23; 90
Bangladesh (i/ˈbɑːŋɡlədɛʃ/ or i/bæŋɡləˈdɛʃ/ (Anglicized pronunciation); Bengali: বাংলাদেশ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali: গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônoprojatontri Bangladesh) is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India and Burma and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. The capital (and largest city) is Dhaka, located in central Bangladesh. The official state language is Bengali. The name Bangladesh means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal" the in the Bengali language, from Bangla "Bengal" and desh holding a dual meaning of "land" and "country" as English "country," German land, French pays, etc.
The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal during the reign and demise of the British India. Its map was chartered by Sir Cyril Radcliffe during the creation of Pakistan and India in 1947, when the region became East Pakistan, part of the newly formed nation of Pakistan. Due to political exclusion and economic exploitation by the politically dominant West Pakistan, popular agitation grew against West Pakistan and led to the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, after the Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence on 26 March 1971. With the intervention of the Indian Army, the war came to an end on 16 December 1971 with the surrender of the Pakistan Army at Ramna Race Course.
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Barbados
Coordinates: 13°10′N 59°33′W / 13.167°N 59.55°W / 13.167; -59.55
Barbados (i/bɑrˈbeɪdɒs/ or /bɑrˈbeɪdoʊs/) is a sovereign island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is 34 kilometres (21 mi) in length and up to 23 kilometres (14 mi) in width, covering an area of 431 square kilometres (166 sq mi). It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about 168 kilometres (104 mi) east of the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and 400 kilometres (250 mi) north-east of Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados is outside of the principal Atlantic hurricane belt.
Barbados was initially visited by the Spanish around the late 1400s to early 1500s and first appears on a Spanish map from 1511. The Spanish explorers may have plundered the island of whatever native peoples resided therein to become slaves. The Portuguese visited in 1536, but they too left it unclaimed, with their only remnants being an introduction of wild hogs for a good supply of meat whenever the island was visited. The first English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados in 1624. They took possession of it in the name of the British king James I. Two years later in 1627 the first permanent settlers arrived from England and it became an English and later British colony.
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Basilan
The Province of Basilan (Lalawigan ng Basilan in Filipino/Tagalog; Provincia de Basilan in Spanish/Chabacano) is an island province of the Philippines within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Basilan is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Sulu Archipelago and is located just off the southern coast of Zamboanga Peninsula. Its capital, Isabela City, is administered as part of the Zamboanga Peninsula Region.
Basilan is home to three main ethnic groups, the indigenous Yakans, and the later-arriving Tausugs and Chabacano. The Yakans and Tausugs are predominantly Muslim, while the Chabacano are mainly Christian. There are also a number of smaller groups. Although the official language is Filipino and English, the major language is Yakan, but other languages are well represented, including Tausug, Samal, and Chabacano.
Basilan, although classified as a 4th-Class Province in terms of gross provincial income, has one of the lowest incidence of poverty in the Philippines (26.19% of the general population), ranked 20 among the Philippines' 80 Provinces (in comparison, Maguindanao which is ranked last at no. 80 has a poverty incidence of 44.24%). More importantly, the gap between Basilan's rich and poor residents are among the narrowest in the country (ranked 3rd nationwide), pointing to one of the most equitable distributions of wealth anywhere in the country (GINI Coefficient 0.2826, which is slightly better than the Provinces of Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Cavite, Batanes and Batangas).
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Bataan
Bataan is a province of the Philippines occupying the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon. The province is part of the Central Luzon region. The capital of Bataan is Balanga City and it is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north. The peninsula faces the South China Sea to the west and Subic Bay to the north-west, and encloses Manila Bay to the east.
The Battle of Bataan is famous in history as one of the last stands of American and Filipino soldiers before they were overwhelmed by the Japanese forces in World War II. The Bataan Death March was named for this province, where the infamous march started. This is also a location of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant located in the Municipality of Morong.
Bataan is politically subdivided into 11 municipalities and 1 component city.
The Bataan Peninsula is a rocky extension of the Zambales Mountains, on Luzon in the Philippines. It separates the Manila Bay from the South China Sea. The peninsula features Mount Natib 1,253 m in the north and the Mariveles Mountains in the south, which includes Mount Samat, the location of the historical marker for the Bataan Death March.
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Batanes
The Province of Batanes[pronunciation?] (Filipino: Lalawigan ng Batanes), also called the Batanes Islands, is a Philippine province comprising ten islands that are located in the Luzon Strait between the islands of Luzon and Taiwan. It is the northernmost part of the Philippines and is also the smallest province, both in terms of population and land area.
The island group is located about 162 km north of Luzon and about 190 kilometers south of Taiwan, separated from the Babuyan Islands of Cagayan Province, Luzon, by the Balintang Channel and from Taiwan by the Bashi Channel.
The provincial capital is Basco on Batan Island and the only other inhabited islands are Itbayat and Sabtang. The northernmost island of the province, making it the northernmost island in the Philippines, is Mavudis (Yami) Island. Other islands in the chain are Misanga, Siayan, Ivuhos, and Dequey.
The province is officially in the region of Cagayan Valley.
The islands are part of the Luzon Volcanic Arc.
The ancestors of today's Ivatans are descended from Austronesians who migrated to the Batanes Islands 4000 years ago during the Neolithic period. They lived in fortified mountain areas called idjangs and drank sugar-cane wine, or palek. They also used gold as currency and produced a thriving agriculture-based industry. They were also seafarers and boat-builders.
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Batangas
Batangas is a first class province of the Philippines located on the southwestern part of Luzon in the CALABARZON region. Its capital is Batangas City and it is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and Laguna to the north and Quezon to the east. Across the Verde Island Passages to the south is the island of Mindoro and to the west lies the South China Sea. Poetically, Batangas is often referred to by its ancient name Kumintang.
Batangas is one of the most popular tourist destinations near Metro Manila. The province has many beaches and is famous for excellent diving spots including Anilao in Mabini, Sombrero Island in Tingloy, Ligpo Island in Bauan, these areas more popularly known as Anilao. Matabungkay in Lian, Punta Fuego in Nasugbu, Calatagan and Laiya in San Juan.
Batangas is also where Taal Volcano, one of the Decade Volcanoes is located. It is also where the Taal Heritage town lies, a small picturesque town that has ancestral houses and structures dating back to the 1800s.
The first recorded name of the Province was Kumintang, after the Datu who inherited the dominion from Datu Balensusa. Its centre, the present day Balayan, was the most progressive town of the Province and the traditional centre of governance. Later, as the eruption of the Taal Volcano destroyed a significant portion of the town, the provincial centre was transferred to Taal, which was then called Bonbon and the name of the province was changed after that of the town.
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Battle of Mactan
The Battle of Mactan (Tagalog: Labanan sa Mactan), (Spanish: Batalla de Mactán), was fought in the Philippines on April 27, 1521. The warriors of Lapu-Lapu, a native chieftain of Mactan Island, defeated Spanish forces under the command of Ferdinand Magellan, who was killed in the battle.
On 16 March 1521 (Spanish calendar), Magellan sighted the mountains of what is now Samar while on a mission to find a westward route to the Moluccas Islands for Spain. This event marked the arrival of the first Europeans in the Archipelago. The following day, Magellan ordered his men to anchor their ships on the shores of Homonhon Island. There, he befriended Rajah Kulambu and Rajah Siagu the chieftain of Limasawa, who guided him to Cebu. He, and his queen were baptized into the Catholic faith, taking the Christian names Carlos, in honor of King Charles of Spain, and Juana, in honor of King Charles' mother. To commemorate this event, Magellan gave Juana the Santo Niño, an image of the infant Jesus, as a symbol of their new alliance. As a result of Magellan’s influence with Rajah Humabon, an order had been issued to the nearby chiefs that each of them were to provide food supplies for the ships, and convert to Christianity.
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Belarus
Belarus (i/bɛləˈruːs/ bel-ə-ROOSS; Belarusian: Беларусь, Russian pronunciation: [bʲɛlaˈrusʲ] Russian: Беларусь, Белоруссия, Belarus', Belorussiya), officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno (Hrodna), Gomel (Homiel), Mogilev (Mahilyow) and Vitebsk (Vitsebsk). Over forty percent of its 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) is forested, and its strongest economic sectors are agriculture and manufacturing.
Until the 20th century, the lands of modern-day Belarus belonged to several countries, including the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Belarus became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR). The borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939 when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were incorporated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland. The nation and its territory were devastated in World War II, during which Belarus lost about a third of its population and more than half of its economic resources. The republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945 the Belorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR.
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Belize
Belizei/bəˈliːz/ (formerly British Honduras) is a country located on the north eastern coast of Central America and it is the only country in the area where English is the official language, although Kriol and Spanish are more commonly spoken. Belize is bordered to the north by Mexico, south and west by Guatemala, and to the east by the Caribbean Sea. Its mainland is about 290 kilometres (180 mi) long and 110 kilometres (68 mi) wide.
With 22,960 square kilometres (8,860 sq mi) of land and a population of only 333,200 inhabitants (2010 est.), Belize possesses the lowest population density in Central America. The country's population growth rate of 2.21% (2008 est.), however, is the highest in the region and one of the highest in the western hemisphere. Belize's abundance of terrestrial and marine species, and its diversity of ecosystems give it a key place within the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.
Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages and it is the only nation in the region with a British colonial heritage but as a part of the Western Caribbean Zone, it also shares a common heritage with the Caribbean portions of other Central American countries. In general, Belize is considered to be a Central American nation with strong ties to both the Caribbean and Latin America. Belize is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA).
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Benguet
Benguet [beŋˈɡet] is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is La Trinidad and borders, clockwise from the south, Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Mountain Province, Ifugao, and Nueva Vizcaya.
Baguio, a popular tourist destination in the country, is located in the interior of the province, however, the city is independent of the province.
Cordilleran, is an unofficial and relatively recent term for the people of the hill tribes of Luzon, Philippines, who are residing in the Cordillera region. This term is an attempt at political correctness, since a current term, Igorot, has caused controversy due to its perceived negative stigma.
Based on the May 2000 census, Benguet has a total population of 330,129, which makes it the most populous province in the region. This figure is up by 16,296 from 313,833 persons recorded in the 1995 census, giving an annual growth rate of 1.09% during the 5-year period—much, much lower than the national average of 2.43%. If this growth rate were maintained, Benguet would double its population in approximately 64 years.
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Benham Plateau
The Benham Plateau also known as the Benham Rise, is a seismically active undersea region and extinct volcanic ridge east of the Philippines, in the Philippine Sea. It is located approximately 250 km (160 mi) east of the northern coastline of Dinapigue, Isabela.
Under the Philippine Sea lie a number of Basins including the West Philippine Basin (WPB), inside of which is located the Central Basin Fault (CBF). The Benham Plateau is located in the CBF and its basement probably represents a micro-continent. Several scientific surveys have been made on the feature to study its nature and its impact on tectonic subduction, including one about its effects on the 1990 Luzon earthquake. The area is claimed, as part of its continental shelf, by the Philippines, which has lodged a claim with the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNCLCS) on April 8, 2009 and was approved by the UNCLCS on 2012.
Benham Rise is a submerged extinct volcanic ridge located at 16 degrees 30 minutes N, 124 degrees 45 minutes E off the coast of Luzon, with the size of about 250 km in diameter and rises over 2,000 meters above the sea floor, from below 5,000 meters below sea level to above 3,000 meters below sea level. Its area is close to the Benham Seamount, located at 15 degrees 48 minutes N, 124 degrees 15 minutes E. The precise location is somewhere near the east of the Philippine Trench and near the south of the East Luzon Trench, both of which absorb the subducting force of the Philippine Sea Plate under the Philippine Mobile Belt, a collage of large blocks of that crust that amalgamated prior to the collision of the Philippine Sea Plate with the Eurasian Plate.
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Benin
Benini/bɨˈniːn/ (formerly, Dahomey), officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, by Nigeria to the east and by Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. A majority of the population live on its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin. The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, the country's largest city. Benin covers an area of approximately 110,000 square kilometers (42,000 sq mi), with a population of approximately 9.05 million. Benin is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with substantial employment and income arising from subsistence farming.
The official language of Benin is French, however, indigenous languages such as Fon and Yoruba are commonly spoken. The largest religious group in Benin is Roman Catholicism, followed closely by Islam, Vodun and Protestantism. Benin is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie, the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, the African Petroleum Producers Association and the Niger Basin Authority.
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Bermuda
Bermuda ( /bɜrˈmjuːdə/), officially the Bermudas or Somers Islands, is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about 1,030 kilometres (640 mi) to the west-northwest. It is about 1,373 kilometres (853 mi) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia and 1,770 kilometres (1,100 mi) northeast of Miami, Florida, USA. Its capital city is Hamilton.
Bermuda was discovered in 1505 by Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez, after whom the islands are named. Apparently uninhabited, he claimed them for the Spanish Empire. Although he paid two visits to the archipelago, Bermúdez was persuaded never to set foot on any of the islands by the dangerous reef surrounding them. Subsequent Spanish or other visitors are believed to have released the feral pigs that were abundant on the island when settlement began. In 1609, the Virginia Company, which had established Virginia and Jamestown on the American continent two years earlier, established a settlement on behalf of the English colonial empire. Initially, it was administered as an extension of Virginia by the Company until 1614, before its successor, the Somers Isles Company, took over until 1684. Bermuda then became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to create the unified Kingdom of Great Britain. After Newfoundland became part of Canada in 1949, Bermuda became the oldest (and, since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the most populous) remaining British overseas territory. Its first capital, St George's, was established in 1612 and is the oldest continuously-inhabited English town in the Americas.
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Bhutan
Coordinates: 27°25′01″N 90°26′06″E / 27.417°N 90.435°E / 27.417; 90.435
Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, tr ʼbrug-yul, "Druk Yul"; Devanagari भूटान, Bhūṭān), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby country of Nepal to the west by the Indian state of Sikkim, and from Bangladesh to the south by the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal.
Bhutan existed as a patchwork of minor warring fiefdoms until the early 17th century, when the area was unified by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, who fled religious persecution in Tibet and cultivated a separate Bhutanese identity. In the early 20th century, Bhutan came into contact with the British Empire, after which Bhutan continued strong bilateral relations with India upon its independence. In 2006, Business Week rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world, based on a global survey.
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Bicol Region
Coordinates: 13°30′N 123°20′E / 13.5°N 123.333°E / 13.5; 123.333 The Bicol Region or Region V (also known as Bicolandia) is one of the 17 regions of the Philippines. Bicol (also spelled Bikol) is composed of four provinces in the Bicol Peninsula, the southeastern end of Luzon island, and two island-provinces adjacent to the peninsula. Its regional center is Legazpi City in Albay province.
The Bicol Region is located in the southernmost tip of Luzon Island, the largest island in the Philippine archipelago. The total land area of the region is 18,054.3 km2 (6,970.8 sq mi), which or 5.9% of the total land area of the country. Around 69.3% of the total land area is alienable and disposable while the remaining 30.7% is public forest areas.
The region is bounded by Lamon Bay to the north, Pacific Ocean to the east, and Sibuyan Sea and Ragay Gulf to the west. The northernmost province, Camarines Norte, is bordered to the north by the province of Quezon, thereby connecting the region to the rest of Luzon.
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Biliran
Biliran is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. An island province, Biliran lies just a few kilometers north of Leyte Island. Its capital is Naval. Biliran is one of the country's smallest and newest provinces, being formerly a part (sub-province) of Leyte until achieving full-fledged provincehood in 1992.
During the early Spanish era, what is now called Biliran Island was known as Isla de Panamao. The term refers to an ethnic fishing net. The present name, believed to be adopted sometime between the late 17th century and the early 18th century, was, according to many publications, derived from a native grass called borobiliran which once grew abundantly on the island's plains. A contending theory states that the name came from the word bilir, which was defined in an old Visayan dictionary to be the “corner or edge of a boat, vase or anything protruding, like veins, or the furrow made by the plow.” The dictionary also gives biliran as an alternate spelling for bilir. This theory is supported by the fact that Biliran was site of the first large-scale shipyard, built in the 17th century. Galleons were built to support the Galleon trade between Manila and Acapulco in Mexico.
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Bohol
Bohol is a first class island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of Bohol Island and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran City. With a land area of 4,117.26 square kilometres (1,589.68 sq mi) and a coastline 261 kilometres (162 mi) long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines. To the west of Bohol is Cebu, to the northeast is the island of Leyte and to the south, across the Bohol Sea is Mindanao.
The province is a popular tourist destination with its beaches and resorts. The Chocolate Hills, numerous mounds of limestone formation, is the most popular attraction. Panglao Island, located just southwest of Tagbilaran City, is famous for its diving locations and routinely listed as one of the top ten diving locations in the world. Numerous tourist resorts dot the southern beaches and cater to divers from around the world. The Philippine Tarsier, considered the second-smallest primate in the world, is indigenous to the island.
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Bolivia
Coordinates: 16°42′43″S 64°39′58″W / 16.712°S 64.666°W / -16.712; -64.666 Bolivia (i/bəˈlɪviə/, Spanish: [boliˈβja]) officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia (Spanish: Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, Quechua: Bulivya Mamallaqta, Aymara: Wuliwya Suyu), is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, Chile to the southwest, and Peru to the west.
Prior to European colonization, the Andean region of Bolivia was a part of the Inca Empire – the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was called Upper Peru and was under the administration of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which included most of Spain's South American colonies. After declaring independence in 1809, 16 years of war followed before the establishment of the Republic, named for Simón Bolívar, on 6 August 1825. Bolivia has struggled through periods of political instability, dictatorships and economic woes.
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Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana (Tswana: Lefatshe la Botswana), is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are properly referred to as "Batswana" (singular: Motswana), but many English-language sources use "Botswanan". Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. It has held free and fair democratic elections since independence.
Botswana is flat, and up to 70% is covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. Its border with Zambia to the north near Kazungula, Zambia is poorly defined but at most is a few hundred meters long.
A mid-sized country of just over two million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Botswana was one of the poorest countries in Africa when it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1966, with a GDP per capita of about US$70. Botswana has since transformed itself, becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the world to a GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita of about $14,000. The country also has a strong tradition as a representative democracy.
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Brazil
Brazili/brəˈzɪl/ (Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone country in the world.
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi). It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas region of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile.
Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom and the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was formed. The colonial bond was in fact broken in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal.Independence was achieved in 1822 with the formation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824. Its current Constitution, formulated in 1988, defines Brazil as a Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities.
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Brunei
Bruneii/bruːˈnaɪ/, officially the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace (Malay: Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: نڬارا بروني دارالسلام), is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, and it is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang. It is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, with the remainder of the island belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei's population was 401,890 in July 2011.
The official national history claims that Brunei can trace its beginnings to the 7th century, when it was a subject state of the Srivijayan empire under the name P'o-li. It later became a vassal state of Majapahit empire before converting to Islam in the 15th century. At the peak of its empire, the sultanate had control that extended over the coastal regions of modern-day Sarawak and Sabah, the Sulu archipelago, and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. The thalassocracy was visited by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 and fought the Castille War in 1578 against Spain. Its empire began to decline with the forced ceding of Sarawak to James Brooke and the ceding of Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company. After the loss of Limbang, Brunei finally became a British protectorate in 1888, receiving a resident in 1906. In the years after the Japanese wartime occupation during World War II, it formalised a constitution and fought an armed rebellion. Brunei regained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984. Economic growth during the 1970s and 1990s, averaging 56% from 1999 to 2008, has transformed Brunei Darussalam into a newly industrialised country.
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Bukidnon
Bukidnon (/buːˈkɪdnɒn/; Cebuano: Probinsiya sa Bukidnon; Filipino: Lalawigan ng Bukidnon) is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Northern Mindanao region. Its capital is Malaybalay City. The province borders, clockwise starting from the north, Misamis Oriental, Agusan del Sur, Davao del Norte, Cotabato, Lanao del Sur, and Lanao del Norte.
Bukidnon is considered by Filipinos to be the food basket of Mindanao. It is the major producer of rice and corn in the region. Plantations in the province also produce pineapples, bananas and sugarcane.
There are no seaports in the province, although there is an airport in Malaybalay City. The airport is currently closed. To get to Bukidnon, one must travel by land from Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental Province.
Bukidnon became a part of Misamis in the latter part of 1850. The whole area was then called Malaybalay (few houses) and the people were known as Bukidnons (mountain people). The Philippine Commission, then headed by Commissioner Dean C. Worcester, Secretary of Interior, proposed the separation of Bukidnon from Misamis Province. On August 20, 1907, the Philippine Commission Act No. 1693 was enacted the Province of Agusan and sub- province of Bukidnon. Bukidnon became a regular province on March 10, 1917 by virtue of the creation of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu under Act 2711.
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Bulacan
Bulacan (Filipino: Bulakan) (PSGC: 031400000; ISO: PH-BUL), officially called the Province of Bulacan (or Lalawigan ng Bulakan in Filipino) or simply Bulacan Province, is a first class province of the Republic of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Region (Region 3) in the island of Luzon, north of Manila (the nation's capital), and part of the Metro Luzon Urban Beltway Super Region. Bulacan was established 15 August 1578.
It has 569 barangays from 21 municipalities and 3 component cities (Malolos, the capital city; Meycauayan; and San Jose del Monte). Bulacan is located immediately north of Metro Manila. Bordering Bulacan are the provinces of Pampanga to the west, Nueva Ecija to the north, Aurora and Quezon to the east, and Metro Manila and Rizal to the south. Bulacan also lies on the north-eastern shore of Manila Bay.
Bulacan prides itself for its rich historical heritage. The province figures prominently in Philippine History. Many national heroes and political figures were born in Bulacan. The province was also one of the first to revolt against Spain. The province is honored as one of the 8 rays of the sun in the national flag. It is the home of the "Three Republics." These are the Republic of Real de Kakarong de Sili (1896) in Pandi, the Republic of Biak-na-Bato (1897) and the very first Philippine Republicin Malolos(1899–1901). In recognition thereof, these three republics established in Bulacan have been incorporated in the official seal of the province of Bulacan.
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Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (i/bərˌkiːnə ˈfɑːsoʊ/ bər-KEE-nə FAH-soh; French: [buʁkina faso]) – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest. The country's capital is Ouagadougou.
Its size is 274,200 square kilometres (105,900 sq mi) with an estimated population of more than 15,757,000. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, it was renamed on 4 August 1984, by President Thomas Sankara, to mean "the land of upright people" in Mòoré and Dioula, the major native languages of the country. Figuratively, "Burkina" may be translated, "men of integrity", from the Mòoré language, and "Faso" means "fatherland" in Dioula. The inhabitants of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabè (
/bərˈkiːnəbeɪ/ bər-KEE-nə-bay).
Burkina Faso was populated between 14,000 and 5000 BC by hunter-gatherers in the country's northwestern region. Farm settlements appeared between 3600 and 2600 BC. What is now central Burkina Faso was principally composed of Mossi kingdoms. These Mossi Kingdoms would become a French protectorate in 1896. After gaining independence from France in 1960, the country underwent many governmental changes until arriving at its current form, a semi-presidential republic. The president is Blaise Compaoré.
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Burma
Burmai/ˈbɜrmə/ BUR-mə, also known as Myanmar i/ˌmjɑːnˈmɑr/ MYAHN--MAR, is a country in South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is bordered by India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. One-third of Burma's total perimeter of 1,930 kilometres (1,200 mi) forms an uninterrupted coastline along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. At 676,578 km2 (261,227 sq mi), it is the 40th largest country in the world and the second largest country in Southeast Asia. Burma is also the 24th most populous country in the world with over 60.28 million people.
Burma is home to some of the early civilizations of Southeast Asia including the Pyu and the Mon. In the 9th century, the Burmans of the Kingdom of Nanzhao, entered the upper Irrawaddy valley and, following the establishment of the Pagan Empire in the 1050s, the Burmese language and culture slowly became dominant in the country. During this period, Theravada Buddhism gradually became the predominant religion of the country. The Pagan Empire fell due to the Mongol invasions (1277–1301), and several warring states emerged. In the second half of the 16th century, the country was reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty which for a brief period was the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Burma as well as Manipur and Assam. The country was colonized by Britain following three Anglo-Burmese Wars (1824–1885).
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Burundi
Burundi (pronounced /bəˈɹʊndɨ/), officially the Republic of Burundi (Kirundi: Republika y'u Burundi, [buˈɾundi]; French: République du Burundi, [byˈʁyndi]), is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura. Although the country is landlocked, much of the southwestern border is adjacent to Lake Tanganyika.
The Twa, Tutsi, and Hutu peoples have occupied Burundi since the country's formation five centuries ago. Burundi was ruled as a kingdom by the Tutsi for over two hundred years. However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Germany and Belgium occupied the region, and Burundi and Rwanda became a European colony known as Ruanda-Urundi.
Political unrest occurred throughout the region, in part, because of social differences between the Tutsi and Hutu, provoking civil war in Burundi throughout the middle twentieth century. Presently, Burundi is governed as a presidential representative democratic republic.
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Butuan
The City of Butuan (Filipino: Lungsod ng Butuan; Butuanon: Dakbayan hong Butuan) is the regional center of Caraga, serving as an administrative region of the Philippines; it is a highly urbanized city. It is located at the northeastern part of Agusan Valley, Mindanao, sprawling across the Agusan River. It is bounded to the north, west and south by Agusan del Norte, to the east by Agusan del Sur and to the northwest by Butuan Bay. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 309,709 people.
The name "Butuan" is believed to have originated from the sour fruit, batuan. Other etymology sources say that it comes from a certain "Datu Buntuan", a chieftain who once ruled over Butuan.[citation needed]
Butuan was the capital of Agusan del Norte until 2000 when Republic Act 8811 transferred the capital to Cabadbaran City. However many of the provincial government offices are still located there, including the provincial capitol, as are many the Caraga regional offices of the national government agencies.
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Cagayan
Cagayan (/kɑːɡəˈjɑːn/kah-gə-YAHN), the "Land of Smiling Beauty", is a province of the Philippines in the Cagayan Valley region in Luzon. Its capital is Tuguegarao City and is located at the northeastern corner of the island of Luzon. Cagayan also includes the Babuyan Islands to the north. The province borders Ilocos Norte and Apayao to the west, and Kalinga and Isabela to the south. Cagayan province is distinct from the city in Mindanao named Cagayan de Oro, and is far away from Cagayancillo of Palawan or Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi Island in the Sulu Sea.
Present day chroniclers say that the name was derived from the word “tagay,” a kind of plant that grows abundantly in the northern part of the province. Thus, “Catagayan” which means a place where the tagay grows abundantly was shortened to “Cagayan,” the present name of the province.
In 1581, Captain Juan Pablo Carreon came to Cagayan with one hundred fully equipped soldiers with their families by order of Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñaloza, the fourth Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, to explore the Cagayan Valley and to force the conversion of the natives to Catholicism as well as to establish ecclesiastical missions and towns throughout the valley. This was the first batch of Spanish settlers in the Cagayan Valley who introduced Spanish culture and Latin civilization, subverting native culture, customs, and tradition.
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Cagayan de Oro
Cagayan de Oro; ( /kəˈɡaɪən deɪ ˈɔəroʊ/ kə-GY-ən day OHR-oh; Cebuano: Dakbayan sa Cagayan de Oro; Filipino: Lungsod ng Cagayan de Oro), officially the City of Cagayan de Oro, is the provincial capital city of the province of Misamis Oriental in the Philippines. It lies along the northern coastline of the island of Mindanao in the country's southern portion.
It is the regional center of Northern Mindanao, and the metropolitan center of Metro Cagayan de Oro. According to the 2010 Census, the city has an estimated population of 602,088 inhabitants.
Cagayan de Oro is known as the "City of Golden Friendship" (Dakbayan sa Bulawanong Panaghigala-ay in Cebuano, as the phrase appears on the city's seal). The name Cagayan de Oro may appear abbreviated as CDO, CDOC, CdeO or Cag. de Oro.
There are also other places in the Philippines with a Cagayán name. One must distinguish Cagayan de Oro from Cagayan province in Northern Luzon and the Cagayan Islands in the Sulu Sea.
The name Cagayán de Oro can be traced back during the arrival of the Spanish Augustinian Recollect friars in 1622, the area around Himologan (now Huluga), was already known as "Cagayan".
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Cagayan Valley
Cagayan Valley (Lambak ng Cagayan in Filipino; Tana' nak Cagayan in the Ibanag Language; Tanap ti Cagayan in the Ilocano Language)(Ga-dang yoh Cagayan in Malaueg language) is a region of the Philippines, also designated as Region II or Region 02. It is composed of five provinces, namely: Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, and Quirino. It has three cities; Industrial center-Cauayan City, its regional center-Tuguegarao, and its commercial center-Santiago City.
Most of the region lies in a large valley in northeastern Luzon, between the Cordilleras and the Sierra Madre mountain ranges. The Cagayan River, the country's longest river runs through its center and flows out to Luzon Strait in the north, in the town of Aparri, Cagayan. The Babuyan and Batanes island groups that lie in the Luzon Strait also belong to the region.
Cagayan Valley is the vast mass of land in the northeastern region of Luzon, comprising today the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino. It is bounded to the west by the Cordillera Mountain Range, to the east by the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, and bounded by the Babuyan Island, where the waters of the Pacific Ocean in the east and the South China Sea in the west meet. During Spanish times Cagayan Valley had a larger territory than what it has today. It included not only the territories of the above mention provinces, but also the eastern parts of the Cordillera provinces of Apayao, Kalinga, Ifugao and Benguet. As the historian and missionary Jose Burgues, said, The old Cagayan Valley comprises the province of Cagayan, Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya as well as the military Districts of Apayao, Itaves, Quiangan, Cayapa and Bintangan, plus the area of the Sierra Madre to the Pacific Ocean in hte said trajectory. "Descripcion del Valle de Cagayan, 1897 by Jose Burgues"
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CALABARZON
CALABARZON /ka-la-bar-zon/ is one of the regions of the Philippines. It is designated as Region IV-A and its regional center is Calamba City in Laguna. The region is composed of five provinces, namely: CAvite, LAguna, BAtangas, Rizal, and QueZON; the region's name is formed from the names of these provinces. The region is also more formally known as Southern Tagalog Mainland.
The region is in southwestern Luzon, just south and east of Metro Manila and is the second most densely populated region.
CALABARZON and MIMAROPA were previously combined together as Southern Tagalog, until they were separated in 2002.
Executive Order No. 246, dated October 28, 2003, designated Calamba City as the regional center of CALABARZON. The largest city of CALABARZON Region and the second highly-urbanized city is Antipolo City. Lucena City is the first highly-urbanized city in this region. While the largest metropolis in the region is Laguna West Metropolitan.
CALABARZON is the most populated region in the Philippines, with a population of 12,609,803 inhabitants. CALABARZON is also declared as the 2nd Most Richest Region in the Philippines, following the Metro Manila.
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Calapan
Calapan City is a 2nd class component city in the Fist Congressional District in the province of Oriental Mindoro, Philippines and serves as the provincial capital. It is known most distinctly as the "Gateway to the Golden Isle" but is also referred to with other different titles such as "The Discipline City", "The City of the Golden Grains", "The Acropolis of the South", and "The Provincial Capitol" . According to the 2010 LGPMS Census, it has a population of 116,976 people in 20,929 households. Its citizens are called Calapeños.
The city's economy is dependent on agriculture and fishing. However, a growing industry in machinery and tourism has contributed well to the city's annual income making it one of the fastest growing new cities in the country for the last 10 years. Calapan City also serves as the gateway to the Oriental Mindoro province with the implementation of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway, an integrated Roll On-Roll Off project of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that extends further to the southern part of the Philippines. The Calapan City Seaport is the largest and busiest seaport in the Mindoro island with ships that travels to and from the Batangas City International Seaport. Calapan City is 45 minutes away from Batangas City and is accessible by ferry boat and RORO ships.
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Caloocan
The City of Caloocan (official name: Makasaysayang Lungsod ng Kalookan, The Historic City of Caloocan) is one of the cities and municipalities that comprises the Metro Manila region (National Capital Region) in the Philippines. It is a major residential area inside Metro Manila. Located just north of the capital City of Manila, Caloocan is the country's third most populous city with a population of 1,378,856 as of the 2007 census.
Caloocan City is divided into two separate areas. Southern Caloocan City lies directly north of the City of Manila and is bounded by Malabon City and Valenzuela City to the north and west, Navotas to the west, and Quezon City to the east. Northern Caloocan City is the northernmost territory of Metro Manila; it lies east of Valenzuela City, north of Quezon City, and south of San Jose del Monte City, and Marilao in the province of Bulacan. Northern Caloocan City is much larger than its southern counterpart.
Caloocan City is divided into 188 barangays. The city uses a hybrid system for its barangays - all barangays have their corresponding numbers but only a few - mostly in the northern part - have corresponding names.
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Camarines Norte
Camarines Norte (Filipino:Hilagang Kamarines) is a province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in Luzon. Its capital is Daet and the province borders Quezon to the west and Camarines Sur to the south.
Camarines Norte has a population of 513,785 as of 2007, roughly 10% of the region's population of 5,109,798 and 0.62% of the country's population of 88,574,614. Bikol is the major language spoken, together with Tagalog and English as second or third languages.
The four major manufacturing and processing industries in the province are jewelry craft, gifts/toys/housewares, pineapple and coconut industry.
The province of Camarines Norte is found in the northwestern coast of the Bicol Peninsula, which form the southeastern section of Luzon, the largest island in the Philippine archipelago.
One of the six provinces that make up Region V (Bicol), it is bounded on the north by the Pacific Ocean, in the east by the Pacific Ocean and San Miguel Bay, in the west of Lamon Bay, and in the south by Quezon province and the adjoining province of Camarines Sur.
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Camarines Sur
Camarines Sur (Tagalog: Timog Camarines) is a province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in Luzon. Its capital is Pili and the province borders Camarines Norte and Quezon to the north, and Albay to the south. To the east lies the island province of Catanduanes across Maqueda Channel.
Camarines Sur is the largest among the six provinces in the Bicol Region both in terms of population and land area. Its territory encompasses two cities: Naga City, the lone chartered city, is the province's and the region's most progressive city, also commercial, financial, and cultural center, while Iriga City, a component city, is the center of the Rinconada area and Riŋkonāda Language. Lake Buhi is where the smallest commercially harvested fish can be found, the Sinarapan or tabyos (Mistichthys luzonensis).
Population. According to the May 2010 census, there is a total of 2,693,821 residents in Camarines Sur, making it the most populous in the region and the 7th most populous in the whole country. The same census also states that Camarines Sur has 288,172 households with an average household size of 5.37 persons, significantly higher than the national average of 4.99. The annual growth rate is 1.86%, much lower than the national growth rate of 2.36%. This rate of growth will double the population of Camarines Sur in 8 years.
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Cambodia
Cambodia (i/kæmˈboʊdiə/;Khmer: ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា, Kampuchea, IPA: [kɑmˈpuˈciə]), officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total landmass of 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), it is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
With a population of over 14.8 million, Cambodia is the 68th most populous country in the world. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, which is practiced by around 95% of the Cambodian population. The country minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 various hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh; the political, economic, and cultural center of Cambodia. The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years.
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Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon (French: République du Cameroun), is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Douala, Yaoundé, and Garoua. Cameroon is home to over 200 different linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. French and English are the official languages.
Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões ("River of Prawns"), the name from which Cameroon derives. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms. Cameroon became a German colony in 1884.
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Camiguin
Camiguin is an island province of the Philippines located in the Bohol Sea, about 10 km (6.2 mi) off the northern coast of Mindanao. It is politically part of the Northern Mindanao Region of the country and formerly a part of Misamis Oriental province. Camiguin is the second-smallest in the country both in population and land area after Batanes.Mambajao is the capital of the province and its largest municipality both in area and population.
Camiguin is a pearl-shaped island with an area of approximately 238 km2 (92 sq mi). The island measures about 23 kilometres (14 mi) at its longest and 14.5 kilometres (9.0 mi) at its widest breadth.. The island is mountainous with the highest elevation reaching over 5,000 ft (1,500 m). It is encircled by a national road with a total length of about 64 kilometres (40 mi). As of the August 1, 2007 census, the province has a 5th class income classification with a population of 81,293.
The province of Camiguin is divided into five municipalities, the largest of which is Mambajao. The towns are further subdivided into a total of 58 barangays. The five municipalities are:
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Camp Aguinaldo
Camp Aguinaldo is the military headquarters of the Philippine Army and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and is located in Quezon City in the Philippines. It is located along Epifanio de los Santos Ave. (or EDSA), in front of Camp Crame, the national headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP). The military base is named after the Filipino Military General, Emilio Aguinaldo who became the first Philippine President, that fought in the Philippine Revolution, the Spanish–American and the Philippine–American War.
Camp Aguinaldo was established on January 11, 1935. Initially known as Camp Murphy, that includes Zablan Field, in honor of the first American high commissioner Frank Murphy, it was renamed Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo in 1965, after the Philippines’ first President.
The camp covers a total land area of 178.78 hectares. Of these, 152.52 hectares were purchased by the government and the remaining 26.26 hectares were donated by Ortigas and Co. Partnership Ltd.
The Philippine Constabulary General Service Battalion was the first to use the camp in January 1935.
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Canada
Canada ( /ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Spanning over 9,900,000 km2 (3,800,000 sq mi), Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the longest land border in the world.
The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonial expeditions explored, and later settled, along the region's Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy; the Canada Act 1982 severed the vestiges of legal dependence on Britain.
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Cape Verde
Cape Verdei/ˌkeɪp ˈvɜrd/ (Portuguese: Cabo Verde, pronounced: [ˈkabu ˈveɾdɨ]), officially the Republic of Cape Verde, is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa. The islands, covering a combined area of slightly over 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi), are of volcanic origin and while three of them (Sal, Boa Vista and Maio) are fairly flat, sandy and dry, the remaining ones are generally rockier and have more vegetation. However, because of the infrequent occurrence of rainfall the overall landscape is not particularly green.
The name of the country stems from the nearby Cap Vert, on the Senegalese coast, which in its turn was originally named "Cabo Verde" when it was sighted by Portuguese explorers in 1444, a few years before the islands were discovered (verde is Portuguese for "green").
The previously uninhabited islands were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese in the 15th Century, and became important in the Atlantic slave trade for their location. The islands' prosperity often attracted privateers and pirates, including Sir Francis Drake, a corsair (privateer) under the authority of the British crown, who twice sacked the (then) capital Ribeira Grande, in the 1580s. The islands were also visited by Charles Darwin's expedition in 1832. The decline in the slave trade in the 19th century resulted in an economic crisis for the islands. With few natural resources, and without strong sustainable investment from the Portuguese, the citizens grew increasingly discontent with the colonial masters, who nevertheless refused to provide the local authorities with more autonomy. This discontent festered and culminated in 1975, when a movement originally led by Amílcar Cabral who was assassinated on 20 January 1973 then passed onto his half-brother Luís Cabral, achieved independence for the archipelago.
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Capiz
Capiz (Filipino:Kapis) is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is Roxas City and is located at the northeastern portion of Panay Island, bordering Aklan and Antique to the west, and Iloilo to the south. Capiz faces the Sibuyan Sea to the north. Capiz is known for its mother-of-pearl shells that have the same name and are used for decoration, making lampshades, trays, window doors. Capiz is known as the Seafood Capital of the Philippines.
There are two main versions of how Capiz got its name: 1) Akean and Kapid (meaning "twins") which Balingangan, Datu Bangkaya's eldest son, names his territories in honor of his twin daughters. 2) When the Spaniards established a settlement, they found an abundance of a mollusk called pios or kapid, the old native name which has also come to known as Capiz.
Historians and ethnologists narrowed down to three types of people known to have inhabited Capiz: Aeta, popularly known as Negritos; Indonesians descendants of the Mundo tribe in central Panay; and the Malays.
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Caraga
Caraga is an administrative region of the Philippines, on the northeastern portion of the island of Mindanao. It is the newest region in the Philippines and is also called Region XIII. The Caraga Region was created through Republic Act No. 7901 on February 25, 1995. The region is composed of five provinces: Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Dinagat Islands; six cities: Bayugan, Butuan, Cabadbaran, Surigao, Tandag, Bislig; 67 municipalities and 1,311 barangays. Butuan City is the regional center.
The "Kalagans", called "Caragans" by the Spaniards, occupied the district composed of the two provinces of Surigao, the northern part of Davao Oriental and eastern Misamis Oriental. The two Agusan provinces were later organized under the administrative jurisdiction of Surigao and became the independent Agusan province in 1914. In 1960, Surigao was divided into Norte and Sur, and in June 1967, Agusan followed suit. While Butuan then was just a town of Agusan, the logging boom in the 1950s drew business to the area. On August 2, 1950, by virtue of Republic Act 523, the City Charter of Butuan was approved.
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Catanduanes
Catanduanes (Filipino:Katandwanes) is an island province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in Luzon. Its capital is Virac and the province lies to the east of Camarines Sur across Maqueda Channel. As of 2007, the population of the province is 232,757 people.
"Isla de Cobos" was Catanduanes' first adopted name. It was earned as such during the early part of 1573 when Spanish conquistadores came upon several tribes living in the thatched huts called cobos.
Catanduanes, is a hispanized term derived from the word tandu, a native beetle and the samdong tree, which were both found in abundance throughout the island. Common reference to "katanduan" or "kasamdongan", meaning a place where the tandu or the samdong tree thrives in abundance, led to the coining of the word Catanduanes.
The scions of the then Bornean Datus who had moved on the island of Panay and then, spread out throughout the archipelago were the first settlers to have set foot in Catanduanes. The island was not spared from the adventurous raids of the Moros who came from the island of Mindanao. Because of these destructive raids, many records of the past were destroyed and lost.
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Cavite
Cavite (Filipino: Kabite) is a province of the Philippines located on the southern shores of Manila Bay in the CALABARZON region in Luzon, just 30 kilometers south of Manila. Cavite is surrounded by Laguna to the east, Metro Manila to the northeast, and Batangas to the south. To the west lies the South China Sea.
The name "Cavite" comes the Hispanicized form of kawit or it is a corruption of kalawit, Tagalog words for "hook," in reference to the small hook-shaped peninsula jutting into Manila Bay. The name originally only applied to the peninsula (Cavite La Punta, now Cavite City) and the adjacent lowland coastal area (Cavite Viejo, now Kawit). Cavite City used to serve as the capital of the province until 1954, and as with many other provinces organized during the Spanish colonial era, the name of the capital was applied to the whole province.
Another theory proposes that the name is a Hispanicized form of kabit, Tagalog for "joined," "connected," or "attached," referring to the peninsula's topographical relation to the mainland.
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Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands ( /ˈkeɪmən/ or /keɪˈmæn/) is a British Overseas Territory located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. The Cayman Islands are considered to be part of the geographic Western Caribbean Zone as well as the Greater Antilles. The territory is a major world offshore financial centre.
The Cayman Islands were first logged as sighted by Christopher Columbus on 10 May 1503 during his fourth and final voyage to the New World. He named the islands Las Tortugas after the large number of sea turtles observed there. The first recorded English visitor to the islands was Sir Francis Drake in 1586. He subsequently named the islands "Cayman" after caiman, a Neo-Taino word for "alligator".
The Cayman Islands remained largely uninhabited until the 17th century. While there is no archaeological evidence for an indigenous people on the islands, a variety of settlers from various backgrounds made their home on the islands, including pirates, refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, shipwrecked sailors, and deserters from Oliver Cromwell's army in Jamaica.
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Cebu
Cebu (Cebuano: Sugbo) is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands. Cebu is a long narrow island stretching 225 kilometers from north to south, surrounded by 167 neighbouring, smaller islands, which include Mactan, Bantayan, Malapascua, Olango and the Camotes Islands. Cebu has narrow coastlines, limestone plateaus and coastal plains. It also has rolling hills and rugged mountain ranges traversing the northern and southern lengths of the island. Cebu's highest mountains are over 1000 meters high. Flat tracts of land can be found in the city of Bogo and in the towns of San Remigio, Medellin and Daanbantayan at the northern region of the province. Its capital is Cebu City, the oldest city in the Philippines, which forms part of the Cebu Metropolitan Area together with four neighboring cities which include Danao City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City and Talisay City and eight other municipalities. Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Mactan island, is the second busiest airport in the Philippines.
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Cebu City
The City of Cebu (Cebuano: Dakbayan sa Sugbo) is the capital city of Cebu and is the "second city" in the Philippines with the second most significant metropolitan centre and known as the oldest settlement established by the Spaniards in the country.
The city is located on the eastern shore of Cebu and was the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. Cebu is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies. Cebu also holds the second largest international flights in the Philippines and is a significant centre of commerce, trade and industry in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
Cebu City is the centre of a metropolitan area called Metro Cebu, which includes the cities of Carcar, Danao, Lapu-lapu, Mandaue, Naga, Talisay. Metro Cebu has a total population of about 2 million people. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport, located in Lapu-Lapu City is only a twenty-minute drive away from Cebu City. To the northeast of the city are Mandaue City and the town of Consolacion, to the west are Toledo City, the towns of Balamban and Asturias, to the south are Talisay City and the town of Minglanilla. Across Mactan Strait to the east is Mactan Island where Lapu-Lapu City and an aquarium attraction are located.
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Celebes Sea
The Celebes Sea (Indonesian: Laut Sulawesi) of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by the Sangihe Islands chain, on the south by Sulawesi, and on the west by Kalimantan in Indonesia. It extends 420 miles (675 km) north-south by 520 miles (837 km) east-west and has a total surface area of 110,000 square miles (280,000 km2), to a maximum depth of 20,300 feet (6,200 m). The sea opens southwest through the Makassar Strait into the Java Sea.
The Celebes Sea is a piece of an ancient ocean basin that formed 42 million years ago in a locale removed from any landmass. By 20,000,000 years ago, earth crust movement had moved the basin close enough to the Indonesian and Philippine volcanoes to receive emitted debris. By 10 million years ago the Celebes Sea was inundated with continental debris, including coal, which was shed from a growing young mountain on Borneo and the basin had docked against Eurasia.
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Central Luzon
Coordinates: 15°28′N 120°45′E / 15.467°N 120.75°E / 15.467; 120.75 Central Luzon (or Gitnang Luzon in Filipino), also known as Region III (or Region 3), is an administrative division or region of the Republic of the Philippines, primarily serve to organize the 7 provinces of the vast central plain of the island of Luzon (the largest island), for administrative convenience. The region contains the largest plain in the country and produces most of the country's rice supply, earning itself the nickname "Rice Bowl of the Philippines". Its provinces are: Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales.
Central Luzon Region is located north of Manila, the nation's capital. Bordering the region are the regions of Ilocos, Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley regions to the north; National Capital Region and CALABARZON to the south; and of waters of Manila Bay to the south; South China Sea to the west; and The Philippine Sea to the east.
There are thirteen cities which include: Balanga in Bataan; Malolos, Meycauayan and San Jose del Monte in Bulacan; Cabanatuan, Gapan, Muñoz, Palayan and San Jose in Nueva Ecija; Angeles and San Fernando in Pampanga; Tarlac in Tarlac; and Olongapo in Zambales.Central Luzon produces the most rice in the whole country.Excess rice is delivered and imported to other provinces of the Philippines.
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Central Visayas
Central Visayas, designated as Region VII, is a region of the Philippines located in the central part of the Visayas island group. It consists of four provinces—Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor— and the highly urbanized cities of Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City, and Mandaue City. The region is dominated by the native speakers of Cebuano. Cebu City is its regional center.
The land area of the region is 15,875 km². As of the 2007 census, it has a population of 6,398,628, making it the 5th most populous of the country's 17 regions.
The Central Visayas region is composed of 4 provinces and 3 independent cities:
Although Cebu City, Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City are often grouped under the province of Cebu for statistical purposes by the National Statistics Office, as highly urbanized cities they are administratively independent from the province.
As of the 2007 census, Central Visayas had a population of 6,398,628, making it the 5th most populous of the country's 17 regions. The population density was 403.1 people per square kilometer (6,129.4/mi²). The census showed an average annual population growth rate of 1.59% from 2000 to 2007, significantly less than the national average of 2.04%.
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Chad
Chadi/ˈtʃæd/ (French: Tchad, Arabic: تشاد Tšād), officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".
Chad is divided into multiple regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanese savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second largest in Africa. Chad's highest peak is the Emi Koussi in the Sahara, and N'Djamena, (formerly Fort-Lamy), the capital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic and French are the official languages. Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.
Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires rose and fell in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa.
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Chile
Chile (i/ˈtʃɪliː/ or /ˈtʃɪleɪ/), officially the Republic of Chile (Spanish: República de Chile [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈtʃile] ( listen)), is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Along with Ecuador, it is one of two countries in South America that do not border Brazil. Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas and Easter Island. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty.
Chile's distinctive shape—4,300 kilometres (2,700 mi) long and on average 175 kilometres (109 mi) wide—makes it the longest country in the world, north to south, with the fifth lengthiest coastline at over 78 thousand kilometers. The diverse climate of Chile ranges from the world's driest desert in the north—the Atacama—through a Mediterranean climate in the centre, humid subtropical in Easter Island, to an Oceanic climate, including alpine tundra and glaciers in the east and south. The northern desert contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources, and is the cultural and political center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century when it incorporated its northern and southern regions. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Christmas Island
Coordinates: 10°29′S 105°38′E / 10.483°S 105.633°E / -10.483; 105.633 The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, 360 km (220 mi) south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, 975 km (606 mi) ENE of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and 2,748 km (1,708 mi) west of the Territorian city of Darwin.
Christmas Island has a population of 1,403 residents who live in a number of "settlement areas" on the northern tip of the island: Flying Fish Cove (also known as Kampong), Silver City, Poon Saan, and Drumsite.
The island’s geographic isolation and history of minimal human disturbance has led to a high level of endemism among its flora and fauna, which is of significant interest to scientists and naturalists. 63% of its 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi) is an Australian national park. There exist large areas of primary monsoonal forest.
Phosphate, deposited originally as dead marine organisms (not guano as often thought), has been mined on the island for many years.
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Colombia
Colombia ( /kəˈlʌmbiə/ kə-LUM-biə, or /kəˈlɒmbiə/ kə-LOM-biə), officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia [reˈpuβlika ðe koˈlombja]), is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the northwest by Panama; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia has maritime borders with Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Colombia is the 26th largest country by area and the fourth largest in South America after Brazil, Argentina and Peru. With over 46 million people, Colombia is the 27th largest country in the world by population and has the second largest population of any Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico. Colombia is a middle power, with the fourth largest economy in Latin America, and the third largest in South America. Colombia is famous for the production of coffee, flowers, emeralds, coal, and oil. All of these products make up the primary sector of economy.
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Comoros
The Comorosi/ˈkɒməroʊz/ (Arabic: جزر القمر, Ǧuzur al-Qumur/Qamar), officially the Union of the Comoros (Comorian: Udzima wa Komori, French: Union des Comores, Arabic: الاتحاد القمري al-Ittiḥād al-Qumurī/Qamarī) is a sovereign, archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar. Other countries near to the Comoros are Tanzania to the northwest and the Seychelles to the northeast. The capital is Moroni on Grande Comore.
At 1,862 km2 (719 sq mi) (excluding Mayotte), the Comoros is the third-smallest African nation by area. The population (excluding Mayotte) is estimated at 798,000. Its name derives from the Arabic word قمر qamar ("moon"). The archipelago is notable for its diverse culture and history, as a nation formed at the crossroads of many civilizations. It is the southernmost member state of the Arab League. Though in the contested island of Mayotte the sole official language is French, the "Union of the Comoros" has three official languages: Comorian, Arabic, and French.
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Compostela Valley
Compostela Valley is a province of the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. The province, called Comval for short, used to be part of Davao del Norte until it was made independent in 1998. It is the third newest province of the Philippines, behind Dinagat Islands and Zamboanga Sibugay. Its capital is Nabunturan. The province borders Davao del Norte to the west, Agusan del Sur to the north, and Davao Oriental to the east. To the southwest lies the Davao Gulf. Its first elected governor was lawyer Jose Caballero who used to be a lawyer for the mining group in the province.
Majority of the inhabitants are migrants from Cebu, Samar, Bohol and other Visayan provinces. The cultural minorities in the province include the Mansaka, Mandaya, Dibabawons, Mangguangans and Aeta groups such as the Talaingod, Langilan, and Matigsalug.
Arnold Bajo, is the most successful defender of the poor minorities, especially the Mandaya. He died in the battle while defending the poor. According to the legend, 40 days after his death, somebody reported that his spirit come from his body and infused in the statue of Ara-araba, their god of harvest. From then on, people worship him as god in the Mandaya tribe, which he refused as he confessed as follower of Rizal, the original defender of poor.
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Cook Islands
The Cook Islands (i/ˈkʊk ˈaɪləndz/; Cook Islands Māori: Kūki 'Āirani) is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. The 15 small islands have a total land area of 240 square kilometres (92.7 sq mi), but the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,800,000 square kilometres (690,000 sq mi) of ocean.
The main population centres are on the island of Rarotonga (14,153 in 2006), where there is an international airport. There is a much larger population of Cook Islanders in New Zealand, particularly the North Island. In the 2006 census, 58,008 self-identified as being of ethnic Cook Island Māori descent.
With about 100,000 visitors travelling to the islands in the 2010-11 financial year,tourism is the country's main industry, and the leading element of the economy, far ahead of offshore banking, pearls, and marine and fruit exports.
Defence and foreign affairs are the responsibility of New Zealand, in consultation with the Cook Islands. In recent times, the Cook Islands have adopted an increasingly independent foreign policy. Although Cook Islanders are citizens of New Zealand, they have the status of Cook Islands nationals, which is not given to other New Zealand citizens.
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Costa Rica
Costa Rica is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east.
Costa Rica, which means "Rich Coast", constitutionally abolished its army permanently in 1949. It is the only Latin American country included in the list of the world's 22 older democracies. Costa Rica has consistently been among the top Latin American countries in the Human Development Index (HDI), ranked 69th in the world in 2011. Also was cited by the UNDP in 2010 as one of the countries that have attained much higher human development than other countries at the same income levels, and in 2011 was highlighted by UNDP for being a good performer on environmental sustainability, and better record on human development and inequality than the median of their region. It was also the only country to meet all five criteria established to measure environmental sustainability. The country is ranked fifth in the world, and first among the Americas, in terms of the 2012 Environmental Performance Index.
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Cotabato
Cotabato (also North Cotabato; Filipino:Hilagang Kotabato), is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the SOCCSKSARGEN region in Mindanao. Its capital is Kidapawan City and borders Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon to the north, Davao del Norte and Davao City to the east, Davao del Sur and Sultan Kudarat to the southeast, and Maguindanao to the south and west.
The Province of North Cotabato lies on the eastern part of Region XII and is strategically located in the central part of Mindanao. It is bounded on the north by the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon, on the east by Davao City and Davao del Norte, on the west by Maguindanao and on the southeast by Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur.
North Cotabato is strategically linked to the major "Arterial Road System" that traverses and connects the province to Davao City - SOCCSKSARGEN - Cotabato Corridor. The Cotabato via Kabacan - Maramag - Kibawe, Bukidnon Sayre Highway meanwhile serves as its link to the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan City Corridor.
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Cotabato City
The City of Cotabato (Malay: Kotabatu) is one of the cities of the Philippines located in Mindanao. Cotabato City is an exclave of the SOCCSKSARGEN region found within the boundaries of Maguindanao province, but is independent of that province. Cotabato City is distinct from and should not be confused with the province of Cotabato. Cotabato's population was about 271,786 in 2010 census.
Cotabato City had witnessed more history than any other place in Mindanao. Its history dates back to the 15th century when Shariff Kabunsuan, an Arab missionary, landed along the banks of the Rio Grande de Mindanao and introduced Islam to the natives. Islam was the faith that moved the early settlers to communal life, and to establish the Sultanate of Maguindanao with its golden age ushered in by Sultan Dipatuan Qudarat during the 17th century the time when Cotabato City developed as the capital town of Maguindanao.
In the nineteenth century, when Sultan Makakua ruled, roads and wharfs were constructed which gave rise to the birth of modern day Cotabato. However, the then Municipality of Cotabato was first organized at the later part of the 19th century when the Spaniards established a military post at Barangay Tamontaka, one of the earliest Christian settlements.
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Croatia
Croatia (i/kroʊˈeɪʃə/ kroh-AY-shə; Croatian: Hrvatska pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː]), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska listen (help·info)), is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of Central Europe, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles) and has diverse, mostly continental and Mediterranean climates. Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The country's population is 4.29 million, most of whom are Croats, with the most common religious denomination being Roman Catholicism.
In the early 7th century the Croats arrived in area of present-day Croatia. They organised the state into two dukedoms by the 9th century. Tomislav became the first king by 925 AD, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Peter Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir. Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs that declared independence from Austria–Hungary and co-founded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. A Croatian state briefly existed during World War II as a fascist puppet state. After the war, Croatia became a founding member and a federal constituent of the Second Yugoslavia, a socialist state. In June 1991, Croatia declared independence, which came into effect on 8 October of the same year. The Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration.
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Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, (i/ˈkjuːbə/; Spanish: República de Cuba, pronounced: [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkuβa] ( listen)) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. To the north of Cuba lies the United States (140 km or 90 mi away) and the Bahamas, Mexico is to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic are to the southeast.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on and claimed the island now occupied by Cuba, for the Kingdom of Spain. Cuba remained a territory of Spain until the Spanish–American War ended in 1898, and gained formal independence from the U.S. in 1902. A fragile democracy, increasingly dominated by radical politics eventually evolved, solidified by the Cuban Constitution of 1940, but was definitely quashed in 1952 by former president Fulgencio Batista, and an authoritarian regime was set up, intensifying and catalyzing already rampant corruption, political repression and crippling economic regulations.Batista was ousted in January 1959 by the July 26 movement, and a new administration under Fidel Castro established, which had by 1965 evolved into a single-party state under the revived Communist Party of Cuba, which holds power to date.
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Cyprus
Cyprusi/ˈsaɪprəs/ (Greek: Κύπρος, Kýpros, IPA: [ˈcipɾos]; Turkish: Kıbrıs, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs]), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: [cipɾiaˈci ðimokɾaˈtia]; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs dʒumhuɾijeˈti]), is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria, Lebanon, northwest of Israel and north of Egypt. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the European Union.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates back to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, which has been declared a World Heritage Site with an "enhanced protection" status in the event of armed conflict by UNESCO, along with the archaeological sites of Paphos and the Painted Churches of the Troodos Region. Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world.
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Dasmariñas
The City of Dasmariñas (Filipino: Lungsod ng Dasmariñas) is a first class city in the province of Cavite, Philippines. It is located approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Manila. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 556,330 people, making it before the most populous municipality in the Philippines before it was converted into a city. Dasmariñas is now the 11th largest city in the country in terms of population. It has a land area of 90.1 square kilometers (34.8 sq mi).
Dasmariñas City used to be part of Cavite's second congressional district until June 30, 2010. The city has now its own legislative district, although that district is still part of the representation of Cavite (Cavite's 4th legislative district will also be known as the Legislative District of Dasmariñas. It is also the second largest component city in terms of population (556,330 as of 2007), next only to Antipolo. Such population is enough to warrant Dasmariñas another congressional district, and by then deem it independent from the representation of Cavite if the move prospers.
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Davao City
The City of Davao, the de facto capital of Mindanao (Cebuano: Dakbayan sa Dabaw ; Tagalog: Lungsod ng Dabaw ; Spanish: Ciudad de Davao) is the largest city in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Its international airport and seaports are among the busiest cargo hubs in the Philippines.
Davao City is also one of several cities in the Philippines that are independent of any province. The city serves as the regional center of Davao Region (Region XI) and the metropolitan center of Metro Davao. It has a population of 1,449,296 according to 2010 NSO Census, making it the country's largest city outside Metro Manila and the second overall with the cities of Metro Manila combined. In recent years, Davao City has emerged as the financial-capital, investment and tourism hub for the entire southern Philippines. The City Mayors Foundation ranks Davao City as the 87th fastest growing city in the world, and it has been listed by the Foreign Direct Investment Magazine as the 10th "Asian City of the future".
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Davao del Norte
Davao del Norte (Filipino:Hilagang Dabaw), and once known simply as Davao, is a province of the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital is Tagum City. It borders the province of Agusan del Sur to the north, Bukidnon to the west, Compostela Valley to the east, and the city of Davao to the south. Davao also includes Samal Island to the south in the Davao Gulf. The province of Compostela Valley used to be part of Davao until it was made into an independent province in 1998. Before 1967, the four provinces—Davao, Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur, and Compostela Valley—were once a single province named Davao. The Davao Region covers this historic province.
Davao del Norte has a population of 910,784 as of 2010 LGPMS Census. The population density is 248 per km². Main languages spoken are Bisaya and Davaoeño.
Davao del Norte is a primarily agricultural, but also engages in mining, forestry, and commercial fishing.
The principal crops of the province include rice, maize, banana, coconut, abacá, ramie, coffee, and a variety of fruit and root crops. Davao del Norte is the country's leading producer of bananas, with many plantations run by multinationals Dole and Del Monte, and local producers such as Lapanday, TADECO, and Marsman. Davao del Norte is also one of Mindanao's leading producer of rice.
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Davao del Sur
Davao del Sur (Filipino:Timog Dabaw) is a province of the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital is Digos City. The province is bordered by Davao City to the north, and Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, and Sarangani to the west. To the east lies the Davao Gulf. It also shares a water border with the Indonesian province of North Sulawesi to the south.
The beginnings of both Davao Region and Davao del Sur was associated with that of the foundation of Davao, which is the first town to be founded south of the island of Mindanao in 1848, following the conquest of the area by Don Jose Uyanguren of Guipuzcoa, Spain. In 1849, Nueva Guipuzcoa province is founded in the region conquered by Don Uyanguren in what is now Davao Region, with Davao, then called Nueva Vergara, as the provincial capital. Don Uyanguren, then the provincial governadorcillo, made some efforts to develop the areas he conquered, although he failed.
Just thirty-six years after the foundation of Davao, the town of Sta. Cruz was founded in the 5th day of October, 1884, the first town to be founded south of Davao; the town is now the oldest town in the province.
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Davao Gulf
Davao Gulf is a gulf found in Mindanao in the Philippines. It has an area of 308,000 hectares. Davao Gulf cuts into the island of Mindanao from Philippine Sea. It is surrounded by all four provinces in the Davao Region. The largest island in the gulf is Samal Island. Davao City, on the gulf's west coast, is the largest and busiest port on the gulf. The Bagobo, a tribe known in Davao, are living in the Davao Gulf. With the thrust of Davao City towards Information Technology and IT-Enabled Services (ITES), Davao City and the Davao Gulf area have also earned the moniker Silicon Gulf.
Davao Gulf is surrounded by five cities namely:
Coordinates: 6°30′N 125°55′E / 6.5°N 125.917°E / 6.5; 125.917
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Davao Oriental
Davao Oriental (Filipino: Silangang Dabaw) is a province of the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital is Mati and borders Compostela Valley to the west, and Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur to the north. Davao Oriental is the easternmost province of the country with Pusan Point as the easternmost location. The Philippine Sea, part of the Pacific Ocean, faces Davao Oriental to the east. Part of the province lies on an unnamed peninsula that encloses the Davao Gulf to the west.
The native (and official) language spoken in this province are Kamayo(also knowna as Mandaya). Cebuano is also spoken here, and Chavacano de Davao being spoken by the people from Compostela Valley and Davao City.
Even some of the natives adhere to Christian faith (mostly Catholics), they are syncretic in some of their beliefs. Folklore beliefs include fairies (diwatas).
Homes are usually made out of wood, with bamboo figuring prominently in many rural abodes.
Davao Oriental is the copra (dried coconut meat) producer capital of the Philippines.
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Davao Region
Coordinates: 7°5′N 125°35′E / 7.083°N 125.583°E / 7.083; 125.583 Davao Region / Southern Mindanao, designated as Region XI, is one of the regions of the Philippines, located on the southeastern portion of Mindanao. Davao Region consists of four provinces, namely: Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, and Davao del Sur. The region encloses the Davao Gulf and its regional center is Davao City. Davao is the Hispanicized pronunciation of daba-daba, the Bagobo word for "fire" (the Cebuano translation is "kalayo").
Many historians believe that the name "Davao" is actually the mixture of the three names that three different tribes, the earliest settlers in the region, had for the Davao River. The Obos, an aboriginal tribe, referred to the Davao River as Davohoho. Another tribe, the Bagobos, referred to the river as Davohaha, which means "fire", while another tribe, the Guiangan tribe, called the river as Duhwow.
The history of the region dates back to the times when various tribes occupied the region. It is believed that the Manobos, Mandayas and the Bagobos actually occupied the area. These are the same tribes that created the small settlements and communities that eventually became Mindanao.
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Dinagat Islands
Dinagat Islands (Filipino: Mga Isla ng Dinagat) (PSGC: 168500000; ISO: PH-DIN) is a province in the Philippines, located on the south side of Leyte Gulf. Leyte Island is to its west, across Surigao Strait, and Mindanao is to its south. Its main island, Dinagat, is about 60 km from north to south.
Dinagat Islands had been a part of the First District of Surigao del Norte Province until becoming a province on its own on December 2, 2006 with the approval of Republic Act No. 9355, the Charter of the Province of Dinagat Islands, in a plebiscite.
On February 11, 2010 the Supreme Court of the Philippines declared the creation of Dinagat Islands Province null and void on grounds of failure to meet land area and population requirements for the creation of local government units. Dinagat Islands then reverted to Surigao del Norte Province. On March 30, 2011, however, the Supreme Court reversed its ruling from the previous year, and upheld the constitutionality of RA 9355 and the creation of Dinagat Islands as a province.
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Djibouti
Djibouti (Arabic: جيبوتي Jībūtī, French: Djibouti, Somali: Jabuuti, Afar: Gabuuti), officially the Republic of Djibouti (Arabic: جمهورية جيبوتي Jumhūriyyat Jībūtī, French: République de Djibouti, Afar: Gabuutih Ummuuno, Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Jabuuti), is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east. Djibouti, which had a population of 818,159 at the 2009 census, is one of the least populous countries in Africa.Islam is the largest religion in the country, practiced by 94% of the population. The land was known as Obock and French Somaliland (Côte française des Somalis) in the 19th century; in 1967, it changed its name to Afars and Issas after new treaties with France. The territory was declared an independent nation in 1977 and changed its name to the "Republic of Djibouti" after its principal city. Djibouti joined the United Nations on September 20, 1977. While Djibouti is an independent sovereign state, it maintains deep French relations, and through various military and economic agreements with France, it receives continued security and economic assistance.
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Dominica
Dominica ( /ˌdɒmɪˈniːkə/ DOM-i-NEE-kə;French: Dominique; Kali‘na (Carib): Wai‘tu kubuli), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is 750 square kilometres (290 sq mi) and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of 1,447 metres (4,747 ft). The Commonwealth of Dominica had a population of 71,293 at the 2011 Census. The capital is Roseau.
Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its unspoiled natural beauty. It is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles, still being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity, as evidenced by the world's second-largest hot spring, Boiling Lake. The island features lush mountainous rainforests, home of many rare plant, animal, and bird species. There are xeric areas in some of the western coastal regions, but heavy rainfall can be expected inland. The Sisserou Parrot (also known as the Imperial Amazon), the island's national bird, is featured on the national flag. Dominica's economy is heavily dependent on tourism, agriculture and heavy taxation.
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Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic (i/dəˌmɪnɨkən rɨˈpʌblɪk/; Spanish: República Dominicana [reˈpuβlika ðominiˈkana]) is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries. Both by area and population, the Dominican Republic is the second largest Caribbean nation (after Cuba), with 48,442 square kilometres (18,704 sq mi) and an estimated 10 million people.
Taínos inhabited what is now the Dominican Republic since the 7th century. Christopher Columbus landed on it in 1492, and it became the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, namely Santo Domingo, the country's capital and Spain's first capital in the New World. Santo Domingo can boast of many firsts in the Americas, including the first cathedral, and castle, both in the Ciudad Colonial area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (tiˈmɔr ˈlɛʃteɪ), commonly known as East Timori/ˌiːst ˈtiːmɔr/ (Tetum: Timór Lorosa'e, Portuguese: Timor-Leste), is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor. The small country of 15,410 km² (5,400 sq mi) is located about 640 km (400 mi) northwest of Darwin, Australia.
East Timor was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century, and was known as Portuguese Timor until Portugal's decolonization of the country. In late 1975, East Timor declared its independence, but later that year was invaded and occupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesia's 27th province the following year. In 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory and East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on May 20, 2002. East Timor is one of only two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being the Philippines.
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Easter Island
Coordinates: 27°7′S 109°22′W / 27.117°S 109.367°W / -27.117; -109.367
Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui, Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people. It is a World Heritage Site (as determined by UNESCO) with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park. In recent times the island has served as a warning of the cultural and environmental dangers of overexploitation. Ethnographers and archaeologists also blame diseases carried by European colonizers and slave raiding of the 1860s for devastating the local peoples.
Easter Island is claimed to be the most remote inhabited island in the world.
The name "Easter Island" was given by the island's first recorded European visitor, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who encountered it on Easter Sunday 1722, while searching for Davis or David's island. Roggeveen named it Paasch-Eyland (18th century Dutch for "Easter Island"). The island's official Spanish name, Isla de Pascua, also means "Easter Island".
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Eastern Samar
Eastern Samar (Filipino:Silangang Samar) is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Borongan. Eastern Samar occupies the eastern portion of the island of Samar. Bordering the province to the north is the province of Northern Samar and to the west is Samar province and to the east is the vast Pacific Ocean. Off the coast of Leyte Gulf, the province faces the province of Leyte.
The province of Eastern Samar was created from Samar by virtue of Republic Act No. 4221 on June 19, 1965.
The province occupies a total land area of 4,470.75 km2.
The province has a population of 461,300 as of the 2010 census. The common language is Waray.
Eastern Samar is subdivided into 22 municipalities and one city.
The province has two airports; Guiuan Airport and Borongan Airport. Currently, no airline operates out of Borongan Airport in Borongan City while upstart Mid-Sea Express started serving the Guiuan Airport in the town of Guiuan. Mid-Sea Express plies Cebu-Guiuan route to serve tourists going to Calicoan Island.
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Eastern Visayas
Coordinates: 11°25′N 125°00′E / 11.417°N 125°E / 11.417; 125 Eastern Visayas is one of the two regions of the Philippines having no land border with another region, MIMAROPA being the other, and is designated as Region VIII. It consists of six provinces and seven cities, namely, Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, Southern Leyte, the cities of Ormoc City, Baybay City, Maasin City, Calbayog City, Catbalogan City, Borongan City and the highly-urbanized city of Tacloban, the regional center. These provinces and cities occupy the easternmost islands of Visayas: Samar, Leyte and Biliran.
Eastern Visayas directly faces the Pacific Ocean. The land area of the region is 23,432 km km². As of 2010, it has a population of 4,101,322.
The region belongs to Type-B climate, which is basically wet to very wet with no pronounced dry season. Sometimes during rainy or windy seasons the weather is experiencing colder, By nightfall the ice fog, mist or haze occurs bringing out the cold in the province.
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Ecuador
Ecuador (i/ˈɛkwədɔr/ E-kwə-dawr), officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador [reˈpuβlika ðel ekwaˈðor], which literally translates to the "Republic of the Equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, (along with Chile), that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) west of the mainland.
The main spoken language in Ecuador is Spanish. Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name, and has an area of 275,830 km2 (106,500 sq mi). Its capital city is Quito, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1970s for having the best preserved and least altered historic center in Latin America. The country's largest city is Guayaquil. The historic center of Cuenca, the third largest city in the country, was also declared a World Heritage Site in 1999, for being an outstanding example of a planned inland Spanish style colonial city in the Americas. Ecuador is also home—despite its size—to a great variety of species, many of them endemic, like those of the Galápagos islands. This species diversity makes Ecuador one of the 17 megadiverse countries in the world. The new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.
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EDSA Shrine
The Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace, Our Lady of EDSA, or more popularly, the EDSA Shrine is a small church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila located at the intersection of Ortigas Avenue and Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) in Quezon City. The shrine, built in 1989 originally to commemorate the memories of the People Power Revolution and its peaceful outcome, stands on the site of two peaceful demonstrations that toppled Philippine presidents Ferdinand Marcos (the People Power Revolution or EDSA I) and Joseph Estrada (the EDSA Revolution of 2001 or EDSA II). It is officially called the "Shrine of Mary, Queen of Peace" or "Our Lady of Peace Quasi-Parish", although these names are seldom used.
The EDSA Shrine is part of the Ortigas Center, a complex of office buildings and commercial centers that occupy large tracts of land in portions of Quezon City, Mandaluyong City, and Pasig City.
The present rector of EDSA Shrine is Rev. Fr. Leo Nilo Mangussad, following the previous pastors: Most Rev. Socrates Villegas (1989 to 2004) and Rev. Fr. Victor Apacible (2004 to 2008). Fr. Nilo is assisted by his vice-rector, Rev. Fr. Carlos Reyes.
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Egypt
Egypti/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر, Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ] ; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi ; Sahidic Coptic: ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Kēme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: جمهوريّة مصر العربيّة (help·info), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its over 81 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
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El Salvador
El Salvadori/ɛl ˈsælvədɔr/ (Spanish: República de El Salvador, literally 'Republic of The Savior') is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country as well as Central America. El Salvador borders the Pacific Ocean on the west, and the countries of Guatemala to the north and Honduras to the east. Its easternmost region lies on the coast of the Gulf of Fonseca, opposite Nicaragua. As of 2009, El Salvador had a population of approximately 5,744,113 people, composed predominantly of Mestizos.
The colón was the official currency of El Salvador from 1892 to 2001, when it adopted the U.S. Dollar.
In 2010 El Salvador ranked in the top 10 among Latin American countries in terms of the Human Development Index and in the top 3 in Central America (behind Costa Rica and Panama), due in part to ongoing rapid industrialization. In addition, tropical forests and overall forest cover has expanded by nearly 20 percent from the year 1992 to 2010. Making it one of the few countries experiencing reforestation.
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Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country located in Middle Africa. It has two parts: a Continental Region (Río Muni), including several small offshore islands including Corisco, Elobey Grande and Elobey Chico; and an insular region containing Annobón island and Bioko island (formerly Fernando Po) where the capital Malabo is situated.
Annobón is the southernmost island of Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the east is the mainland region. Equatorial Guinea is bordered by Cameroon on the north, Gabon on the south and east, and the Gulf of Guinea on the west, where the island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe is located between Bioko and Annobón. Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name is suggestive of its location near both the equator and the Gulf of Guinea. Besides the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the Mediterranean coast next to Morocco, it is the only territory in mainland Africa with Spanish as the official language.
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Eritrea
Eritrea ( /ˌɛrɨˈtreɪ.ə/ or /ˌɛrɨˈtriːə/;Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritrīyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea is the Italian form of the Greek name Ἐρυθραίᾱ (Erythraíā), meaning "red [land]". The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeast and east of the country has an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands are part of Eritrea. Eritrea's size is approximately 117,600 km2 (45,406 sq mi) with an estimated population of 6 million.
Together with northern Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and the Red Sea coast of Sudan, Eritrea is considered the most likely location of the land known to the ancient Egyptians as Punt (or "Ta Netjeru", meaning "God's Land"), whose first mention dates to the 25th century BC. The ancient Puntites were a nation of people that had close relations with Pharaonic Egypt during the times of Pharaoh Sahure and Queen Hatshepsut.
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Ethiopia
Ethiopia ( /ˌiːθiˈoʊpiə/) (Ge'ez: ኢትዮጵያ ʾĪtyōṗṗyā), officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With its capital at Addis Ababa, it is also the most populous landlocked nation in the world.
Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history, and the Ethiopian dynasty traces its roots to the 2nd century BC. Ethiopia is also one of the oldest sites of human existence known to scientists today, having yielded some of humanity's oldest traces. It may be the region from which Homo sapiens first set out for the Middle East and points beyond. Alongside Rome, Persia, China and India, the Ethiopian Aksum Empire was considered one of the great world powers of the 3rd century. During the Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia was the only African country beside Liberia that retained its sovereignty as a recognized independent country, and was one of only four African members of the League of Nations. After a brief period of Italian occupation, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations. When other African nations received their independence following World War II, many of them adopted the colors of Ethiopia's flag, and Addis Ababa became the location of several international organizations focused on Africa.
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Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (English pronunciation: /ˈfɒlklənd/ or English pronunciation: /ˈfɔːlklənd/; Spanish: Islas Malvinas) are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located more than 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi) east of the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago comprises East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 lesser islands. Stanley, the capital and only city, is on East Falkland. The islands are a self-governing British Overseas Territory, with the United Kingdom responsible for their defence and foreign affairs.
Controversy exists over the Falklands' original discovery and subsequent colonisation by Europeans. At various times there have been French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements. Britain re-established its rule in 1833, yet the islands continue to be claimed by Argentina. In 1982, following Argentina's invasion of the islands, the two-month-long undeclared Falklands War between both countries resulted in the withdrawal of all Argentine forces. Despite its defeat, Argentina still pursues its claim; however, UK policy supports the islanders' self-determination to remain British citizens.
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Fiji
Fijii/ˈfiːdʒiː/ (Fijian: Viti; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी), officially the Republic of Fiji (Fijian: Matanitu ko Viti; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी गणराज्यFijī Gaṇarājya), is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, France's New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas, France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast and Tuvalu to the north.
The majority of Fiji's islands were formed through volcanic activity started around 150 million years ago. Today, some geothermal activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji has been inhabited since the second millennium BC. The country comprises an archipelago of more than 332 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of circa 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population of almost 850,000. The former contains Suva, the capital and largest city. Most of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres. Viti Levu's interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain.
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France
France (Englishi/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km2 / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
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French Polynesia
French Polynesia (i/ˈfrɛntʃ pɒlɨˈniːʒə/; French: Polynésie française, pronounced: [pɔlinezi fʁɑ̃sɛz]; Tahitian: Pōrīnetia Farāni) is an overseas country of the French Republic (pays d'outre-mer). It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory (Papeetē). Although not an integral part of its territory, Clipperton Island was administered from French Polynesia until 2007.
The island groups that make up French Polynesia were not officially united until the establishment of the French protectorate in 1889. The first of these islands to be settled by indigenous Polynesians were the Marquesas Islands in AD 300 and the Society Islands in AD 800. The Polynesians were organized in loose chieftainships.
European communication began in 1521 when the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sighted Pukapuka in the Tuāmotu-Gambier Archipelago. Dutchman Jakob Roggeveen came across Bora Bora in the Society Islands in 1722, and the British explorer Samuel Wallis visited Tahiti in 1767. The French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville visited Tahiti in 1768, while the British explorer James Cook visited in 1769. Christian missions began with Spanish priests who stayed in Tahiti for a year from 1774; Protestants from the London Missionary Society settled permanently in Polynesia in 1797.
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Gabon
Gabon ( /ɡəˈbɒn/; French pronunciation: [ɡabɔ̃]), officially the Gabonese Republic (French: République Gabonaise) is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west. It covers a land area of nearly 270,000 km² and has an estimated population of 1,500,000. Its capital and largest city is Libreville.
Since its independence from France on August 17, 1960, Gabon has been ruled by three presidents. In the early 1990s, Gabon introduced a multi-party system and a new democratic constitution that allowed for a more transparent electoral process and reformed many governmental institutions. Gabon is also a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2010-2011 term.
Low population density together with abundant natural resources and foreign private investment have helped make Gabon one of the most prosperous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the highest HDI and the third highest GDP per capita (PPP) (after Equatorial Guinea and Botswana) in the region.
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General Santos
The City of General Santos (known as Dadiangás, and abbreviated G.S.C. or GenSan.; Cebuano: Dakbayan sa General Santos) is the southernmost port city of the Philippines. Being a highly urbanized first class city, GenSan is one of the most populous urban centers in the country with a population of 538,086 as per census data of 2010. The city is bounded by municipalities of Sarangani Province namely Alabel in the East of the city, and Maasim in the South. The city is likewise bounded by South Cotabato municipality of Polomolok and Sarangani Province municipality of Malungon in the north, and the municipality of T'boli in the west of the city. General Santos City is the center of commerce, trade, and logistics of Region XII and the South Cotabato, Cotabato City, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani Province and General Santos City (SOCCSKSARGEN) growth area.
Organized under the National Land Settlement Administration (NLSA) of the Commonwealth Government headed by President Manuel L. Quezon, General Paulino Santos led the relocation of 62 Christian settlers from Luzon to the shores of Sarangani Bay aboard the steam ship “Basilan” of Compania Maritima on February 27, 1939. The 62 pioneers (mostly agricultural and trade graduates) were the first big batch of settlers to land in GenSan with the mission to industriously cultivate GenSan's fertile expanse of land. After this first influx of pioneers, thousands more from Luzon and the Visayas have subsequently migrated into the area. This started the displacement of some native B'laan tribe to the mountains and lost their livelihood.
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Germany
Germany (i/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.
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Ghana
Ghanai/ˈɡɑːnə/ is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King" and is derived from the ancient Ghana Empire.
Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient predominantly Akan kingdoms, including the inland Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Akyem, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Fante among others. Non-Akan states created by the Ga also existed as did states by the Dagomba. Prior to contact with Europeans trade between the Akan and various African states flourished due to Akan's gold wealth. Trade with European states began after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established the Gold Coast Crown colony in 1874 over parts but not all of the country.
The Gold Coast achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming the First sub-Saharan African nation to do so from European Colonialism. The name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana, which once extended throughout much of west Africa.
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Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( /dʒɨˈbrɒltər/) is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. It has an area of 6.8 square kilometres (2.6 sq mi) and a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region. At its foot is the densely populated city area, home to almost 30,000 Gibraltarians and other nationalities.
An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It was an important base for the Royal Navy; today its economy is based largely on tourism, financial services, and shipping.
The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum and again in 2002. Under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the UK Government.
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Grenada
Grenada (i/ɡrɨˈneɪdə/) is an island country and Commonwealth realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Grenada is located northwest of Trinidad and Tobago, northeast of Venezuela, and southwest of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Grenada is also known as the "Island of Spice" because of the production of nutmeg and mace crops of which Grenada is one of the world's largest exporters. Its size is 344 square kilometres (133 sq mi), with an estimated population of 110,000. Its capital is St. George's. The national bird of Grenada is the critically endangered Grenada Dove.
Grenada was first sighted by Europeans in 1498 during the third voyage of Christopher Columbus to the new world. At the time the indigenous Island Caribs (Kalinago) who lived there called it Camahogne. The Spaniards did not permanently settle on Camahogne. The English failed in their attempt at settlement in 1609.
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Guam
Guam (i/ˈɡwɑːm/; Chamorro: Guåhån) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of sixteen Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United Nations. The island's capital is Hagåtña (formerly Agaña). Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.
The Chamorros, Guam's indigenous people, first populated the island approximately 4,000 years ago. The island has a long history of European colonialism. Discovered by Ferdinand Magellan during a Spanish expedition on March 6, 1521, the first colony was established in 1668 by Spain with the arrival of settlers including Padre San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. For more than two centuries Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons that crossed the Pacific annually. The island was controlled by Spain until 1898, when it was surrendered to the United States during the Spanish-American War and later formally ceded as part of the Treaty of Paris.
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Guatemala
Guatemala (i/ˌɡwɑːtəˈmɑːlə/ GWAH-tə-MAH-lə), officially the Republic of Guatemala (Spanish: República de Guatemala [reˈpuβlika ðe ɣwateˈmala]), is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its area is 108,890 km2 (42,043 mi2) with an estimated population of 13,276,517.
A representative democracy, its capital is Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City. Guatemala's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contributes to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The former Mayan civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization, which continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish. The Mayas live in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, the southern part of Mexico and northern parts of El Salvador.
Guatemala became independent from Spain in 1821, joining the Mexican Empire. After it became an independent country in its own right, it was ruled by a series of dictators, assisted by the United Fruit Company. The late 20th century saw Guatemala embroiled in a 36-year-long civil war. Following the war, Guatemala has witnessed both economic growth and successful democratic elections. In the most recent election, held in 2011, Otto Pérez Molina of the Patriotic Party, won the presidency.
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Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey ( /ˈɡɜrnzi/ GURN-zee; French: Bailliage de Guernesey, IPA: [bajaʒ də ɡɛʁnəzɛ]), is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, and Lihou. Furthermore, the Bailiwick includes Alderney and Sark, which each has its own parliament.
Although its defence is the responsibility of the United Kingdom, the Bailiwick of Guernsey is not part of the UK; and while it participates in the Common Travel Area, it is not part of the European Union.
The Bailiwick of Guernsey is included (along with the Bailiwick of Jersey) in the grouping known as the Channel Islands.
The name of Guernsey, as well as that of neighbouring Jersey, is of Old Norse origin. The second element of Guernsey (-ey) is the Old Norse for "island". Guern similar to Spanish "Cuerno", French "Coi(r)n", Dutch "Hoorn", Frisian "Hoarn", Swedish "Hörn", Swiss "Gorn" means "Corner". - Corner Island.
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Guimaras
Guimaras [ɡimaˈɾas] is an island province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Among the smallest provinces, its capital is Jordan. The island is located in the Panay Gulf, between the islands of Panay and Negros. To the northwest is the province of Iloilo and to the southeast is Negros Occidental.
The province includes the islands of Guimaras and Inampulugan and many smaller islands.
Guimaras was a sub-province of Iloilo until it was made an independent province on May 22, 1992.
About 1581, Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñaloza, Spanish governor and captain-general of the Philippine Islands, established a settlement in Guimaras for the purpose of the Christianization of the natives of the island. He and his subordinates organized the pueblicitos or villages of Nayup, with San Pedro Apostol as the patron saint, and Igang, with Sta. Ana as the patroness.
Evangelization of Guimaras occurred around the same time the friars were making inroads in Panay. The Augustinians established the visitas of Nayup and Igang dependent on Oton, Iloilo. Gov. Gen. Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas 20 June 1591 report to the king noted that the friars of Oton made regular visits to the island.
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Guinea
Guineai/ˈɡɪni/, officially the Republic of Guinea (French: République de Guinée), is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea (Guinée française), it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Guinea has almost 246,000 square kilometres (94,981 sq mi) and a population of 10,057,975. It forms a crescent by curving from its western border on the Atlantic Ocean toward the east and the south. Its northern border is shared with Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali, the southern one with Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. The Niger River's source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea.
Guinea is geographically divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures. Conakry is the capital, largest city and economic centre. The other major cities in the country include Kankan, Nzérékoré, Kindia, Labe, Guéckédou, Mamou and Boke.
Guinea's 10 million people belong to twenty-four ethnic groups. The largest and most prominent groups are the Fula 40%, Mandingo 30%, and Susu 20%.
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Guyana
Coordinates: 5°00′N 58°45′W / 5°N 58.75°W / 5; -58.75
Guyana (i/ɡaɪˈænə/ gy-AN-ə), officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and (for over 200 years) the British. It is the only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland South America, and the only one on that continent where English is an official language.It is one of the few Caribbean countries that is not an island. It is also a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which has its secretariat headquarters in Guyana's capital, Georgetown. Guyana achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 26 May 1966, and became a republic on 23 February 1970. In 2008 the country joined the Union of South American Nations as a founding member.
Historically, the region known as "Guiana" or "Guyana" comprised the large shield landmass north of the Amazon River and east of the Orinoco River known as the "Land of many waters". Historical Guyana is made up of three Dutch colonies: Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice. Modern Guyana is bordered to the east by Suriname, to the south and southwest by Brazil, to the west by Venezuela, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean.
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Hainan
Coordinates: 19°12′N 109°42′E / 19.2°N 109.7°E / 19.2; 109.7
Hainan (Chinese: 海南; Mandarin Pinyin: Hǎinán (help·info); Jyutping: Hoi² Naam4; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hái-lâm; literally "South of the Sea [Qiongzhou Strait]") is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The name "Hainan" also refers to Hainan Island (海南岛, Hǎinán Dǎo), the main island of the province. Hainan is located in the South China Sea, separated from Guangdong's Leizhou Peninsula to the north by the shallow and narrow Qiongzhou Strait.
For centuries Hainan Island was part of Guangdong Province, but in 1988 this resource-rich tropical island became part of the newly created Hainan Province (海南省, Hǎinán Shěng).
The province has an area of 33,920 square kilometres (13,100 sq mi) and is China's southernmost province. Although it comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, 32,900 square kilometres (12,700 sq mi) (97%) of its land mass is Hainan Island, from which the province takes its name. The PRC government claims territories of the province extend to the southern Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, and other disputed marine territory.
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Haiti
Haitii/ˈheɪti/ (French: Haïti [aiti]; Haitian Creole Ayiti [ajiti]), officially the Republic of Haiti (République d'Haïti; Repiblik Ayiti), is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti (land of high mountains) was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island. The country's highest point is Pic la Selle, at 2,680 metres (8,793 ft). The total area of Haiti is 27,750 square kilometres (10,714 sq mi) and its capital is Port-au-Prince. Haitian Creole and French are the official languages.
Haiti's regional, historical, and ethno-linguistic position is unique for several reasons. It was the first independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean, the first black-led republic in the world, and the second republic in the Americas when it gained independence in 1804 as part of a successful slave revolution lasting nearly a decade. In 2012, Haiti announced its intention to seek associate membership status in the African Union. Haiti is the only predominantly Francophone independent nation in the Americas. It is one of only two independent nations in the Americas (along with Canada) to designate French as an official language; the other French-speaking areas are all overseas départements, or collectivités, of France.
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Hawaii
Coordinates: 21°18′41″N 157°47′47″W / 21.31139°N 157.79639°W / 21.31139; -157.79639
Hawaii (i/həˈwaɪ.iː/ or /həˈwaɪʔiː/; Hawaiian: Hawaiʻi Hawaiian pronunciation: [hɐˈvɐiʔi]) is the most recent of the 50 U.S. states (August 21, 1959), and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean.
Hawaii’s diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches and oceanic surrounding, and active volcanoes make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists alike. Due to its mid-Pacific location, Hawaii has many North American and Asian influences along with its own vibrant native culture. Hawaii has over a million permanent residents along with many visitors and U.S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu.
The state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles (2,400 km). At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight "main islands" are (from the northwest to southeast) Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the island of Hawaiʻi. The last is by far the largest and is often called "The Big Island" to avoid confusion with the state as a whole. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.
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Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was at times referred to as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize. The country is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea.
Honduras was home to several important indigenous cultures, most notably the Maya. Much of the country was conquered by Spain who introduced its predominant language and many of its customs in the sixteenth century. It became independent in 1821 and has been a republic since the end of Spanish rule.
Its size is just over 112,492 km² with an estimated population of almost eight million. Its capital is Tegucigalpa. Its northern portions are part of the Western Caribbean Zone.
It is notable for its production of minerals, tropical fruit, and recently for exportation of clothing for the international market.
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Hong Kong
Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups. Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.
Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Originally confined to Hong Kong Island, the colony's boundaries were extended in stages to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and then the New Territories in 1898. It was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, after which the British resumed control until 1997, when China resumed sovereignty. The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era. The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West", and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England until reforms implemented in 2009.
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Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (Asturian, Galician, Leonese, Mirandese, Portuguese and Spanish: Península Ibérica, Catalan: Península Ibèrica, Aragonese and Occitan: Peninsula Iberica, French: Péninsule Ibérique, Basque: Iberiar Penintsula), sometimes called Iberia, is a peninsula located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas. It is bordered on the southeast and east by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the north, west and southwest by the Atlantic Ocean. The Pyrenees form the northeast edge of the peninsula, separating it from the rest of Europe. In the south, it approaches the northern coast of Africa. It is the second-largest peninsula in Europe, with an area of approximately 582,000 km2 (225,000 sq mi).
The English word Iberia was adapted from the use of the Ancient Greek word Ιβηρία (Ibēría) by the Greek geographers under the Roman Empire to refer to what is known today in English as the Iberian Peninsula. At that time the name did not describe a single political entity or a distinct population of people. Strabo's Iberia was delineated from Keltikē by the Pyrenees and included the entire land mass south-west (he named it "west") of there.
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Ifugao
Ifugao is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Covering a total land area of 262,820 hectares, the province of Ifugao is located in a mountainous region characterized by rugged terrain, river valleys, and massive forests. Its capital is Lagawe and borders Benguet to the west, Mountain Province to the north, Isabela to the east, and Nueva Vizcaya to the south.
It is named after the term "i-pugo" which means "i" (from/people) and "pugo" (hill), thus people of the hill.
The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras and Banaue Rice Terraces are the main tourist attractions in the province. These 2000-year-old terraces were carved into the mountains, without the aid of machinery, to provide level steps where the natives can plant rice. In 1995, they were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
During Spanish occupation, government was established in Kiangan. The Spanish occupation ended with the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution. Ifugao used to be part of the former Mountain Province prior to its split into four separate and independent provinces. In 1905, Ifugao was made a sub-province of the old Mountain Province. Captain Pedro Bulan became the first native to become the first provincial governor.
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Ilocos Norte
Ilocos Norte (Ilokano:Amianan nga Ilocos; Filipino:Hilagang Ilokos) is a province of the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. Its capital is Laoag City and is located at the northwest corner of Luzon Island, bordering Cagayan and Apayao to the east, and Abra and Ilocos Sur to the south. Ilocos Norte faces the South China Sea to the west and the Luzon Strait to the north.
Ilocos Norte is noted for being the birthplace of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, who led an authoritarian rule over the country during the latter half of his incumbency. The Marcoses enjoy a modicum of popularity in the province. Ilocos Norte is also known as a northern tourist destination, being the location of Fort Ilocandia, an upper class hotel and beach resort famous among expatriates, and Pagudpud.
In the 330-page The Ilocos Heritage (the 27th book written by Visitacion de la Torre), the Ilocano legacy and the life of the Ilocano – are described as - "the browbeaten, industrious, cheerful, simple soul who has shown a remarkable strain of bravery and a bit of wanderlust." The Ilocano history reveals his struggles and victories – in battles for colonial independence from Spain and America, to Philippine leadership. The new Ilocano searched for greener pastures towards new lands local and foreign - Palawan, Mindanao, Hawaii, the United States and Greece. The Ilocano material culture and spirituality can be seen in the past - images of Spanish santo (saints), antique but intricate wooden furniture and quality local fiber. The native Ilocano is a weaver, wood carver and pottery expert. The Ilocano cuisine – ranges from the exotic "abu-os" (ant eggs) to vegetable broth "dinengdeng," and "pinakbet" the sticky "tinubong" to the "poqui-poqui" (eggplant salad). Ilocandia is filled with colonial churches, the legacy of Spanish Catholicism.
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Ilocos Region
The Ilocos region or Region I (Ilokano: Rehion ti Ilocos, or Deppaar ti Ilocos ; Pangasinan: Rihiyon na Sagor na Baybay na Luzon (Region at the Northwest Coast of Luzon)) is a Region of the Philippines and is located in the northwest of Luzon. It borders to the east the regions of the Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley and to the south the region of Central Luzon. To the west north is the South China Sea.
The region is composed of four provinces, namely: Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan. Its regional center is San Fernando City, La Union. Ilocano speakers compose 66% of the region, and Pangasinan speakers are 27%, and the Tagalogs compose 3%.
Region I occupies the narrow plain between the Cordillera Central mountain range and the South China Sea. It also occupies the northern portion of the Central Luzon plain, to the north-east of the Zambales Mountains.
Lingayen Gulf is the most notable body of water in the region and it contains a number of islands, including the Hundred Islands National Park. To the north of the region is Luzon Strait.
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Ilocos Sur
Ilocos Sur (Ilokano: Abagatan nga Ilokos, Filipino:Timog Ilokos) is a province of the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. Vigan City, located on the mouth of the Mestizo River is the provincial capital. Ilocos Sur is bordered by Ilocos Norte and Abra to the north, Mountain Province to the east, La Union and Benguet to the south, and the South China Sea to the west.
The historic city of Vigan, which was inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in November 1999, is found in this province. Established in the 16th century, Vigan is the best preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia. Its architecture combines cultural elements from elsewhere in the Philippines and from China with those from Europe to create a unique culture and townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia. Its Kamestizoan District has examples of typical houses with tiled roofs, hardwood floors, balustrades and azoteas in varying Spanish-Mexican-Chinese architectural styles.
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Iloilo
Iloilo is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Iloilo occupies the southeast portion of Panay Island and is bordered by Antique Province to the west and Capiz Province and the Jintotolo Channel to the north. Just off Iloilo's southeast coast is Guimaras Province, once part of Iloilo Province but now a province in its own right. Across the Panay Gulf and Guimaras Strait is Negros Occidental. Iloilo's capital is Iloilo City though the city itself is independent and not governed by the provincial government of Iloilo.
According to the 2007 national census, the population of province excluding Iloilo City is 1,691,878. If Iloilo City is included, the population is 2,110,588.
At the time of the Spanish conquest, writing was a new import and the use of organic medium such as leaf and bamboo, and no pre-Hispanic written accounts of Iloilo exist today. Oral history, in the form of recited epics, has survived to a small degree, with a few recordings made from the last known surviving binukots.
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Iloilo City
The City of Iloilo (Filipino: Lungsod ng Iloilo, Hiligaynon: Syudad sang Iloilo or Dakbanwa sang Iloilo) is a highly urbanized city in the Philippines and the capital city of Iloilo. It is the regional center of the Western Visayas, as well as the center of the Iloilo-Guimaras Metropolitan Area. In the 2007 census, Iloilo City had a population of 418,710 with a 1.8% population annual growth rate. It is bordered by the towns of Oton in the west, Pavia in the north, Leganes in the northeast and the Iloilo Strait in its eastern and southern coastline. The city was a conglomeration of former towns, which are now the geographical districts, composing of: Jaro, Molo, La Paz, Mandurriao, Villa Arevalo, and Iloilo City Proper. The district of Lapuz, a former part of La Paz, was declared a separate district in 2008.
The history of Iloilo City dates back to the Spanish colonial period, starting out as a small and incoherent grouping of fishermen's hamlets from the Iloilo River by a large swamp which after 1855 became the second most important port of call in the colony due to transhipment of sugar products from the neighboring Negros Island. It was later given the honorific title of "La Muy Noble Ciudad" (English: The Most Noble City) by the Queen Regent of Spain . At the turn of the 20th century, Iloilo City was second to the primate city of Manila, with stores along Calle Real selling luxury products from all over the world, an agricultural experimental station established at La Paz in 1888, a school of Arts and Trades which opened in 1891, and a telephone network system operating in 1894.
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India
India (i/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Indonesia
Indonesia (i/ˌɪndəˈniːʒə/ IN-də-NEE-zhə or /ˌɪndoʊˈniːziə/ IN-doh-NEE-zee-ə), officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia Indonesian pronunciation: [rɛpʊblɪk ɪndɔnɛsɪa]), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 17,508 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN and a member of the G-20 major economies. The Indonesian economy is the world's 17th largest economy by nominal GDP.
The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers brought Christianity and fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II. Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change.
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Insular area
An insular area is a United States territory, that is neither a part of one of the 50 U.S. states nor the District of Columbia, the federal district of the U.S. They are called "insular" from the Latin word insula ("island") because they were once administered by the War Department's Bureau of Insular Affairs, now the Office of Insular Affairs at the Department of the Interior. The term insular possession is also sometimes used.
Because those insular areas that are inhabited are unincorporated territories, their native-born inhabitants are not constitutionally entitled to United States citizenship, under the Citizenship Clause.[citation needed] However, Congress has extended citizenship rights to all inhabited territories except American Samoa, and these citizens may vote and run for office in any U.S. jurisdiction in which they are residents. The people of American Samoa are U.S. nationals, but not U.S. citizens; they are free to move around and seek employment within the whole United States without immigration restrictions, but cannot vote or hold office outside of American Samoa.[citation needed]
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Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ ori/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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Isle of Man
The Isle of Man ( /ˈmæn/; Manx: Ellan Vannin, pronounced [ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn]), otherwise known simply as Mann (Manx: Mannin, IPA: [ˈmanɪn]), is a self-governing Crown Dependency of the United Kingdom, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. The island is not part of the United Kingdom, but its foreign relations and defence are the responsibility of the UK Government. Although the United Kingdom does not usually interfere in the island's domestic matters, its "good government" is ultimately the responsibility of the Crown (that is, in practice, the Government of the United Kingdom).
The island has been inhabited since before 6500 BC. Gaelic cultural influence began in the 5th century AD, and the Manx language, a branch of the Gaelic languages, gradually emerged. In the 9th century, the Norse began to settle there. A Norse-Gaelic culture arose and the island came under Norse control. In 1266, the island became part of Scotland as formalised by the Treaty of Perth. After a period of alternating rule by the kings of Scotland and England, the island came under the feudal overlordship of the English Crown in 1399. The lordship revested into the British Crown in 1764 but the island never became part of Great Britain or its successor the United Kingdom and retained its status as an internally self-governing Crown dependency.
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Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel ( /ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] ( listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.[neutrality is disputed] Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.
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Italy
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
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Jamaica
Coordinates: 18°10′57″N 77°19′18″W / 18.1823878°N 77.3217773°W / 18.1823878; -77.3217773
Jamaica (i/dʒəˈmeɪkə/), officially the Commonwealth of Jamaica, is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 mi) in length, up to 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width, and 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno name for the island was Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water" or the "Land of Springs".
Once a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it became an English colony in 1655 under the name "Jamaica". It achieved full independence from Britain on August 6, 1962. With 2.8 million people, it is the third most populous anglophone country in the Americas, after the United States and Canada. It remains a Commonwealth realm in concert with the Monarchy of Jamaica holding ultimate executive power, where Queen Elizabeth II is the current head of state and Queen of Jamaica.Kingston is the country's largest city and the capital.
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Japan
Japani/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
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Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, French: Bailliage de Jersey ( /ˈdʒɜrzi/, French: [ʒɛʁzɛ]; Jèrriais: Jèrri), is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and other rocks and reefs.
Jersey is a self-governing parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, with its own financial, legal and judicial systems.
The island of Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands. Although the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as 'the Channel Islands', they are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a separate relationship to the British Crown from the other Crown Dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It is not part of the United Kingdom, and has an international identity separate from that of the UK but the United Kingdom is constitutionally responsible for the defence of Jersey. Jersey is not a part of the European Union but has a special relationship with it, being treated as part of the European Community for the purposes of free trade in goods.
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Jordan
Jordan ( /ˈdʒɔr.dən/;Arabic: اَلأُرْدُنّ, Al-'Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة), Al-Mamlakah Al-Urdaniyyah Al-Hashimiyyah) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. Jordan's only port is at its south-western tip, at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is shared with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Over half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the western part of Jordan is arable land and forests. Jordan is part of the Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman. According to the CIA World Factbook, Jordan has the second highest life expectancy in the Middle East, after Israel. The average life expectancy is one position behind the United Kingdom, although the age remains exactly the same (80.05 years).
The precursor to modern Jordan was founded in 1921 as the Hashemite Emirate, and it was recognized by the League of Nations as a state under the British mandate in 1922 known as The Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan and Palestine, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949.
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Kalinga
Kalinga (Tagalog pronunciation: [kɐˈliŋɐ]) is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Tabuk and borders Mountain Province to the south, Abra to the west, Isabela to the east, Cagayan to the northeast, and Apayao to the north. Prior to 1995, Kalinga and Apayao used to be a single province named Kalinga-Apayao, until they were split into two to better service the needs of individual native tribes in the provinces.
Kalinga is subdivided into 1 city and 7 municipalities. Tabuk was proclaimed a component city in 2007, but in November 2008 the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that its cityhood was unconstitutional. However, Tabuk had its city status reinstated by the Supreme Court on December 22, 2009.
The topography of Kalinga province is rugged and sloping with mountain peaks ranging from 1,500 to 2,500 metres (4,900 to 8,200 ft) in elevation. The province’s geographic feature on the western portion is characterized by sharp crested interlinking peaks of steep slopes, isolated flatlands, plateaus and valleys. The eastern portion is generally rolling and gradually sloping foothills.
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Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan (i/ˌkɑːzəkˈstɑːn/ or /ˌkæzəkˈstæn/) (Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, pronounced [qɑzɑqstɑ́n]; Russian: Казахстан [kəzɐxˈstan]), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Europe. The ninth largest country in the world by land area, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of 2,727,300 square kilometres (1,053,000 sq mi) is larger than Western Europe. It is neighbored clockwise from the north by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and also borders on a significant part of the Caspian Sea. Although Kazakhstan does not share a border with Mongolia, its most easterly point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Mongolia's western tip. The terrain of Kazakhstan ranges from flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, and snow-capped mountains to deserts. With 16.6 million people (2011 estimate) Kazakhstan has the 62nd largest population in the world, though its population density is less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.). The capital was moved in 1998 from Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, to Astana.
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Kenya
Kenya ( /ˈkɛnjə/ or /ˈkiːnjə/), officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator. With the Indian Ocean to its south-east, it is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km2 and a population of nearly 41 million, representing 42 different peoples and cultures. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among Africa's highest mountain peaks. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi.
Kenya has a warm and humid climate along its coastline on the Indian Ocean which changes to wildlife-rich savannah grasslands moving inland towards the capital Nairobi. Nairobi has a cool climate that gets colder approaching Mount Kenya, which has three permanently snow-capped peaks. The warm and humid tropical climate reappears further inland towards lake Victoria, before giving way to temperate forested and hilly areas in the western region. The North Eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes. Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh-water lake (after Lake Superior in the US and Canada) and the world's largest tropical lake, is situated to the southwest and is shared with Uganda and Tanzania. Kenya is famous for its safaris and diverse world-famous wildlife reserves such as Tsavo National Park, the Maasai Mara, Nakuru National Park, and Aberdares National Park.
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Kiribati
Kiribati ([kɪribas] KIRR-i-bas or ˌkɪrəˈbɑdi;Gilbertese: [ˈkiɾibas]), officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is just over 100,000 (2011), and the island nation is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles) straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line at its easternmost point.
The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands. The capital of South Tarawa consists of a number of islets connected through a series of causeways, located in the Tarawa archipelago. Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999.
Kiribati was named in French by captains Krusenstern and Louis Isidore Duperrey "îles Gilbert", Gilbert Islands, after the British Captain Thomas Gilbert, who sighted the islands in 1788. The current name, Kiribati, is an adaptation of "Gilberts", from the former European name the "Gilbert Islands". Although the indigenous Gilbertese language name for the Gilbert Islands proper is Tungaru, the new state chose the name "Kiribati", the Gilbertese rendition of "Gilberts", as an equivalent of the former colony to acknowledge the inclusion of islands which were never considered part of the Gilberts chain.
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Koronadal
City of Koronadal, popularly known as Marbel, is a 1st class component city in the Philippines. It is the capital of the province of South Cotabato and regional center SOCCSKSARGEN (Region XII). According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 169,074.
Koronadal became a component city of South Cotabato by virtue of Republic Act 8803 dated October 8, 2000. In 2003 and 2005 the city was recognized as "Most Competitive City" in the small-city category, and in 2005 and 2006 as the most business friendly city in Mindanao. Koronadal also hosted several national activities such as the Palarong Pambansa in 1996 with GenSan and solo in 2008, Mindanao Business Forum, and National Schools Press Conference.
Koronadal is one of the cities in Mindanao which its native speakers are Ilonggos, the other being Tacurong. 80% of the Population are Hiligaynon Speakers while 20% are Cebuanos, due to its proximity in GenSan and Davao City, and Ilocanos. Koronadal, together with its big brother GenSan are not sectarian cities thus Christians and Muslims live harmoniously in the city. Today, Koronadal is small bustling city that moves to the progress of all people in South Cotabato.
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Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwaiti/kuːˈweɪt/ (Arabic: دولة الكويت, Dawlat al-Kuwayt) is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the Arabic أكوات ākwāt, the plural of كوت kūt, meaning a fortress built near water. The country covers an area of 17,820 square kilometers (6,880 sq mi) and has a population of about 3.5 million.
Historically, the region was the site of Characene, a major Parthian port for trade between Mesopotamia and India. The Bani Utbah tribe were the first permanent Arab settlers in the region, and laid the foundation of the modern emirate. By the 19th century, Kuwait came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, and after World War I, it emerged as an independent sheikhdom under the protection of the British Empire. Kuwait's large oil fields were discovered in the late 1930s.
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Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan ( /ˈkɜrɡɨstæn/ KUR-gi-stan;Kyrgyz & Russian: Кыргызстан, Kyrgyzstan, or Киргизия, Kirgiziya), officially the Kyrgyz Republic is a nation located in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek.
Kyrgyzstan is officially a democratic parliamentary republic. A revolution in April 2010 overthrew the former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and resulted in the adoption of a new constitution and the appointment of an interim government. Presidential elections were held in November 2011.
Kyrgyzstan is one of the active members of the Turkic Council and the TÜRKSOY community. The national language, Kyrgyz, is also closely related to the other Turkic languages, with which it shares strong cultural and historical ties.
Additionally, Kyrgyzstan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Community, the Non-aligned movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
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La Union
La Union is a province of the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region or Region 1 in Luzon, whose capital is San Fernando City and borders Ilocos Sur to the north, Benguet to the east, and Pangasinan to the south. To the west of La Union is the South China Sea.
Ninety-three percent of the population is Ilocano and is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. There are communities of Pangasinense in the south, Igorots in the Cordillera foothills, and Chinese in the city.
La Union is highly literate, with San Fernando City as the administrative, educational, and financial center of the region.
The economy is diversified with service, manufacturing, and agricultural industries spread throughout the province. The Port of San Fernando operates as an increasingly active shipping point, and the former American airbase Wallace Air Station, having been converted into a business and industrial area, helps to facilitate such commercial activity.
Tourism to the province is driven by airlines and passenger coach bus lines like regionally owned Farinas Transit Company,Viron Transit,Dominion Bus Lines and Partas.
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Lanao del Norte
Lanao del Norte (Filipino: Hilagang Lanaw) is a province of the Philippines located in the Northern Mindanao region. Its capital is Tubod. The province borders Lanao del Sur to the southeast, Zamboanga del Sur to the west, Illana Bay to the southwest, Iligan Bay to the north, Iligan City to the northeast, and is separated from Misamis Occidental by Panguil Bay to the northwest. According to the 2007 census, the province has a total population of 538,283.
Republic Act No. 2228 divided Lanao in to two (2) provinces giving birth to Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur. The new province was inaugurated on July 4, 1959 making Iligan City as the capital. Salvador T. Lluch was the first Governor of Lanao del Norte. Second was Mohammad Ali Dimaporo, from January 1960 to September 1965 when Governor Dimaporo ran and won the congressional seat of the province. By operation of the law of succession, Vice Governor Arsenio A. Quibranza became the third Provincial Chief Executive of the province. By the mandate of the inhabitants, Governor Quibranza was elected Governor in 1967 and almost unanimously re-elected in 1971 and again in 1980.
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Lanao del Sur
Lanao del Sur (Filipino:Timog Lanaw) is a province of the Philippines located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Its capital is Marawi City and borders Lanao del Norte to the north, Bukidnon to the east, and Maguindanao and Cotabato to the south. To the southwest lies Illana Bay, an arm of the Moro Gulf. Found in the interior of Lanao del Sur is Lanao Lake, the largest lake in Mindanao.
Maranao is the most commonly spoken language in the province. Also spoken are Tagalog as well as English and Arabic.
Points of interest in the province include:
Lanao del Sur is subdivided into 39 municipalities and 1 city.
Lanao del Sur forms the western portion of Northern Mindanao. It is bounded on the north by Lanao del Norte, on the east by Bukidnon, on the west by Illana Bay, and on the south by Maguindanao and Cotabato. The landscape is dominated by rolling hills and valleys, placid lakes and rivers.
The climate in the province is characterized by even distribution of rainfall throughout the year, without a distinct summer season. The province is located outside the typhoon belt.
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Laos
Laos ((i/ˈlaʊs/, /ˈlɑː.ɒs/, /ˈlɑː.oʊs/, or /ˈleɪ.ɒs/) Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, pronounced [sǎː.tʰáː.laʔ.naʔ.lat páʔ.sáː.tʰiʔ.páʔ.tàj páʔ.sáː.són.láːw] Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west. Its population was estimated to be 6.5 million in 2012.
Laos traces its history to the Kingdom which existed from the 14th to the 18th century when it split into three separate kingdoms. In 1893, it became a French protectorate, with the three kingdoms, Luang Phrabang, Vientiane and Champasak, uniting to form what is now known as Laos. It briefly gained independence in 1945 after Japanese occupation, but returned to French rule until it was granted autonomy in 1949. Laos became independent in 1953, with a constitutional monarchy under Sisavang Vong. Shortly after independence, a long civil war ended the monarchy, when the Communist Pathet Lao movement came to power in 1975.
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Las Piñas
The City of Las Piñas (Filipino: Lungsod ng Las Piñas) (population: 532,330, 2007 Census) is a city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. It is bounded on the north and northeast by the Parañaque City; on the east and southeast by Muntinlupa City; on the south by the Municipality of Imus, Cavite; on the southwest and west by the Municipality of Bacoor, Cavite; and on the northwest by the scenic Manila Bay. Half of its land area is residential and the remaining half is used for commercial, industrial and institutional purposes. The present physiography of Las Piñas City consists of three zones: Manila Bay, coastal margin and Guadalupe Plateau.
The city is bisected by Real (Spanish for Royal) Street, also known as the Alabang-Zapote Road . It forms part of the Maharlika Highway which spans the whole country. The Alabang–Zapote Road connects the South Luzon Expressway which passes through Muntinlupa City in the east to the Coastal Road along Manila Bay.
The Coastal Road, despite its name, is a major tollway which runs the southern length of Metro Manila's shoreline with Manila Bay. It is an important artery for people commuting to and from Las Piñas City and Cavite to Manila.
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Latin Union
The Latin Union is an international organization of nations that use Romance languages, with the aim of protecting, projecting, and promoting the common cultural heritage and unifying identities of the Latin, and Latin-influenced, world. It was created in 1954 in Madrid, Spain, and has existed as a functional institution since 1983. Its membership has risen from 12 to 36 states, including countries in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region.
The official names of the Latin Union are: Unió Llatina in Catalan, Union latine in French, Unione Latina in Italian, União Latina in Portuguese, Uniunea Latină in Romanian, and Unión Latina in Spanish.
According to the Latin Union's website, membership is open to any nation that meets the following criteria:
The official languages of the Latin Union are Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Catalan. Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian are used as working languages. All the texts of general diffusion are translated into these four languages, with some also going into Romanian and Catalan.
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Lebanon
Lebanon (i/ˈlɛbənɒn/ or /ˈlɛbənən/; Arabic: لبنان Libnān or Lubnān, Lebanese Arabic: [lɪbˈneːn]), officially the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Libnānīyah, Lebanese Arabic: [elˈʒʊmhuːɾɪjje l.ˈlɪbneːnɪjje]), is a country in the East Mediterranean. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich history, and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
The earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than 7,000 years—predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Phoenicians, a maritime culture that flourished for nearly 2,500 years (3000–539 BC). Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the five provinces that comprise modern Lebanon were mandated to France. The French expanded the borders of Mount Lebanon, which was mostly populated by Maronite Catholics and Druze, to include more Muslims. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, and established a unique political system, known as confessionalism, a power-sharing mechanism based on religious communities – Bechara El Khoury who became independent Lebanon's first President and Riad El-Solh, who became Lebanon's first prime minister, are considered the founders of the modern Republic of Lebanon and are national heroes for having led the country's independence. French troops withdrew from Lebanon in 1946.
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Lesotho
Lesotho (i/lɨˈsuːtuː/ li-SOO-too), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, completely surrounded by its only neighboring country, the Republic of South Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name Lesotho translates roughly into the land of the people who speak Sesotho. About 40% of the population live below the international poverty line of US $1.25 a day.
The earliest known inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. They were largely replaced by Wasja-speaking tribes during Bantu migrations. The Sotho-Tswana people colonized the general region of South Africa between the 3rd and 11th centuries.
The present Lesotho (then called Basutoland) emerged as a single polity under king Moshoeshoe I in 1822. Moshoeshoe, a son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bakoteli lineage, formed his own clan and became a chief around 1804. Between 1821 and 1823, he and his followers settled at the Butha-Buthe Mountain, joining with former adversaries in resistance against the Lifaqane associated with the reign of Shaka Zulu from 1818 to 1828.[citation needed]
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Leyte
Leyte (also Northern Leyte; Filipino: Hilagang Leyte) is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran. To the west of Leyte across the Camotes Sea is Cebu Province.
The explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, first came to the island in 1543 and named it Las Islas Felipinas.
During World War II under the Japanese Occupation, the 9th and 92nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army was reestablished from 1942 to 1946 at the military general headquarters and military camps and garrisoned in Tacloban and Ormoc before the liberation of the Philippines was the military unit organization and started by the Anti-Japanese military operations in the province of Leyte from 1942 to 1945 to helping the local guerrilla groups under by Colonel Ruperto Kangleon and the American liberating forces and fought against the Japanese Imperial forces.
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Liberia
Liberiai/laɪˈbɪəriə/, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Ivory Coast on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open to a plateau of drier grasslands. The country possesses 40% of the remaining Upper Guinean rainforest. Liberia has a hot equatorial climate, with significant rainfall during the May to October rainy season and harsh harmattan winds the remainder of the year. Liberia covers an area of 111,369 km2 (43,000 sq mi) and is home to about 3.7 million people. English is the official language, while over 30 indigenous languages are spoken within the country.
Along with Ethiopia, Liberia is one of the two modern countries in Sub-Saharan Africa without roots in the European colonization of Africa. Beginning in 1820, the region was colonized by freed American slaves with the help of the American Colonization Society, a private organization that believed ex-slaves would have greater freedom and equality in Africa. Slaves freed from slave ships were also sent there instead of being repatriated to their countries of origin. In 1847, these colonists founded the Republic of Liberia, establishing a government modeled on that of the United States and naming the capital city Monrovia after James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States and a prominent supporter of the colonization. The colonists, known as Americo-Liberians, led the political and economic sectors of the country.
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Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States of America, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in four buildings in Washington, D.C., as well as the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books. The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress, currently James H. Billington.
The Library of Congress was instituted for Congress in 1800, and was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century. After much of the original collection had been destroyed during the War of 1812, Thomas Jefferson sold 6,487 books, his entire personal collection, to the library in 1815. After a period of decline during the mid-19th century the Library of Congress began to grow rapidly in both size and importance after the American Civil War, culminating in the construction of a separate library building and the transference of all copyright deposit holdings to the Library. During the rapid expansion of the 20th century the Library of Congress assumed a preeminent public role, becoming a "library of last resort" and expanding its mission for the benefit of scholars and the American people.
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Libya
Libya (Arabic: ليبيا Lībyā), Berber: ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ) is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west.
With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres (700,000 sq mi), Libya is the third largest country in Africa by area, and the 17th largest in the world. The largest city, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 6.4 million people. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica.
In 2009 Libya had the highest HDI in Africa and the fourth highest GDP (PPP) per capita in Africa, behind Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world and the 17th-highest petroleum production.
As a result of the Libyan civil war, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, which had at that time been in existence for 34 years, collapsed and Libya entered a period of governance by a transitional administration called the National Transitional Council. The NTC has stated its intention to oversee the first phase of a transition to constitutional democracy, after which it claims it will dissolve in favor of a representative legislature.
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Luzon
Luzon (/luːˈzɑːn/) is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name of one of the three primary island groups in the country centred on the island (the other two being the Visayas and Mindanao). Luzon as an island group includes Luzon proper, the Batanes and Babuyan groups of islands to the north, and the outlying islands of Catanduanes, Marinduque, Masbate, Romblon, and Mindoro. Luzon is the economic and political center of the Philippines, being home to the country's capital city, Manila.
The island of Luzon contains 8 of the 17 administrative regions of the Philippines. These regions are not political entities, but merely serve as administrative groupings of provinces. They are:
Ilocos Region (Region I) is on the northweast side of the island and faces South China Sea. The region is well known for its white sand coastline and rich history. Its provinces are Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, and Pangasinan. The region's administrative centers is San Fernando City, La Union.
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Luzon Strait
Coordinates: 21°0′N 121°0′E / 21°N 121°E / 21; 121
The Luzon Strait is the strait between the island country of Taiwan and Luzon island of the Philippines. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean.
The strait is approximately 250 kilometres (160 mi) wide containing a number of islands grouped into two groups: the Batanes Islands of Batanes province and the Babuyan Islands of Cagayan province, both of the Philippines.
The strait is divided into a number of smaller channels. The Babuyan Channel separates Luzon from the Babuyan Islands, which is separated from the Batanes Islands by the Balintang Channel. Batanes is separated from Taiwan by the Bashi Channel.
This is an important strait for shipping and communications. Many ships from the Americas use this route to go important East Asian ports. Many submarine communications cables pass through the Luzon Strait. These cables provide important data and telephony services to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
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Macau
Coordinates: 22°10′N 113°33′E / 22.167°N 113.55°E / 22.167; 113.55
Macau (Chinese: 澳門), also spelled Macao ( /məˈkaʊ/), is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta across from Hong-Kong which is to the east, bordering Guangdong province to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east and south.
The territory's economy is heavily dependent on gambling and tourism, but also includes manufacturing.
Macau is a former Portuguese colony, and is both the first and last European colony in China. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on 20 December 1999. The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer. Macau was first lent by the Chinese empire as a trading port in the 16th century, and had to administer the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty. In 1887, Macau became a colony of the Portuguese empire and its sovereignty transferred to the Portuguese.
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Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar (older name Malagasy Republic, Malagasy: Repoblikan'i Madagasikara [republiˈkʲan madaɡasˈkʲarə̥], French: République de Madagascar) is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar (the fourth-largest island in the world), as well as numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from India around 88 million years ago, allowing plants and animals on the island to evolve in complete isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot in which over 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. The island's diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by human settlement.
Initial human settlement of Madagascar occurred from 350 BCE and 550 CE by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo who were later joined around 1000 CE by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel. Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. The Malagasy ethnic group is often divided into eighteen or more sub-groups of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands.
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Madrid
Madrid (English /məˈdrɪd/, Spanish: [ma'ðrid]) is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third largest in the European Union after London and Paris. The city spans a total of 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi).
The city is located on the Manzanares river in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid (which comprises the city of Madrid, its conurbation and extended suburbs and villages); this community is bordered by the autonomous communities of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political centre of Spain. The current mayor is Ana Botella from the People's Party (PP).
Madrid urban agglomeration has the 3rd largest GDP in the European Union and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, environment, media, fashion, science, culture, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. Due to its economic output, high standard of living, and market size, Madrid is considered the major financial centre of Southern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula; it hosts the head offices of the vast majority of the major Spanish companies, such as Telefónica, Iberia or Repsol. Madrid is the most touristic city of Spain, the fourth-most touristic of the continent, and is the 10th most livable city in the world according to Monocle magazine, in its 2010 index. Madrid also ranks among the 12 greenest European cities in 2010. Madrid is currently a Candidate City for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
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Maguindanao
Maguindanao (Filipino: Magindanaw) is a province of the Philippines located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Its capital is Shariff Aguak. It borders Lanao del Sur to the north, Cotabato to the east, and Sultan Kudarat to the south.
Maguindanao is composed of 36 municipalities, which are further subdivided into 506 barangays. Cotabato City is often grouped with Maguindanao, but it is actually independent from the province.
The province is divided into two congressional districts. In October 2006, the first congressional district was split off into a new province, Shariff Kabunsuan. However, the ARMM's Act creating the province was nullified by the Supreme Court in July 2008, on the basis that creation of a province is a function of the Philippine legislature. The area has since reverted to the province of Maguindanao.
Maguindanao is divided into two congressional districts, which elect members to the House of Representatives. For the brief period that the province of Shariff Kabunsuan existed, Maguindanao became a lone-district province. Since the appointment of a new set of provincial officials for the reunified province of Maguindanao by the ARMM Governor in January 2009, the provincial government has reverted to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan setup (coterminous with the restored 1st and 2nd Congressional districts of Maguindanao) from before Shariff Kabunsuan was created.
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Makati
The City of Makati (/məˈkɑːtɪ/ mə-KAH-tee; Filipino: Makati), in the Philippines, is one of the 17 cities that make up Metro Manila, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines. As the host of various embassies, it is also an important center for international affairs.
With a population of 510,383, Makati is the 16th largest city in the country and ranked as the 44th most densely populated city in the world with 18,654 inhabitants per km2.
Makati was founded by Spaniard Miguel López de Legazpi, who dismissed Makati as a worthless swamp. According to folklore, Legazpi asked for the name of the place but, because of the language barrier, was misinterpreted by the natives. Pointing to the receding tide of Pasig River, the natives answered, “Makati, kumakati na,” literally meaning ebbing tide.
Makati became the financial center of the Philippines during the 1950s. Makati is home of the Philippine Stock Exchange and the Makati Business Club.
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Malawi
Malawi ( /məˈlɑːwi/; Chichewa [malaβi][need tone]), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Malawi is over 118,000 km2 (45,560 sq mi) with an estimated population of more than 13,900,000. Its capital is Lilongwe, which is also Malawi's largest city; the second largest is Blantyre and the third is Mzuzu. The name Malawi comes from the Maravi, an old name of the Nyanja people that inhabit the area. The country is also nicknamed "The Warm Heart of Africa".
The area of Africa now known as Malawi was colonized by migrating tribes of Bantu around the 10th century. In 1891 the area was colonized again, this time by the British. In 1953 Malawi, then known as Nyasaland, became part of the semi-independent Central African Federation (CAF). The Federation was dissolved in 1963 and in 1964, Nyasaland gained full independence and was renamed Malawi. Upon gaining independence it became a single-party state under the presidency of Hastings Banda, who remained president until 1994, when he was ousted from power. Joyce Banda (no relation) is the current president, raised to that position after president Bingu Mutharika died in 2012. She is the first female leader in Malawi. Malawi has a democratic, multi-party government. Malawi has a small military force that includes an army, a navy and an air wing. Malawi's foreign policy is pro-Western and includes positive diplomatic relations with most countries and participation in several international organizations.
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Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race.
It has also been called the Indo-Australian Archipelago, East Indies, Indonesian Archipelago, and other names over time. The term is largely synonymous with the term Maritime Southeast Asia. Situated between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the group of over 25,000 islands is the largest archipelago by area, and fourth by number of islands in the world. It includes Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore,[citation needed]Brunei, East Malaysia and East Timor. The island of New Guinea or islands of Papua New Guinea are not always included in definitions of the Malay Archipelago.
The term was derived from the concept of a Malay race, which included the peoples of the modern-day nations of Indonesia (excluding western New Guinea), Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor and the Philippines. The racial concept was proposed by European explorers based on their observations of the influence of the ethnic Malay empire (Indonesia), Srivijaya.
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Malaysia
Malaysia (i/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-LAY-zhə or i/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-LAY-see-ə) is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Land borders are shared with Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei, and maritime borders exist with Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. In 2010 the population exceeded 27.5 million, with over 20 million living on the Peninsula.
Malaysia has its origins in the Malay Kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. The first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946. Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963, with si being added to give the new country the name Malaysia. However, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. Since independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with GDP growing an average 6.5% for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its natural resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism.
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Maldives
Maldives (i/ˈmɒldaɪvz/ or /ˈmɒldiːvz/), (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, Dhivehi Raa'je), officially Republic of Maldives (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, Dhivehi Raa'jeyge Jumhooriyya), also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep Islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago. It stands in the Laccadive Sea, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka and 400 kilometres (250 mi) south-west of India. During the colonial era, the Dutch referred to the country as "Maldivische Eilanden" in their documentation, while "Maldive Islands" is the anglicised version of the local name used by the British, which later came to be written "Maldives".
The archipelago is located on top of the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive Ridge, a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean. Maldives also form a terrestrial ecoregion together with the Chagos and the Lakshadweep. The atolls of Maldives encompass a territory spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 sq mi), making it one of the world's most geographically dispersed countries. Its population of 328,536 (2012) inhabits 200 of its 1,192 islands. Maldives' capital and largest city Malé had a population of 103,693 in 2006. It is located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll, in the Kaafu Atoll. It is also one of the Administrative divisions of the Maldives. Traditionally it was the King's Island where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties were enthroned.
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Mali
Malii/ˈmɑːli/, officially the Republic of Mali (French: République du Mali, French pronunciation: [maˈli]), is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with a population of 14.5 million. Its capital is Bamako. Mali consists of eight regions and its borders on the north reach deep into the middle of the Sahara, while the country's southern part, where the majority of inhabitants live, features the Niger and Sénégal rivers. The country's economic structure centers around agriculture and fishing. Some of Mali's natural resources are gold, uranium, livestock, and salt. About half the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
Present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire (from which Mali is named), and the Songhai Empire. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali making it a part of French Sudan. French Sudan (then known as the Sudanese Republic) joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation. Shortly thereafter, following Senegal's withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After a long period of one-party rule, a 1991 coup led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. On 22 March, 2012, a group of junior soldiers seized control of the country's presidential palace and declared the government dissolved and its constitution suspended. On 6 April, 2012, rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) declared the secession of a new state, Azawad, from Mali.
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Malta
Maltai/ˈmɒltə/, officially known as the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta), is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya, with Gibraltar 1,755 km (1,091 mi) to the west and Alexandria 1,508 km (937 mi) to the east. Malta covers just over 316 km2 (122 sq mi) in land area, making it one of the world's smallest states. It is also one of the most densely populated countries worldwide. The de facto capital city of Malta is Valletta; the largest town, Birkirkara. The main island comprises many towns, which together form one Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with a population of 368,250 according to Eurostat. The country has two official languages, Maltese (constitutionally the national language) and English.
Throughout history, Malta's location has given it great strategic importance, and a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Habsburg Spain, Knights of St John, French and the British ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974, whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004. Malta is also party to the Schengen Agreement and in 2008 it became part of the eurozone.
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Manila
Manila (English: /məˈnɪlə/; Tagalog: Maynila, [majˈnilaʔ]) is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities (along with the smaller municipality of Pateros) that comprise Metro Manila.
Manila is located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north; Quezon City to the northeast; San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east; Makati to the southeast, and Pasay to the south.
Manila has a total population of more than 1,652,171 according to the 2010 census. Manila is the second most populous city in the Philippines, behind its neighbor, Quezon City. The populace inhabit an area of only 38.55 square kilometers, making Manila the most densely populated city in the world.Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines and the 11th in the world with an estimated population of 16,300,000. The greater urban area is the fifth-most populous in the world and has an estimated metropolitan population of 20,654,307 people.
The city is divided into six legislative districts and consists of sixteen geographical districts: Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Port Area, Quiapo, Sampaloc, San Andres, San Miguel, San Nicolas, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, Santa Mesa and Tondo. Bustling commerce and some of the most historically and culturally significant iconic landmarks in the country, as well as the seat of the executive and judicial branches of the government are to be found in the city; and it is also home to many scientific and educational institutions, numerous sport facilities, a variety of other culturally and historically significant venues. As a primary transportation hub and with the larger capital region bearing its name, there is very little of a general nature to be found in cities anywhere that Manila is lacking.
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Manila Bay
Manila Bay is a natural harbor which serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines.The bay is considered to be one of the best natural harbors in Southeast Asia and one of the finest in the world. Strategically located around the capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Philippines and its neighbouring countries, becoming the gateway for socio-economic development even prior to Spanish occupation. With an area of 1,994 km2 (769.9 sq mi), and a coastline of 190 km (118.1 mi), Manila Bay is situated in the western part of Luzon and is bounded by Cavite and Metro Manila on the east, Bulacan and Pampanga on the north, and Bataan on the west and northwest. Manila Bay drains approximately 17,000 km2 (6,563.7 sq mi) of watershed area, with the Pampanga River contributing about 49% of the freshwater influx. With an average depth of 17 m (55.8 ft), it is estimated to have a total volume of 28.9 billion cubic meters (28.9 cubic km). Entrance to the bay is 19 km (11.8 mi) wide and expands to a width of 48 km (29.8 mi). However, width of the bay varies from 22 km (13.7 mi) at its mouth and expanding to 60 km (37.3 mi) at its widest point.
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Marikina
The City of Marikina, in the Philippines, is one of the 17 cities that make up Metro Manila, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. Marikina was former capital of the province of Manila during the declaration of Philippine Independence. The city divided into two districts and composed of 16 barangays. Marikina is one of the top 20 largest cities in terms of population and one of the wealthiest local government unit in the country.
Marikina was given the title the "Shoe Capital of the Philippines" because of its notable shoe industry, being the biggest manufacturer of shoes in the Philippines, producing almost 70% of shoe production in the country. Shoemakers in the city recently finished creating the "World's Largest Pair of Shoes" and it was only recently that the Guinness World Records recognized this feat. The Shoe Museum is home of the famous shoe collection of the former First Lady Imelda Marcos, shoes of the world leaders, past presidents, famous people, and shoes of different countries around the world, and making it the largest collection of pair of shoes in the world.
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Marinduque
Marinduque (Filipino: Marinduke pronounced [mɑrinˈduke]) is an island province of the Philippines located in the MIMAROPA region in Luzon. Its capital is Boac. Marinduque lies between Tayabas Bay to the north and Sibuyan Sea to the south. It is located south and west of Quezon, east of Mindoro, and north of Romblon.
Legend has it that the island of Marinduque was formed as a consequence of a tragic love affair between two people: Mariin and Gatduke. Mariin's father, a local chieftain, did not approve of this affair and ordered the beheading of Gatduke. Before this could be done, the couple sailed out to sea and drowned themselves, forming the island now called Marinduque.
During the Spanish and early American occupations, Marinduque was part of Balayan Province (now Batangas) in the 16th century, Mindoro in the 17th century, and had a brief period as an independent province in 1901, when the Americans arrived.
During the Philippine-American War, Marinduque was the first island to have American concentration camps. Marinduque is the site of the Battle of Pulang Lupa, where 250 Filipino soldiers under Colonel Maximo Abad, defeated a smaller force of 54 American Infantrymen.
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Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands (Marshallese: Aolepān Aorōkin M̧ajeļ), is an island country located in the northern Pacific Ocean. Geographically, the country is part of the larger island group of Micronesia, with the population of around 68,000 people spread out over 34 low-lying coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets. The islands share maritime boundaries with the Federated States of Micronesia to the west, Wake Island to the north,Kiribati to the south-east, and Nauru to the south. The most populous atoll is Majuro, which also acts as the capital.
Micronesian colonists gradually settled the Marshall Islands during the 2nd millennium BC, with inter-island navigation made possible using traditional stick charts. Islands in the archipelago were first explored by Europeans in the 1520s, with Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar sighting an atoll in August 1526. Other expeditions by Spanish and English ships followed, with the islands' current name stemming from British explorer John Marshall. Recognised as part of the Spanish East Indies in 1874, the islands were sold to Germany in 1884, and became of German New Guinea in 1885. The Empire of Japan occupied the Marshall Islands in World War I, which were later joined with other former German territories in 1919 by the League of Nations to form the South Pacific Mandate. In World War II, the islands were conquered by the United States in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign. Along with other Pacific Islands, the Marshall Islands were then consolidated into the United-States-governed Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Self-government was achieved in 1979, and full sovereignty in 1986, under a Compact of Free Association with the United States.
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Masbate
Masbate (Tagalog pronunciation: [masˈbate]) is an island province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region. Its capital is Masbate City and consists of three major islands: Masbate, Ticao and Burias.
When Captain Luis Enriquez de Guzman anchored on the shores of Masbate in 1569, he found tiny settlements spread along the coasts engaged in flourishing trade with China. Chinese traders visited Masbate and founded small settlements during the Shri-Vijayan and Madjapahit periods. Ruins of cave-like dwellings resembling "kiva" (possibly built by Indians who accompanied the Chinese traders), were found along the coasts of Aroroy, Palanas, and Masbate. Porcelain jars dating back to the 10th century were excavated at Kalanay (Aroroy) in the 1930s.
Historical accounts show that the Christianization of the Bicol Region actually began in Masbate in 1569:
Father Alonso Jimenez was the first missionary to the islands of Masbate, Burias, Leyte and Samar. Then he went to Ibalon (Bicol) in Camarines Province, where he resided many years, and made many religious incursions into Albay Province and Sorsogon Province. Fray Jimenez is considered the apostle of the island of Masbate
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Mauritania
Mauritaniai/mɔrɪˈteɪniə/ (Arabic: موريتانيا Mūrītānyā; Berber: Muritanya / Agawej; Wolof: Gànnaar; Soninke: Murutaane; Pulaar: Moritani; French: Mauritanie), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in West Africa and in the Maghreb. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara (controlled by Morocco) in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern Mauritania covers a territory far to the south of the old Berber kingdom that had no relation with it. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast.
The government of Mauritania was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup d'état led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, General Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, which he won. In Mauritania about 20% of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day.
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Mauritius
Coordinates: 20°12′S 57°30′E / 20.2°S 57.5°E / -20.2; 57.5
Mauritiusi/məˈrɪʃəs/ (Mauritian Creole: Moris; French: Maurice, pronounced: [mɔˈʁis]), officially the Republic of Mauritius (Mauritian Creole: Republik Moris; French: République de Maurice) is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 870 kilometres (540 mi) east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the Republic includes the islands of Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues, Tromelin and the Agalega Islands. Mauritius Island is part of the Mascarene Islands, with the French island of Réunion 170 km (110 mi) to the southwest and the island of Rodrigues 570 km (350 mi) to the east. The area of Mauritius is 2040 km2; its capital city is Port Louis.
The United Kingdom took control of the islands in 1810, from France during the Napoleonic Wars, and Mauritius became independent from the UK in 1968. It is a parliamentary republic and is a member of the Southern African Development Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the African Union, La Francophonie and the Commonwealth of Nations.
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Metro Manila
Metropolitan Manila (Filipino: Kalakhang Maynila, Kamaynilaan), the National Capital Region (NCR) (Filipino: Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), or simply Metro Manila, is the metropolitan region encompassing the City of Manila and its surrounding areas in the Philippines. It is composed of 16 cities, namely City of Manila, Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Pasay, Pasig, Parañaque, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela, plus the smaller Municipality of Pateros.
The region is the political, economic, social, cultural, and educational center of the Philippines. As proclaimed by Presidential Decree No. 940, Metro Manila as a whole is the Philippines' seat of government but the City of Manila is the capital. The largest city in the metropolis is Quezon City, while the largest business district is the Makati Central Business District.
Metro Manila is the most populous of the twelve defined metropolitan areas in the Philippines and the 11th most populous in the world. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 11,855,975, comprising 13% of the national population. The sum total population of provinces with a provincial density above 700 people per square kilometer (more than double the national average) in a contiguous zone with Metro Manila is 25.5 million people as of the 2007 census, one way to refer to the conurbation around Metro Manila is Greater Manila.
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Mexico
Mexico (i/ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/; Spanish: México, IPA: [ˈmexiko] ( listen)), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help·info)), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States of America; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometres (over 760,000 sq mi), Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the thirteenth largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 113 million, it is the eleventh most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal District, the capital city.
In Pre-Columbian Mexico many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory from its base in México-Tenochtitlan, which was administered as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This territory would eventually become Mexico as the colony's independence was recognized in 1821. The post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, the Mexican-American War and territorial cession to the United States, a civil war, two empires and a domestic dictatorship. The latter led to the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
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MIMAROPA
Coordinates: 10°40′N 119°30′E / 10.667°N 119.5°E / 10.667; 119.5 MIMAROPA is an administrative region of the Philippines. It is one of two regions of the Philippines having no land border with another region, Eastern Visayas being the other, and is designated as Region IV-B. The name is a portmanteau combining the names of its provinces, which are: Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan. The region is also more formally known as Southern Tagalog Islands.
Calapan City is the regional center, however most regional government offices like the Department of Public Works are situated in Quezon City, Metro Manila.
On May 23, 2005, Palawan and the highly urbanized city of Puerto Princesa were moved to Western Visayas by Executive Order No. 429. However, on August 19, 2005, President Arroyo issued Administrative Order No. 129 to hold the earlier EO 429 in abeyance pending a review.,
Executive Order No. 103, dated May 17, 2002, divided Region IV (Southern Tagalog) into Region IV-A (CALABARZON) and Region IV-B (MIMAROPA).
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Mindanao
Coordinates: 8°00′N 125°00′E / 8°N 125°E / 8; 125
Mindanao ( /mɪndəˈnaʊ/ min-də-NOW) is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. Mindanao is the only area of the Philippines with a significant Muslim presence. Davao City is the largest city in Mindanao.
Mindanao has been the site of a separatist movement by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), caused by religious differences and widespread poverty. Fighting between MILF and Philippine forces has displaced over 100,000 people.
Mindanao is named after the Maguindanaons who constituted the largest Sultanate historically, and evidence from maps made during the 17th and 18th centuries suggests that the name was used to refer to the island by natives at the time. Evidence of human occupation dates back tens of thousands of years. In prehistoric times the Negrito people arrived. Sometime around 1500 BC Austronesian peoples spread throughout the Philippines and far beyond.
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Misamis Occidental
Misamis Occidental (Filipino:Kanlurang Misamis)(Subanen:Sindepan Mis'samis) is a province of the Philippines located in the Northern Mindanao region. Its capital is Oroquieta City. The province borders Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur to the west and is separated from Lanao del Norte by Panguil Bay to the south and from Misamis Oriental by Iligan Bay to the east. The province of Misamis was originally inhabited by Subanons whose an easy target by the sea pirates from Lanao. Misamis is taken from the early settlement of the Spaniards at the entrance to the Panguil Bay.
The name "Misamis" is believed to have been derived from the Subano word "Kuyamis" which is a variety of sweeto coconut - the staple food of the early settlers in this place. During the years the name persisted as an inference of the geographical location and upon the advent of the Spanish settlers, the word "kuyamis" easily gave way to the more convenient pronounceable but corrupted word "Misamis".
Misamis Occidental comprised the original nine towns of Baliangao, Lopez Jaena, Tudela, Clarin, Plaridel, Oroquieta, Aloran, Jimenez, and Misamis. The original nine municipalities of the province of Misamis Occidental grew into the present three cities of Ozamiz, Oroquieta, and Tangub and the 14 municipalities of Aloran, Baliangao, Bonifacio, Calamba, Clarin, Concepcion, Don Victoriano, Jimenez, Lopez Jaena, Panaon, Plaridel, Sapang Dalaga, Sinacaban, and Tudela
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Misamis Oriental
Misamis Oriental (Filipino:Silangang Misamis, abbreviated Mis. Or.) is a province of the Philippines located in the Northern Mindanao region. Its capital and provincial center is Cagayan de Oro City. The province borders Iligan City and Bukidnon to the south, the Agusan del Norte to the east, and to the north is Bohol Sea with the island-province of Camiguin just off its northern shore.
The earliest known settlers of the territory were the Negritos. Centuries later, Austronesian colonists fought the natives for the control of the rich coastal plains by the Cagayan River, and the Visayans won the struggle for possession over the Bukidnons.
In the 16th century, most of Mindanao was under the control of Muslims, and the inhabitants were converted into Islam. As part of Mindanao, the people of the territory were obliged to pay tribute to Muslim rulers.
Legislative Act. No. 3537 approved on 2 November 1929, divided the province of Misamis into two due to the lack of geographic contiguity. It was not until ten years later on 28 November 1939 that the division between Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental was implemented by Act. No. 3777. When Misamis Oriental separated, Don Gregorio Pelaez became its first governor.
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Moldova
Moldovai/mɒlˈdoʊvə/, officially the Republic of Moldova (Moldovan/Romanian: Republica Moldova pronounced [reˈpublika molˈdova]) is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991 as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. On 29 July 1994, the new constitution of Moldova was adopted. A strip of Moldova's internationally recognized territory on the east bank of the river Dniester has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990.
The nation is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. Moldova is a member state of the United Nations, Council of Europe, WTO, OSCE, GUAM, CIS, BSEC and other international organizations. Moldova currently aspires to join the European Union, and has implemented the first three-year Action Plan within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).
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Monaco
Monacoi/ˈmɒnəkoʊ/, officially the Principality of Monaco (French: Principauté de Monaco; Monégasque: Principatu de Múnegu; Italian: Principato di Monaco; Occitan: Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city state, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. Bordered by France on three sides, with one side bordering the Mediterranean Sea, its center is about 16 km (9.9 mi) from Italy, and is only 15 km (9.3 mi) north east of Nice, France. It has an area of 1.98 km2 (0.76 sq mi), and a population of 35,986, making Monaco the second smallest and the most densely populated country in the world. Monaco has a land border of only 4.4 km (2.7 mi), a coastline of 4.1 km (2.5 mi), and a width that varies between 1.7 km (1.1 mi) and 349 metres (382 yards). The highest point in the country is a narrow pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires district, which is 161 metres (528 feet) above sea level. Monaco's most populated Quartier is Monte Carlo, and the most populated Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins. After a recent expansion of Port Hercules, Monaco's total area is 2.05 km2 (0.79 sq mi), with new plans to extend the district of Fontvieille, with land reclaimed from the Mediterranean Sea.
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Mongolia
Mongoliai/mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ (Mongolian: Монгол улс (help·info), literally Mongol country/state) is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.
The area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Gökturks and others. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols returned to their earlier pattern of constant internal conflict and occasional raids on the Chinese borderlands. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. At the end of the 17th century, all of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish de facto independence from the Republic of China, and until 1945 to gain international recognition.
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Montenegro
Montenegro (i/ˌmɒntɨˈneɪɡroʊ/ or /ˌmɒntɨˈniːɡroʊ/; or /ˌmɒntɨˈnɛɡroʊ/; Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора [tsr̩̂ːnaː ɡɔ̌ra] ( listen), meaning "Black Mountain") is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Prijestonica (Пријестоница), meaning the former Royal Capital City.
In the 10th century, there existed three Slavic principalities on the territory of Montenegro: Duklja, roughly corresponding to the southern half, Travunia, the west, and Rascia, the north. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in independence of Duklja and the establishment of the Vojislavljević dynasty. Duklja reached its zenith under Vojislav's son, Mihailo (1046–81), and his son Bodin (1081–1101). By the 13th century, Zeta had replaced Duklja when referring to the realm, which at the time was part of the Serbian Grand Principality of the Nemanjić dynasty.
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Montserrat
Coordinates: 16°45′N 62°12′W / 16.75°N 62.2°W / 16.75; -62.2
Montserrat ( /mɒntsəˈræt/) is an island that is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) long and 11 km (6.8 mi) wide, giving 40 kilometres (25 mi) of coastline. Montserrat is nicknamed the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of some of its inhabitants.
Montserrat's Georgian era historic capital city of Plymouth was destroyed and two-thirds of the island's population was forced to flee because of an eruption of the previously dormant Soufriere Hills volcano that began on July 18, 1995. The eruption continues today on a much reduced scale, the damage being confined to the area around Plymouth, including its docking facilities, and also the area around the former W. H. Bramble Airport on the eastern side of the island, the remnants of which were buried by flows from volcanic activity on February 11, 2010.
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Moro Gulf
The Moro Gulf is a sea in Mindanao in the Philippines. It is part of Celebes Sea and is surrounded by the Zamboanga Peninsula and the central part of Mindanao. Sibuguey Bay and Illana Bay are its major branches. Zamboanga City is the most important port city on its coast. Cotabato City, on the eastern coast, is another major port.
The Moro Gulf is also an area of significant tectonic activity with several fault zones in the region capable of producing major earthquakes and destructive local tsunamis, such as the devastating 1976 Moro Gulf Earthquake which killed over 5,000 people and left over 90,000 people homeless as it hit the coast of Mindanao.
On July 23, 2010 at 22:08, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter of Moro Gulf hit Mindanao. This was quickly followed by two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.6 and 7.4.
Coordinates: 7°N 123°E / 7°N 123°E / 7; 123
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Morocco
Morocco (Arabic: المغرب al-Maghrib ; Berber: ⵍⵎⴻⵖⵔⵉⴱ / ⴰⵎⴻⵔⵔⵓⴽElmeɣrib / Amerruk), officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of about 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², including the disputed region of the Western Sahara, seen by and mostly administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces. Morocco is part of the Maghreb region, in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including the power to dissolve the parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. The latest Parliamentary elections were held in November 25, 2011, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair. Voter turnout in these elections was estimated to be 43% of registered voters, but only about 25% of Moroccan adult citizens actually voted. The rest either chose not to vote or they were not registered as voters. The political capital is Rabat, but the largest city is Casablanca; other main cities include Marrakesh, Tetouan, Tangier, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, and Nador.
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Mountain Province
Mountain Province (Filipino:Lalawigang Bulubundukin) is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc.
Mountain Province is bounded in the east by Isabela, in the north by the provinces of Kalinga, Apayao, and Abra, in the south of Benguet and Ifugao, and in the west by the province of Ilocos Sur. It has an area of 229,231 hectares with 83% mountainous while 17% make up hills and levels. The province has plenty of rivers, waterfalls, mountains, and caves.
Mountain Province is sometimes incorrectly named Mountain in some foreign references. The name is also incorrectly shortened by locals to Mt. Province, which in turn is read by native Anglophones as "Mount Province". The province was named so for being in the Cordillera Central mountain range found in the upper realms of Luzon island.
Mountain Province was also the name of the historical province that included most of the current Cordillera provinces. This old province was established by the Americans in 1908 and was later split in 1966 into Mountain Province, Benguet, Kalinga, Apayao and Ifugao.
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Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Portuguese: Moçambique or República de Moçambique, pronounced: [ʁɛˈpublikɐ di musɐ̃ˈbiki]), is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. The capital city is Maputo, formerly known as Lourenço Marques.
Between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from farther north and west. Swahili, and later also Arab, commercial ports existed along the coasts until the arrival of Europeans. The area was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and colonized by Portugal in 1505. Mozambique became independent in 1975, and became the People's Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. It was the scene of an intense civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992.
Mozambique is endowed with rich and extensive natural resources. The country's economy is based largely on agriculture, but with industry, mainly food and beverages, chemical manufacturing, aluminium and petroleum production, is growing fast. The country's tourism sector is also growing. South Africa is Mozambique's main trading partner and source of foreign direct investment. Portugal, Spain, and Belgium are also among the country's most important partners. Since 2001 Mozambique is one of the world's top ten for annual average GDP growth. However, Mozambique still has one of the lowest GDP per capita, one of the worst human development index and one of the highest inequality in the world, as well as having the world's lowest life expectancy.
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Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia (Afrikaans: Republiek van Namibië, German: Republik Namibia (help·info)), is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.
The dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by Bushmen, Damara, and Namaqua, and since about the 14th century AD by immigrating Bantu who came with the Bantu expansion. It became a German Imperial protectorate in 1884 and remained a German colony until the end of World War I. In 1920, the League of Nations mandated the country to South Africa, which imposed its laws and, from 1948, its apartheid policy.
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NATO
Coordinates: 50°52′34.16″N 4°25′19.24″E / 50.8761556°N 4.4220111°E / 50.8761556; 4.4220111
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO ( /ˈneɪtoʊ/ NAY-toh; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN)), also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.
For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down." Doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasion—doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure in 1966.
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Nauru
Coordinates: 0°31′38″S 166°56′12″E / 0.527288°S 166.936724°E / -0.527288; 166.936724
Nauru (Englishi/nɑːˈuːruː/ nah-OO-roo), officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, 300 kilometres (186 mi) to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just 21 square kilometres (8.1 sq mi). With just over 9,322 residents, it is the second least-populated country after Vatican City.
Settled by Micronesian and Polynesian people, Nauru was annexed and claimed as a colony by the German Empire in the late 19th century. After World War I, Nauru became a League of Nations mandate administered by Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. During World War II, Nauru was occupied by Japanese troops, who were bypassed by the Allied advance across the Pacific. After the war ended, it entered into trusteeship again. Nauru gained its independence in 1968.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Nauru was a "rentier state". Nauru is a phosphate rock island, with rich deposits close to the surface, which allow for simple strip mining operations; moreover, it has some phosphate reserves which are presently (as of 2011) not economically viable for extraction. Nevertheless, this island was a major exporter of phosphate starting in 1907, when the Pacific Phosphate Company began mining there, through the formation of the British Phosphate Commission in 1919, and continuing after independence. This returned to Nauru full control of its minerals under the Nauru Phosphate Corporation, until the deposits ran out during the 1980s. For this reason, Nauru briefly boasted the highest per-capita income enjoyed by any sovereign state in the world during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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Negros Occidental
Negros Occidental (Filipino: Kanlurang Negros) is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is Bacolod City and it occupies the northwestern half of Negros Island; Negros Oriental is at the southeastern half. Across the Panay Gulf and the Guimaras Strait to the northwest is the island-province of Guimaras and the province of Iloilo on Panay island. Known as the "Sugarbowl of the Philippines", Negros Occidental produces more than half the nation's sugar output.
Negros Island was originally known to the natives as "Buglas". When the Spaniards arrived in April 1565, they named it "Negros" because of the dark-skinned natives they found. Two of the earliest native settlements were Binalbagan and Ilog which later became towns in 1572 and 1584, respectively. Other settlements were Hinigaran, Negros Occidental, Bago, Marayo (now Pontevedra), Mamalan (now Himamaylan) and Candaguit (a sitio in San Enrique).
Ilog was made the first capital of the province in 1743. This was later transferred to Himamaylan. Bacolod became the capital in 1849.
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Negros Oriental
Negros Oriental (Cebuano: Sidlakang Negros) (also called Oriental Negros, "Eastern Negros") is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. It occupies the south-eastern half of the island of Negros, with Negros Occidental comprising the north-western half. It also includes Apo Island — a popular dive site for both local and foreign tourists. Negros Oriental faces Cebu to the east across the Tañon Strait and Siquijor to the south east. The primary spoken language is Cebuano, and the predominant religious denomination is Roman Catholicism. Dumaguete City is the capital, seat of government, and most populous city.
From 2013 onwards, Negros Oriental will have a nickname called "The Bukuvu of the Philippines."
Negros Island, the third largest island in the Philippines, is believed to have once been part of the island of Mindanao, but was cut off—either by continental drift or the rising waters at the end of the ice age.
Among the early inhabitants of the island were black people, as well as Han Chinese and Malays. They called the island "Buglas", a native word which is believed to mean "cut off".
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Nepal
Nepal (नेपाल) (i/nɛˈpɔːl/ ne-PAWLNepali: नेपाल [neˈpal] ( listen)), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India. Specifically, the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Sikkim border Nepal, while across the Himalayas lies the Tibetan Autonomous Region. With an area of 147,181 square kilometres (56,827 sq mi) and a population of approximately 27 million (and 2 million absentee workers living abroad), Nepal is the world's 93rd largest country by land mass and the 41st most populous country. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and the country's largest metropolis. Kathmandu Valley itself has estimated population of 5 million.
Nepal has a rich geography. The mountainous north has eight of the world's ten tallest mountains, including the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest, called Sagarmatha in Nepali. It contains more than 240 peaks over 20,000 ft (6,096 m) above sea level. The fertile and humid south is heavily urbanized.
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Netherlands
The Netherlands (i/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdə(r)lɑnt] or [ˈneɪ̯də(r)lɑnt] (
listen); West Frisian: Nederlân; Papiamento: Hulanda) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with some islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").
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New Caledonia
Coordinates: 21°15′S 165°18′E / 21.25°S 165.30°E / -21.25; 165.30
New Caledonia (French: Nouvelle-Calédonie) is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) east of Australia and about 20,000 kilometres (12,000 mi) from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands in the Coral Sea are also part of New Caledonia. Locals refer to Grande Terre as "Le Caillou", the rock.
New Caledonia has a land area of 18,576 square kilometres (7,172 sq mi). The population (2011 estimate) is 256,275. The capital of the territory is Nouméa.
The earliest traces of human presence in New Caledonia date back to the Lapita period. The Lapita were highly skilled navigators and agriculturists with influence over a large area of the Pacific.
The British first sighted New Caledonia on September 4, 1774, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook. He named the territory New Caledonia, as the north-east of the island reminded him of Scotland. The west coast of Grande Terre was approached by Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse in 1788, shortly before his disappearance, and the Loyalty Islands were first visited in 1796. From then until 1840, only a few sporadic contacts with the archipelago were recorded. Contacts became more frequent after 1840, because of the interest in sandalwood from New Caledonia.
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New Zealand
New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa) is an island country located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses ‒ that of the North and South Islands ‒ as well as numerous smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans.
During its long isolation, New Zealand developed a distinctive biodiversity of both animal and plant life. Most notable are the large number of unique bird species, many of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and introduced mammals. With a mild maritime climate, the land was mostly covered in forest. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions caused by the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates clashing beneath the earth's surface.
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Nicaragua
Nicaragua (i/ˌnɪkəˈrɑːɡwə/ nik-ə-RAH-gwə), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (Spanish: República de Nicaragua [reˈpuβlika ðe nikaˈɾaɣwa] ( listen)), is the largest country in the Central American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean lies to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. The country's physical geography divides it into three major zones: Pacific lowlands; wet, cooler central highlands; and the Caribbean lowlands. On the Pacific side of the country are the two largest fresh water lakes in Central America—Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua. Surrounding these lakes and extending to their northwest along the rift valley of the Gulf of Fonseca are fertile lowland plains, with soil highly enriched by ash from nearby volcanoes of the central highlands. Nicaragua's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contribute to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot.
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Niger
Niger (French pronunciation: [niʒɛʁ], but occasionally pronounced as /niːˈʒɛər/ ori/ˈnaɪdʒər/), officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east. Niger covers a land area of almost 1,270,000 km2, making it the largest nation in West Africa, with over 80 percent of its land area covered by the Sahara desert. The country's predominantly Islamic population of just above 15,000,000 is mostly clustered in the far south and west of the nation. The capital city is Niamey, located in the far southwest corner of Niger.
Niger is a developing country, and consistently ranks as one of the lowest ranks of the United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI), 186th of 187 countries in 2011. Much of the non-desert portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought and desertification. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the more fertile south, and the export of raw materials, especially uranium ore. Niger remains handicapped by its landlocked position, desert terrain, poor education and poverty of its people, lack of infrastructure, poor health care, and environmental degradation.
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Nigeria
Nigeriai/naɪˈdʒɪəriə/, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims in the North and Christians in the South; a very small minority practice traditional religion. Since 2002 there have been a spate of clashes, particularly in the North of the country, between government forces and the Islamists Boko Haram, militant jihadists who seek to establish sharia law.
The people of Nigeria have an extensive history. Archaeological evidence shows that human habitation of the area dates back to at least 9000 BCE. The area around the Benue and Cross River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu migrants who spread across most of central and southern Africa in waves between the 1st millennium BC and the 2nd millennium.
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Niue
Niue ( /ˈnjuːeɪ/ NEW-ay; Niuean: Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean. It is commonly known as the "Rock of Polynesia", and inhabitants of the island call it "the Rock" for short. Niue is 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) northeast of New Zealand in a triangle between Tonga to the southwest, the Samoas to the northwest, and the Cook Islands to the southeast. The land area is 260 square kilometres (100 sq mi) with about 1,400 people who are predominantly Polynesian.
Though self-governing, Niue is in free association with New Zealand, and lacks full sovereignty. All Niueans are New Zealand citizens and Queen Elizabeth II is Niue's head of state in her capacity as Queen of New Zealand. Most diplomatic relations are conducted by New Zealand on Niue's behalf. 90-95% of Niuean people live in New Zealand, along with about 70% of the speakers of the Niuean language.[citation needed]
In 2003, Niue became the world's first "WiFi nation", in which free wireless Internet access is provided throughout the country by The Internet Users Society-Niue.
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Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island (i/ˈnɔrfək ˈaɪlənd/; Norfuk: Norfuk Ailen) is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia, 1,412 kilometres (877 mi) directly east of mainland Evans Head, and about 600 kilometres (370 mi) from Lord Howe Island. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance. Together with two neighbouring islands, it forms one of Australia's external territories.
Originally colonised by East Polynesians, Norfolk Island was colonised by Britain as part of its settlement in Australia in 1788. It then served as a convict penal settlement until 1794, when it was abandoned until 1856, when permanent residence on the island for civilians began. In 1901, the island became a part of the Commonwealth of Australia which it has remained until this day.
The evergreen Norfolk Island pine is a symbol of the island and thus pictured on its flag (see illustration). Native to the island, the pine is a key export industry for Norfolk Island, being a popular ornamental tree on mainland Australia, where two related species grow, and also in Europe.
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North Borneo
North Borneo was a British protectorate under the sovereign North Borneo Chartered Company from 1882 to 1946. After the war it became a crown colony of Great Britain from 1946 to 1963, known in this time as British North Borneo. It is located on the northeastern end of the island of Borneo. It is now the state of Sabah, East Malaysia. The last Governor of North Borneo was William Allmond Codrington Goode who held office from 1959 to 1963.
In 1865, the United States Consul to Brunei, Charles Lee Moses, obtained a 10-year lease for the territory of North Borneo from the Sultan of Brunei. However, the post-Civil War United States wanted nothing to do with Asian colonies, so Moses sold his rights to the Hong Kong-based American Trading Company of Borneo owned by Joseph William Torrey, Thomas Bradley Harris, Tat Cheong and possibly other Chinese merchants. Torrey began a settlement at the Kimanis River mouth, which he named Ellena. Attempts to find financial backing for the settlement were futile, and disease, death and desertion by the immigrant labourers led to the abandonment of the settlement towards the end of 1866. Harris died in 1866 and Torrey returned to America in 1877, he died in Boston, Massachusetts, in March 1884.
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North Korea
Coordinates: 40°00′N 127°00′E / 40°N 127°E / 40; 127 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK; Chosŏn'gŭl: 조선민주주의인민공화국), commonly referred to as "North Korea" ( listen), is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok, or Yalu, and the Tumen rivers form the border between North Korea and China. A section of the Tumen River in the far northeast is the border with Russia.
The peninsula was governed by the Korean Empire until it was annexed by Japan after the Russo-Japanese War in 1910. It was divided into Soviet- and American-occupied zones in 1945, after the end of World War II. North Korea refused to participate in a United Nations–supervised election held in the south in 1948, which led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones. North and South Korea each claimed sovereignty over the whole Korean Peninsula, which led to the Korean War of 1950. The Armistice Agreement of 1953 ended the fighting; but the two countries are officially still at war against each other, for a peace treaty was never signed. Both states were accepted into the United Nations in 1991.
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Northern Cyprus
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (Turkish: Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti), commonly called Northern Cyprus, is a self-declared state that comprises the northeastern part of the island of Cyprus. Recognised only by Turkey, Northern Cyprus is considered by the international community to be occupied territory of the Republic of Cyprus.
Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the north east, westward to Morphou Bay and Cape Kormakitis (the Kokkina/Erenköy exclave marks the westernmost extent of the area), and southward to the village of Louroujina/Akıncılar. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both states.
Tensions between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot populations in Cyprus culminated in 1974 with a coup d'état, an attempt to annex the island to Greece, and an invasion by Turkey in response. This resulted in the partitioning of the island, the resettlement of many of its inhabitants, and a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.
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Northern Mindanao
Coordinates: 8°45′N 124°55′E / 8.75°N 124.917°E / 8.75; 124.917 Designated as Region X of the Philippines, Northern Mindanao (Filipino: Hilagang Mindanao) is composed of five provinces and two cities classified as highly-urbanized, all occupying the north-central part of Mindanao island, and the island-province of Camiguin. The regional center is Cagayan de Oro City, where the national government's regional offices and other big establishments are located. Lanao del Norte was transferred to Northern Mindanao from Region XII (then called Central Mindanao) by virtue of Executive Order No. 36.
The vast majority of the region's inhabitants are migrants from Cebu and Bohol. Some inhabitants are of Waray, Tagalog and Maranao descent.
Rainfall in Northern Mindanao is evenly distributed throughout the year. Its abundant vegetation, natural springs and high elevation contribute to the region's cool, mild and invigorating climate.
Northern Mindanao has a total land area of 14,032.93 km² of which 6,571 km² is alienable and disposable lands, and the remaining 7,461.99 km².
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Northern Samar
Northern Samar (Filipino:Hilagang Samar) is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catarman and is located at the northern portion of the island of Samar. Bordering the province to the south are the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar. To the northwest, across the San Bernardino Strait is Sorsogon; to the east is the Philippine Sea and to the west is Samar Sea.
The People
The people of Northern Samar were previously called the "Ibabaonons". Generally, they are members of the "Waray" or "Waray-waray" or "Waraynon", the people of Eastern Visayas or Samar-Leyte region. To distinguish themselves from the Westehanon (people from Samar) and Estehanon (from Eastern Samar) when Samar Island was split into three provinces in 1965, and the Leyteños (the people from the Leyte Island), they now call themselves as "Nortehanon".
Languages/Dialects Spoken
Majority of the people in the province of Northern Samar speak the Norte Samarnon, a variation of Waray-Waray. About 4.5 percent of the population, especially in the island towns, speak Cebuano, while a minority speaks Inabaknon, a unique dialect said to be one of the most preserved languages to date. This is the native tongue of the populace in the island town of Capul.
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Nueva Ecija
Nueva Ecija (PSGC: 034900000; ISO: PH-NUE) is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is Palayan City. Nueva Ecija borders, from the south clockwise, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya, and Aurora.
The sprawling and varied geological features of the land we now know as Nueva Ecija, includes plains, mountains and rivers, all the requisites for the birthing and sustenance of life itself. This must have been obvious to the land's very first settlers, who found themselves nestled by three mountain ranges on the East, North and West and vast southern plains. All these were sustained by a great flowing river, one whose earliest name was spoken in a now lost tongue, and which was called the Rio Grande de Pampanga by the Spaniards later on. The Great Pampanga River nourished wild, fruit-bearing trees, served as home to an abundance of fish and made possible lush, teeming woodlands that sheltered animals. All these combined must have been paradise in whatever language for the land's earliest settlers, who were able to not only survive but thrive in the surrounding abundance, all within easy reach.
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Nueva Vizcaya
Nueva Vizcaya is a province of the Philippines located in the Cagayan Valley region in Luzon. Its capital is Bayombong. It is bordered by, clockwise from the north, Ifugao, Isabela, Quirino, Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, and Benguet.
The name was derived from the Spanish province Vizcaya in the Basque Country. The province of Nueva Vizcaya used to be a territory of the vast Cagayan Valley which was once an integral political unit with one governor. In 1839, then-Governor Luis Lardizabal issued an order transforming Nueva Vizcaya into a politico-military province upon the advice of the alcalde mayor of Cagayan. The order was approved by a Royal Decree on April 10, 1841. The province had its first taste of civil governance in 1902 when it was organized by the Philippine Commission.
The present territory of Nueva Vizcaya was the result of changes emanating from the formal creation of the province of Isabela in May 1865, wherein a great portion of its northern territory was ceded to the newly-born province. In 1908, the organization of the province of Ifugao further reduced the area of Nueva Vizcaya which was forced to give up its northwest territory. The survey executed by the Bureau of Lands in 1914 further caused the diminution of its area and reduced again upon the enactment of the Administrative Code of 1917.
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Occidental Mindoro
Occidental Mindoro (Filipino: Kanlurang Mindoro, "Western Mindoro"; Spanish: Mindoro Occidental) is a province of the Philippines located in the MIMAROPA region in Luzon. "Home of the Indigenous Mangyans". Its capital is Mamburao and occupies the western half of the island of Mindoro, on the west by Apo East Pass, and on the south by the Mindoro Strait; Oriental Mindoro is at the eastern half. The South China Sea is to the west of the province and Palawan is located to the southwest, across Mindoro Strait. Batangas is to the north, separated by the Verde Island Passage.
Occidental Mindoro has two distinct weather types: rainy season and dry season. Rains begin to fall in the province in late May, intensifying through June, July, August, September and October, then gradually subsides in November. The months of August and September are the wettest period, with storms directly passing through the area.
On the other hand, the dry season starts in November, with rainfall subsiding in intensity, and altogether ceasing in January, February, March and April. March and April are the driest period, with cloudless skies and parched earth characterizing the general area.
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Oman
Oman (i/oʊˈmɑːn/ oh-MAAN; Arabic: عمان ʻUmān), officially called the Sultanate of Oman (Arabic: سلطنة عُمان Salṭanat ʻUmān), is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam enclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.
For a period, Oman was a moderate regional power, formerly having a sultanate extending across the Strait of Hormuz to Iran, and modern day Pakistan, and far south to Zanzibar on the coat of south-east Africa. Over time, as its power declined, the sultanate came under heavy influence from the United Kingdom, though Oman was never formally part of the British Empire, or a British protectorate. The Omani royal family claim that Oman has been ruled by the Al Said dynasty since 1744, although without substantial proof. Oman has long-standing military and political ties with the United Kingdom and the United States, although it maintains an independent foreign policy.
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Orchid Island
Coordinates: 22°03′N 121°32′E / 22.05°N 121.533°E / 22.05; 121.533
Orchid Island (Yami language: Ponso no Tao or Pongso no Tao; Chinese: 蘭嶼; pinyin: Lán Yǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lân-sū) is a 45 km² volcanic island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan Island and separated from the Batanes of the Philippines by the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait. It is governed as Lanyu Township of Taitung County.
The island is home to the Tao, an ethnic minority group who migrated to the island from the Batan Archipelago 800 years ago. The island is known to them as Ponso no Tao or Pongso no Tawo (island of the people) or Irala. Out of a total current population of 4,000, approximately 2,400 belong to the aboriginal Tao community and the remaining 1,600 are mainly Han Chinese. In neighboring Philippines the island is referred to as Botel Tobago.
The Lanyu nuclear waste storage facility was built in 1982. The plant receives nuclear waste from Taiwan's three nuclear power plants operated by state utility Taiwan Power Company (Taipower). About 100,000 barrels of nuclear waste from the nation’s three operational nuclear power plants have been stored at the Lanyu complex. In 2002 and 2012, there were major protests from local residents, calling on Taipower to remove the nuclear waste from the island.
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Oriental Mindoro
Oriental Mindoro (Filipino: Silangang Mindoro, "Eastern Mindoro"; Spanish: Mindoro Oriental) is a province of the Philippines located in the island of Mindoro under MIMAROPA region in Luzon, about 140 km southwest of Manila. The province is bordered by the Verde Island Passage and the rest of Batangas to the north, by Marinduque, Maestro del Ocampo Island, Tablas Strait and the rest of Romblon to the east, by Semirara and the rest of Caluya Islands, Antique to the south, and by Occidental Mindoro to the west. Calapan City, the only city in the island, is the provincial capital.
Oriental Mindoro is touted as the country's emerging eco-tourism destination. In 2005, the Philippines was found to be the center of marine fish biodiversity and the home of the most diverse marine ecosystem in the world, by American biologists Kent Carpenter and Victor Springer. Most of the endemic species in the Philippines are found in the Verde Island Passage between Mindoro island and the main island of Luzon. The passage houses 2,983 individual species of algae, corals, crustaceans, mollusks, fishes, marine reptiles, and marine mammals, based on a study conducted by scientists Carpenter and Springer in 2005.
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Pakistan
Pakistan (i/ˈpækɨstæn/ or i/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.
The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.
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Palau
Palau (i/pəˈlaʊ/, sometimes spelled Belau or Pelew), officially the Republic of Palau (Palauan: Beluu ęr a Belau), is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. Geographically part of the larger island group of Micronesia, with the country's population of around 21,000 people spread out over 250 islands forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands. The islands share maritime boundaries with Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Federated States of Micronesia. The most populous island in the group is Koror, with the capital city, Ngerulmud, located on nearby Babeldaob.
The country were originally settled around 3000 years ago by migrants from the Philippines, with a Negrito population sustained until around 900 years ago. The islands were first visited by Europeans in the 18th century, and were made part of the Spanish East Indies in 1885. Following Spain's defeat in the Spanish–American War in 1898, the islands were sold to Imperial Germany in 1899 under the terms of the German–Spanish Treaty, where they were administered as part of German New Guinea. The Imperial Japanese Navy conquered Palau during World War I, and the islands were later made a part of the Japanese-ruled South Pacific Mandate by the League of Nations. During World War II, skirmishes, including the major Battle of Peleliu, were fought between American and Japanese troops as part of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign. Along with other Pacific Islands, Palau was made a part of the United States-governed Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1947. Having voted against joining the newly-independent Federated States of Micronesia in 1979, the islands gained full sovereignty in 1994 under a Compact of Free Association with the United States.
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Palawan
Palawan is an island province of the Philippines located in the MIMAROPA region or Region 4. Its capital is Puerto Princesa City, and it is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of jurisdiction. The islands of Palawan stretch from Mindoro in the northeast to Borneo in the southwest. It lies between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea. The province is named after its largest island, Palawan Island (09°30′N 118°30′E / 9.5°N 118.5°E / 9.5; 118.5), measuring 450 kilometres (280 mi) long, and 50 kilometres (31 mi) wide.
Palawan is composed of the long and narrow Palawan Island, plus a number of other smaller islands surrounding the main island. The Calamianes Group of Islands, to the northeast consists of Busuanga Island, Culion Island, and Coron Island. Durangan Island almost touches the westernmost part of Palawan Island, while Balabac Island is located off the southern tip, separated from Borneo by the Balabac Strait. In addition, Palawan covers the Cuyo Islands in the Sulu Sea. The disputed Spratly Islands, located a few hundred kilometres to the west is considered part of Palawan by the Philippines, and is locally called the Kalayaan Group of Islands.
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Pampanga
Pampanga (PSGC: 035400000; ISO: PH-PAM; Kapampangan: Lalawigan ning Pampanga; Filipino: Lalawigan ng Pampanga) is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Pampanga is bordered by the provinces of Bataan and Zambales to the west, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija to the north, and Bulacan to the southeast. Pampanga also lies on the northern shore of Manila Bay. Angeles City, although within the geography of Pampanga, is classified as a first-class, highly urbanized city and has a government independent of Pampanga.
The name "La Pampanga" was given by the Spaniards who found the early natives living near the river banks. It also served as the capital of the archipelago for two years from 1762-1764 during the British invasion of Manila. However, history shows evidence of the province of Pampanga itself being a descendant of what was known back then as the Kingdom of Tondo, or the Luzon Empire. The word pampang, from which the province's name originates, means river bank. Its creation in 1571 makes it the first Spanish province in the Philippines. The Province of Pampanga is the culinary capital of the Philippines.
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Panama
Panama (i/ˈpænəmɑː/ PAN-ə-mah; Spanish: Panamá), officially the Republic of Panama (Spanish: República de Panamá [reˈpuβlika ðe panaˈma]), is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital is Panama City. Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela, named the Republic of Gran Colombia.When Gran Colombia the dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada remained joined. Nueva Granada later became the Republic of Colombia.
With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the Panama Canal to be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the century.
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Pangasinan
Pangasinan is a province of the Republic of the Philippines. The provincial capital is Lingayen. Pangasinan is located on the west central and peripheral area of the island of Luzon along the Lingayen Gulf, with the total land area being 5,368.82 square kilometers (3336.030 sq mi). According to the latest census, it has a population of 2,645,395 people in 477,819 households. The total population is projected to rise to 3,039,500 in 2010. According to the 2007 Philippine general elections, Pangasinan has a voting population of 1,360,807, which is the second highest in the Philippines.
Pangasinan is the name for the province, the people, and the primary language spoken in the province. Indigenous Pangasinan speakers are estimated to number at least 1.5 million. Pangasinan is spoken as a second-language by many of the ethnic minorities in Pangasinan. The most significant minority ethnic groups in Pangasinan are the Ilocano, Bolinao, and Tagalog.
The name Pangasinan means "land of salt" or "place of salt-making"; it is derived from the words Pang, meaning for and asin, meaning "salt”, or For Salt in the Pangasinan language and other related languages. The province is a major producer of salt in the Philippines. Dagupan City is known for its Bangus festival named after the fish they widely produce and made the city famous.
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Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (PNG; Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands (the western portion of the island is a part of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua). It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in a region defined since the early 19th century as Melanesia. The capital is Port Moresby.
Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries on Earth. According to recent data, 841 different languages are listed for the country, although 11 of these have no known living speakers. . (A detailed series of language maps of Papua New Guinea may be found at Ethnologue) There may be at least as many traditional societies,out of a population of about 6.2 million. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18% of its people live in urban centres. The country is one of the world's least explored, culturally and geographically, and many undiscovered species of plants and animals are thought to exist in the interior of Papua New Guinea.
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Paraguay
Paraguay (i/ˈpɛərəɡwaɪ/, PAIR-ə-gwy), officially the Republic of Paraguay (Spanish: República del Paraguay [reˈpuβlika ðel paɾaˈɣwai], Guaraní: Tetã Paraguái [teˈtã paɾaˈɣwaj]), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the country from north to south. Due to its central location in South America, it is sometimes referred to as Corazón de América, or the Heart of America.
The Guaraní have been living in Paraguay since before the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, when Paraguay became part of the Spanish colonial empire. Following independence from Spain in 1811, Paraguay was ruled by a series of dictators who followed isolationist and protectionist policies. This development was truncated by the disastrous Paraguayan War (1864–1870) in which the country lost 60% to 70% of its population and large amounts of territory. During a large part of the 20th century, Paraguay was ruled by Alfredo Stroessner, who led one of South America's longest lived military dictatorships. In 1989 Stroessner was toppled and free elections were celebrated in 1993. In 1994 Paraguay joined Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to found Mercosur.
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Parañaque
The City of Parañaque (Filipino: Lungsod ng Parañaque), or simply Parañaque (pop. 552,660; 2007 Census), is one of the cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila in the Philippines. It is located at 121’01” longitude and 14’30” latitude and is bordered to the north by Pasay, to the northeast by Taguig, to the southeast by Muntinlupa, to the southwest by Las Piñas, and to the west by Manila Bay.
Like the rest of Metro Manila, Parañaque experiences a tropical climate with only two distinct seasons, wet (July to September) and dry (October to June). The city enjoys an annual rainfall of 1.822 mm and an average temperature of 34.4° C.
Due to its proximity to the sea, Parañaque is one of the major trade and business centres in the Philippines.
Palanyag, as Parañaque was then known, is loosely translated to mean "my beloved", referring to the residents' affection for their hometown. The name could also come from the combination of the terms "palayan" and "palalayag", the former pertaining to the city's once-abundant rice fields, and the latter pertaining to the sailing and fishing occupation of many of its residents. The name was a sign of cooperation and goodwill between the two major working sectors of the town, the farmers and the fishermen.[citation needed]
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Pasig
The City of Pasig (Filipino: Lungsod ng Pasig) is one of the city-municipalities of Metro Manila in the Philippines and was the former capital of the province of Rizal prior to the formation of this grouping of cities designated as the National Capital Region. Located along the eastern border of Metro Manila, Pasig is bordered on the west by Quezon City and Mandaluyong City; to the north by Marikina City; to the south by Makati City, Pateros, and Taguig City; and to the east by Antipolo City, the municipality of Cainta and Taytay in the province of Rizal.
Pasig is primarily residential and industrial but has been becoming increasingly commercial in recent years. The old provincial capitol lies off of Shaw Boulevard, outside the city. Pasig is one of the three municipalities appointed by the diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines (as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pasig), making the Pasig Cathedral (formerly The Immaculate Conception Cathedral) the landmark coincide to its township in 1573.
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Peru
Perui/pəˈruː/ (Spanish: Perú; Quechua: Perú;Aymara: Piruw), officially the Republic of Peru (Spanish: República del Perú, pronounced: [reˈpuβlika ðel peˈɾu] ( listen)), is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.
Peruvian territory was home to ancient cultures, spanning from the Norte Chico civilization, one of the oldest in the world, to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty, which included most of its South American colonies. After achieving independence in 1821, Peru has undergone periods of political unrest and fiscal crisis as well as periods of stability and economic upswing.
Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. Its geography varies from the arid plains of the Pacific coast to the peaks of the Andes Mountains and the tropical forests of the Amazon Basin. It is a developing country with a high Human Development Index score and a poverty level around 31%. Its main economic activities include agriculture, fishing, mining, and manufacturing of products such as textiles.
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Philippine Sea
The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea east and north of the Philippines occupying an estimated surface area of 2 million mi² (5 million km²) on the western part of the North Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by the Philippine archipelago (Luzon, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao) on the southwest; Palau, Yap, and Ulithi (of the Carolines) on the southeast; the Marianas, including Guam, Saipan, and Tinian, on the east; the Bonin and Iwo Jima on the northeast; the Japanese islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyūshū on the north; the Ryukyu Islands on the northwest; and Taiwan in the west.
The sea has a complex and diverse undersea relief. The floor is formed into a structural basin by a series of geologic faults and fracture zones. Island arcs, which are actually extended ridges protruding above the ocean surface due to plate tectonic activity in the area, enclose the Philippine Sea to the north, east and south. The Philippine archipelago, Ryukyu Islands, and the Marianas are examples. Another prominent feature of the Philippine Sea is the presence of deep sea trench, among them the Philippine Trench and the Mariana Trench, containing the deepest point on the planet.
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Philippines
The Philippinesi/ˈfɪlɨpiːnz/ FI-lə-peenz (Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas) is a sovereign country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest lies between the country and the island of Borneo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its tropical climate make the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons but have also endowed the country with natural resources and made it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising 7,107 islands, the Philippines is categorized broadly into three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila.
With an estimated population of about 98 million people, the Philippines is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12.5 million Filipinos live overseas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade introduced Chinese cultural influences which remain to this day.
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Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands ( /ˈpɪtkɛərn/;Pitkern: Pitkern Ailen), officially named the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, form a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. The islands are a British Overseas Territory. The four islands—named Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno—are spread over several hundred miles of ocean and have a total land area of about 18 square miles (47 km2). Only Pitcairn, the second largest and measuring about 2 miles (3.2 km) across, is inhabited.
The islands are best known as home of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians (or Polynesians) who accompanied them, an event retold in numerous books and films. This history is still apparent in the surnames of many of the islanders. With only about 48 inhabitants (currently from four main families: Christian, Warren, Young, and Brown), Pitcairn is the least populous jurisdiction in the world. The United Nations Committee on Decolonisation includes the Pitcairn Islands on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
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Portugal
Portugali/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.
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Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (/ˌpɔrtə ˈriːkoʊ/ or /ˌpwɛərtə ˈriːkoʊ/), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, [esˈtaðo ˈlibɾe asoˈsjaðo ðe ˈpweɾto ˈriko]—literally, "Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"), is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
Puerto Rico (Spanish for "rich port") comprises an archipelago that includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller islands, the largest of which are Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. The main island of Puerto Rico is the smallest by land area of the Greater Antilles. However, it ranks third in population amongst that group of four islands, which also include Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Jamaica. Due to its location, Puerto Rico enjoys a tropical climate and also experiences the Atlantic hurricane season.
Originally populated for centuries by indigenous aboriginal peoples known as Taínos, the island was claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain during his second voyage to the Americas on November 19, 1493. Under Spanish rule, the island was colonized and the indigenous population was forced into slavery and nearly wiped out due to, among other things, European infectious diseases. The remaining population was emancipated by King Charles I in 1520. Spain possessed Puerto Rico for over 400 years, despite attempts at capture of the island by the French, Dutch, and British. The Spanish Crown, in an attempt to keep Puerto Rico from gaining its independence, revived the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815. The decree was printed in three languages — Spanish, English and French — and it fostered the immigration of hundreds of non-Spanish European families.
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Qatar
Qatar (i/ˈkɑːtɑr/ or i/kəˈtɑr/;Arabic: قطر [ˈqɑtˤɑr]; local vernacular pronunciation: [ɡɪtˤɑr]), also known as the country or State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. A strait of the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island state of Bahrain.
Qatar has been ruled as an absolute monarchy by Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Formerly a British protectorate noted mainly for pearling, it became independent in 1971, and has become one of the region's wealthiest states due to its enormous oil and natural gas revenues. In 1995, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani became Emir when he seized power from his father, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, in a peaceful coup d'état. The most important positions in Qatar are held by the members of the Al Thani family, or close confidants of the al-Thani family. Beginning in 1992, Qatar has built intimate military ties with the United States, and is now the location of U.S. Central Command’s Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center.
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Quezon
Quezon (Tagalog pronunciation: [keˈzon]) is a province of the Philippines in the CALABARZON region of Luzon. The province was named after Manuel L. Quezon, the second President of the Philippines, and its capital is Lucena City.
Quezon is southeast of Metro Manila and is bordered by the provinces of Aurora to the north, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Batangas to the west and the Camarines provinces to the east. Part of Quezon lies on an isthmus connecting the Bicol Peninsula to the main part of Luzon island. The province also includes the Polillo Islands in the Philippine Sea.
A major tourism draw to the province is Mt. Banahaw. The mountain is surrounded by spiritual mysticism with many cults and religious organizations staying on the mountain. Numerous pilgrims visit the mountain especially during Holy Week.
Originally, what now forms Quezon was divided among the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, and Nueva Ecija. The area was first explored by Juan de Salcedo in 1571-1572, during his expedition from Laguna to Camarines provinces.
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Quezon City
Quezon City (Filipino: Lungsod Quezon) is the former capital (1948–1976) and the most populous city in the Philippines. Located on the island of Luzon, Quezon City (popularly known to Filipinos as QC) is one of the cities that make up Metro Manila, the National Capital Region. The city was named after Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines, who founded the city and developed it to replace Manila as the country's capital. Quezon City is not located in and should not be confused with Quezon province, which was also named after the president.
Having been the former capital, many government offices are located in the city, including the Batasang Pambansa Complex, the seat of the House of Representatives, which is the lower chamber in the Philippine Congress. The main campuses of two noteworthy universities, the Ateneo de Manila University and the country's national university, the University of the Philippines Diliman, are located in the city.
Before Quezon City was created, it was composed of small individual towns. These were San Francisco del Monte, Novaliches, and Balintawak. On August 23, 1896, the Katipunan led by Andres Bonifacio declared a revolution against Spain in the house of Melchora Aquino in Pugad Lawin (now known as Bahay Toro, Project 8). In the early 20th century, President Manuel L. Quezon dreamt of a city that would become the future capital of the country to replace Manila. It is believed that his earlier trip to Mexico influenced his vision.
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Quirino
Quirino is a land-locked province in the Philippines located in the Cagayan Valley region in Luzon. Its capital is Cabarroguis and was named after Elpidio Quirino, the sixth President of the Philippines. The province borders Aurora to the southeast, Nueva Vizcaya to the west, and Isabela to the north. Quirino used to be part of the province of Nueva Vizcaya, until it was separated in 1966.
The population of the province as of the year 2010 census of population was 176,786 with a density of roughly 51 persons per square kilometer of land. The major language is Ilocano, which is widely spoken in the lowlands by 71.46 percent of the total populace. Ifugao is predominant in the uplands. Other languages are Bungkalot, Pangasinan, Kankana-ey, Tagalog, and English.
Agriculture is the main industry in Cagayan Valley, together with rice and corn as major crops. These supply the demand of neighboring provinces and the metropolis. Banana as well as banana chips are major products sold in Metro Manila and Pampanga. Small scale industries like furniture making, basketry, rattan craft, and dried flower production are prevalent.
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Republic of Ireland
Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/ or /ˈɑrlənd/; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. Its capital is Dublin. The population of the state was 4.59 million in 2011. It is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy, with an elected president serving as head of state. In the 1937 constitution, the name of the state is given as simply "Ireland". The Constitution of Ireland (Article 4) and the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provides that the "Republic of Ireland" (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann) is "the description of the state".
Ireland is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. A developed country with the seventh highest Human Development Index, Ireland is also highly ranked for press freedom, economic freedom and democracy and political freedom.
The modern Irish state was established in 1922 as the Irish Free State, a dominion within the British Empire, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty which brought an end to the Irish War of Independence. The partition of Ireland had already been provided for in previous British legislation in 1921 in response to opposition to Irish Home Rule or independence by Unionists, who formed a majority in the north-eastern part of the country. Six of the nine counties in the northern province of Ulster were established under that legislation as Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, with which the Irish state shares its only land border. The state is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south east, and the Irish Sea to the east.
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Rizal
Rizal is a province located in the CALABARZON, just 16 kilometers east of Manila. The province was named after the country's national hero, José Rizal. Rizal Governor Dr. Casimiro Ynares III on June 17, 2008 announced the transfer of the Capitol from Pasig. Its P 270-million capitol building, constructed in Antipolo by Ortigas & Co., owner thereof, was completed by December of that year. Built on 5-hectare lot at the Ynares Center, it employs 2,008 employees. The New Capitol was successfully inaugurated on March 4, 2009, bringing back the Capitol Building inside the provincial territory, from which it was absent for 33 years (when Pasig was incorporated into Metro Manila).
Rizal is bordered by Metro Manila to the west, the province of Bulacan to the north, Quezon to the east and Laguna province to the south. The province also lies on the northern shores of Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the country.
Rizal is a mountainous province perched on the western slopes of the southern portion of the Sierra Madre mountain range. Antipolo City boasts of a wonderful view of Metro Manila and it is where Hinulugang Taktak, a waterfall popular with tourists, can be found.
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Romania
Romania (i/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Roumania; or Rumania;Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.
At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.
The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.
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Romblon
Romblon /rɒmˈbloʊn/rom-BLOHN is an island province of the Philippines located in the MIMAROPA region. It lies south of Marinduque and Quezon, east of Mindoro, north of Aklan and Capiz, and west of Masbate. Its capital is also named Romblon. According the August 2007 Philippine census, it has a total population of 279,774.
The province of Romblon got its name from the word Lomlom (an act of a hen warming her eggs in the nest). According to local folklore, when the Spaniards first set foot on the province, one of the Spanish soldiers rambled along the beach. Tired of strolling, he felt thirsty and went to a house to ask for a drink. Inside it was a hen's nest somewhere on of a post near the window. The soldier inquired if he could get the chicken for free. The house occupant, a young woman, did not comprehend what the visitor said so she answered in the dialect "Nagalomlom", meaning the chicken was brooding. Perplexed, the Spanish soldier left the house muttering in disgust the word "Nagalomlom". When he returned to the ship he was asked where he had been and he answered mockingly: "Nagalomlom". Thus, when the Spanish left, they named the island "Lomlom", until it was corrupted to "Domblon", and later on modified to Romblon.
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Russia
Russiai/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
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Rwanda
Rwanda /ruːˈɑːndə/ or /ruːˈændə/, officially the Republic of Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: Repubulika y'u Rwanda; French: République du Rwanda), is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.7 million (2012). Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All of Rwanda is at high elevation, with a geography dominated by mountains in the west, savanna in the east, and numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons every year.
The population is young and predominantly rural, with a density among the highest in Africa. Rwandans form three groups: the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. The Twa are a pygmy people who descend from Rwanda's earliest inhabitants, but scholars disagree on the origins of and differences between the Hutu and Tutsi; some believe that they are derived from former social castes, while others view them as being races or tribes. Christianity is the largest religion in the country, and the principal language is Kinyarwanda, which is spoken by most Rwandans. Rwanda has a presidential system of government. The President is Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Rwanda has low corruption compared with neighbouring countries, but human rights organisations allege suppression of opposition groups, intimidation, and restrictions on freedom of speech. The country has been governed by a strict administrative hierarchy since precolonial times; there are currently five provinces, which are delineated by borders drawn in 2006.
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Saba
Saba ( /ˈseɪbə/) is a Caribbean island and the smallest special municipality (officially public body) of the Netherlands. It consists largely of the potentially active volcano Mount Scenery (877 m), the highest point within both the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Netherlands proper.
Saba, including the islet of Green Island, became a special municipality within the country of the Netherlands after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010.
The island has a land area of 13 km² (5 sq. miles). At the 2001 Netherlands Antilles census, the population was 1,824 inhabitants, which means a population density of 140 inhabitants per km². Its current major towns and settlements include The Bottom (the capital), Windwardside, Hell's Gate and St. Johns.
As the island is part of the Netherlands, Dutch is the official language. Despite the island's Dutch affiliation, English is the principal language spoken on the island and has been used in its school system since the 19th century. English can therefore be used in communications of and to the government although there is a local dialect. Since January 1, 2011, the U.S. dollar has been the official currency, replacing the Netherlands Antillian Guilder.
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Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia, and is its easternmost state. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south. In spite of its status as a Malaysian state, Sabah remains a disputed territory; the Philippines has a dormant claim over much of the eastern part of the territory. The capital of Sabah is Kota Kinabalu, formerly known as Jesselton. Sabah is often referred to as "Land Below The Wind", because of its location just south of the typhoon-prone region around the Philippines.
The origin of the name Sabah is uncertain, and there are many theories that have arisen. One theory is that during the time it was part of the Bruneian Sultanate, it was referred to as Saba because of the presence of pisang saba, a type of banana, found on the coasts of the region. Due to the location of Sabah in relation to Brunei, it has been suggested that Sabah was a Bruneian Malay word meaning upstream or the northern side of the river. Another theory suggests that it came from the Malay word sabak which means a place where palm sugar is extracted. Sabah is also an Arabic word which means sunrise. The presence of multiple theories makes it difficult to pinpoint the true origin of the name.
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Saint Helena
Saint Helena ( /ˌseɪnt həˈliːnə/ SAYNT-hə-LEE-nə), named after Saint Helena of Constantinople, is an island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Ascension Island and the islands of Tristan da Cunha. Saint Helena measures about 16 by 8 kilometres (10 by 5 mi) and has a population of 4,255 (2008 census).
The island was uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese in 1502. It is one of the most isolated islands in the world. For centuries, it was an important stopover for ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa. The British also used the island as a place of exile, most notably for Napoleon I, Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo and more than 5,000 Boer prisoners. Saint Helena is Britain's second oldest remaining colony (now termed overseas territory), after Bermuda.
Most historical accounts state that the island was discovered on 21 May 1502 by the Galician navigator João da Nova sailing at the service of the Portuguese Crown, and that he named it "Santa Helena" after Helena of Constantinople. Another theory holds that the island found by De Nova was actually Tristan da Cunha 2,430 kilometres (1,510 mi) to its south, and that Saint Helena was discovered by some of the ships attached to the squadron of Estêvão da Gama expedition on 30 July 1503 (as reported in the account of clerk Thomé Lopes).
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Saint Lucia
Saint Luciai/seɪnt ˈluːʃə/ (French: Sainte-Lucie) is a sovereign island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 617 km2 (238.23 sq mi) and has a population of 174,000 (2010). Its capital is Castries. Two Nobel laureates, Arthur Lewis, an economist, and Derek Walcott, a poet and playwright, have come from the island. It is the nation with the second most such honorees per capita after the Faroe Islands.
One of the Windward Islands, it was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French, the first European colonizers. They signed a treaty with the native Carib people in 1660. England took control of the island from 1663 to 1667; in ensuing years, it was at war with France 14 times and rule of the island changed frequently (it was seven times each ruled by the French and British). In 1814, the British took definitive control of the island. Because it switched so often between British and French control, Saint Lucia was also known as the "Helen of the West Indies".
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Samar
Samar, formerly and also known as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catbalogan City and covers the western portion of Samar Island as well as several islands in the Samar Sea located to the west of the mainland. Catbalogan City and Calbayog City, two of the three cities on Samar Island, are located in the province of Samar. The province is bordered by Northern Samar and Eastern Samar. Samar is connected to island and province of Leyte via the San Juanico Bridge, which spans the San Juanico Strait, the narrowest strait in the country. To the south is the Leyte Gulf.
Residents of Samar are mostly Waray, the sixth largest cultural-linguistic group in the country. 90.2% of the household population speaks the Waray language while 9.8 percent also speak Cebuano; 8.1% speak Boholano; 0.07% speak in Tagalog and 0.5% speak other languages. There are two types of Waray spoken in the province, Waray Lineyte-Samarnon which is spoken from the southernmost tip of the province up to the municipality of Gandara and Waray Calbayog which is an intermediate between the Waray of Northern Samar and the Waray of Samar and is spoken in Calbayog City, Santa Margarita, and in some parts of Tagapul-an, Santo Niño and Almagro. Cebuano on the other hand is spoken in some parts of the first district of Samar, mainly in Calbayog City, Almagro, Santo Niño and Tagapul-an English and Chinese languages are also spoken.
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Samoa
Samoa (i/səˈmoʊ.ə/; Samoan: Sāmoa, IPA: [ˌsaːˈmoa]), officially the Independent State of Samoa (Samoan: Malo Sa'oloto Tuto'atasi o Sāmoa), formerly known as Western Samoa, is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in Polynesia, Savai'i. The capital city, Apia, and Faleolo International Airport are situated on the island of Upolu.
Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976. The entire island group, inclusive of American Samoa, was called Navigators Islands by European explorers before the 20th century because of the Samoans' seafaring skills.
The oldest date so far from pre-historic remains in Samoa has been calculated by New Zealand scientists to a likely true age of circa 3,000 years ago from a Lapita site at Mulifanua during the 1970s.
The origins of the Samoans is closely linked to modern research about Polynesia in various scientific disciplines such as genetics, linguistics and anthropology. Scientific research is ongoing although a number of different theories exist; including one proposing that the Samoans originated from Austronesian predecessors during the terminal eastward Lapita expansion period from Southeast Asia and Melanesia between 2,500 and 1,500 BCE. The Samoan origins are currently being reassessed due to new scientific evidence and carbon dating findings from 2003 and onwards.
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San Jose del Monte
The City of San Jose del Monte (CSJDM) (Filipino: Lungsod ng San Jose del Monte) is a suburban city in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. It is bordered by Caloocan City and Quezon City in the south; by Rodriguez, Rizal, in the east; Santa Maria and Marilao, both of Bulacan, in the west; and Norzagaray, Bulacan in the north. According to the 2007 census, it has a population of 439,090 inhabitants, making it the 19th most populated city in the Philippines.
San Jose del Monte has experienced major economic growth, evidenced by the presence of major commercial banks, fast food chain outlets, real estates, and wide coverage of landline and cellular phone services.
The city's mayor is Reynaldo S. San Pedro, while Vice-Mayor Eduardo S. Roquero heads the Sangguniang Panglungsod. The city is represented in the House of Representatives by Congressman Arthur B. Robes.
Major agricultural crops are leafy vegetables, root crops (cassava as its OTOP[clarification needed]), pineapple, mango and coffee beans.
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San Juanico Strait
San Juanico Strait is a narrow strait in the Philippines. It separates the islands of Samar and Leyte. At its narrowest point, the strait is only 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) wide, said to be the narrowest strait in the world.[who?] It is crossed by the San Juanico Bridge. The HVDC Leyte - Luzon powerline crosses San Juanico Strait as overhead line at 11°23′36″N 124°59′04″E / 11.39333°N 124.98444°E / 11.39333; 124.98444 with a tower on an ininhibitated island in the strait.
Coordinates: 11°21′N 124°59′E / 11.35°N 124.983°E / 11.35; 124.983
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San Marino
San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino (i/sæn məˈriːnoʊ/ san-mə-REE-noh; Italian: Repubblica di San Marino) and also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino (Italian: Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino), is a state situated on the Italian Peninsula on the eastern side of the Apennine Mountains. It is an enclave surrounded by Italy. Its size is just over 61 km2 (24 sq mi) with an estimated population of over 30,000. Its capital is the City of San Marino. San Marino has the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe.
San Marino is the oldest surviving sovereign state and constitutional republic in the world, as the continuation of the monastic community founded on 3 September 301, by stonecutter Marinus of Rab. Legend has it that Marinus left Rab, then the Roman colony of Arba, in 257 when the future emperor, Diocletian, issued a decree calling for the reconstruction of the city walls of Rimini, which had been destroyed by Liburnian pirates.
The constitution of San Marino, enacted in 1600, is the world's oldest constitution still in effect. The country's economy mainly relies on finance, industry, services and tourism. It is one of the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP (per capita), with a figure comparable to some of the more developed Italian regions, such as Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. San Marino is considered to have a highly stable economy, with one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe, no national debt and a budget surplus.
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Sarangani
Sarangani is a province of the Philippines located in the SOCCSKSARGEN region in Mindanao. Its capital is Alabel and borders South Cotabato to the north and Davao del Sur to the east.
Sarangani is part of the South Cotabato-Sultan Kudarat-Sarangani-Gen. Santos City (Soccsksargen) development cluster, and is linked by paved roads to the international airport and world-class fish port of Gen. Santos City. Good roads and regular flights through Gen. Santos City allow the province easy access to Manila, Cebu, Davao City, as well as the rest of the Soccsksargen areas. Gen. Santos City’s airport has one of the country’s longest runways.
The province is situated as the country’s major gateway to the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines - East Asean Growth Area. With its proximity to its regional counterparts, Sarangani is in a unique position to marshal its resources, entice tourists and investors, and compete in an international market under a borderless trade regime.
Strategically located at the southernmost tip of Mindanao, the province is protected by the resource-rich Sarangani Bay. Beyond this is the Celebes Sea, which is the province’s access to the rest of the world.
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Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia (i/ˌsaʊdi əˈreɪbi.ə/ or i/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbi.ə/; Arabic: السعودية as-Su‘ūdīyah[citation needed] or incorrectly as-Sa‘ūdīyah, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Arabic: المملكة العربية السعودية al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabīyah as-Su‘ūdīyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab world, after Algeria. It is bordered by Jordan, and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. The Red Sea lies to its west, and the Persian Gulf lies to the east. Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,250,000 km2 (870,000 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 9 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 2 million are illegal immigrants. Saudi nationals comprise an estimated 16 million people.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as the Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government, which has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, refers to its system of government as being Islamic, though this is contested by many due to its strong basis in Salafism, a minority school of thought in Islam. The kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.
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Senegal
Senegali/ˌsɛnɨˈɡɔːl/ (French: le Sénégal), officially the Republic of Senegal (République du Sénégal, IPA: [ʁepyblik dy seneɡal]), is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north. Senegal is externally bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south; internally it almost completely surrounds The Gambia, namely on the north, east and south, exempting Gambia's short Atlantic Ocean coastline. Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres (76,000 sq mi), and has an estimated population of about 13 million. The climate is tropical with two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season.
Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, is located at the westernmost tip of the country on the Cap-Vert peninsula. About 500 kilometres (300 mi) off the coast, in the Atlantic Ocean, lie the Cape Verde Islands. During the 17th and 18th centuries, numerous trading posts, belonging to various colonial empires, were established along the coast. The town of St. Louis became the capital of French West Africa (Afrique occidentale française, or AOF) before it was moved to Dakar in 1902. Dakar later became its capital in 1960 at the time of independence from France.
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Serbia
Serbiai/ˈsɜrbiə/, officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: Република Србија / Republika Srbija, pronounced [rɛpǔblika sř̩bija]), is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans. Serbia borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; the Republic of Macedonia to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the west; additionally, it borders Albania through Kosovo, whose status as part of Serbia is disputed. Serbia covers an area of 88,361 km2 and has a population of just over 7.1 million, while the capital and largest city is Belgrade.
The arrival of the Serbs to the Balkans in the 7th century, established several states, eventually forming the Serbian Empire in the 14th century. By the 16th century, Serbia was conquered and occupied by the Ottoman Empire, at times interrupted by the Habsburgs. In the early 19th century the Serbian revolution re-established the country as the region's first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory and pioneered the abolition of feudalism in the Balkans. The former Habsburg crownland of Vojvodina united with Serbia in 1918. Following World War I, Serbia formed Yugoslavia with other South Slavic peoples which existed in several forms up until 2006, when the National Assembly of Serbia declared independence and the legal succession to the former State Union. In February 2008 the parliament of UNMIK-governed Kosovo, Serbia's southern province, declared independence, with mixed responses from international governments.
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Seychelles
Seychelles (i/seɪˈʃɛlz/ say-SHELZ; French: [sɛʃɛl]), officially the Republic of Seychelles (French: République des Seychelles; Creole: Repiblik Sesel), is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some 1,500 kilometres (932 mi) east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar.
Other nearby island countries and territories include Zanzibar to the west, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Agalega and Réunion to the south, Comoros and Mayotte to the southwest. Seychelles, with an estimated population of 86,525, has the smallest population of any African state. It also has the highest Human Development Index in Africa.
Scholars assume that Austronesian seafarers, and later Maldivian and Arab traders were the first to visit the uninhabited Seychelles. Remains of Maldivian mariner presence from the 12th century were found in Silhouette Island. The earliest recorded sighting by Europeans took place in 1502 by the Portuguese Admiral Vasco da Gama, who passed through the Amirantes and named them after himself (islands of the Admiral).
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Shariff Kabunsuan
Shariff Kabunsuan was a province of the Philippines within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) that existed from 2006 to 2008. The law establishing the province was nullified by the Philippine Supreme Court in 2008.
Shariff Kabunsuan was established under Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act No. 201 which provided for the creation of the new province comprising the municipalities of Barira, Buldon, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Kabuntalan, Matanog, Parang, Sultan Kudarat, Sultan Mastura, and Upi, all of the first legislative district of the mother province of Maguindanao. On October 29, 2006, the creation of the new province of Shariff Kabunsuan was ratified by the affirmative majority (285,372) votes cast in a plebiscite. Only 8,802 voted for its rejection. A new municipality within the province, Northern Kabuntalan, was subsequently established after its creation was ratified by the affirmative majority votes cast in a plebiscite.
The law establishing Shariff Kabunsuan was enacted by the Regional Assembly for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, the first such province established by that local body, which had been so empowered under Republic Act No. 9054 or the Expanded ARMM law. Shariff Kabunsuan was the first province since Philippine independence that was not established through an Act of Congress.
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Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone (i/siːˌɛrə liːˈoʊn/), officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the northeast, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the southwest. Sierra Leone is a constitutional representative democratic republic and covers a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rainforests. As of 2011, Sierra Leone has an estimated population of 6 million[1] (2011 United Nations estimte). Freetown is the capital, largest city as well as its economic, commercial, educational, cultural and political centre. Bo is the country's second largest city and the second major economic and commercial centre.
Sierra Leone is divided into four geographical regions: the Northern Province, Eastern Province, Southern Province and the Western Area; which are subdivided into fourteen districts. The districts have their own directly elected local government known as district council, headed by a council chairman. The country's six municipalities of Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Makeni, Koidu Town and the coastal town of Bonthe have their own directly elected city councils headed by mayors.
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Singapore
Singapore (i/ˈsɪŋəpɔər/ SI-ngə-pohr), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered by greenery. More land is being created for development through land reclamation.
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Sint Eustatius
Sint Eustatius, also known affectionately to the locals as Statia/ˈsteɪʃə/ or Statius, is a Caribbean island and a special municipality (officially public body) of the Netherlands.
It lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, southeast of the Virgin Islands and immediately to the northwest of Saint Kitts and Nevis and to the southeast of Saba, at 17°30′N 62°58′W / 17.5°N 62.967°W / 17.5; -62.967. The island is named after the legendary Christian martyr Saint Eustace. The regional capital is Oranjestad.
The island has an area of 21 km² (8.1 sq. miles). In the 2001 census, the population was recorded as 3,543 inhabitants, equating to a population density of 169 inhabitants per square kilometre. The official language is Dutch, however English is also recognised as an administrative language. A local English-based creole is also spoken informally. Travel to the island by air is through F.D. Roosevelt Airport.
Formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles, Sint Eustatius became a special municipality within the country of the Netherlands on 10 October 2010.
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Sint Maarten
Sint Maarten (Dutch pronunciation: [sɪnt ˈmaːrtə(n)]) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It encompasses the southern half of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, while the northern half of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of Saint-Martin. Its capital is Philipsburg.
Before 10 October 2010, Sint Maarten was known as the Island Territory of Sint Maarten (Dutch: Eilandgebied Sint Maarten), and was one of five island territories (Eilandgebieden) that constituted the Netherlands Antilles.
In 1493, during Christopher Columbus' second voyages to the West Indies, upon first sighting the island he named it Isla de San Martín after Saint Martin of Tours because it was 11 November, St. Martin Day. However, though he claimed it as a Spanish territory, Columbus never landed there, and Spain made the settlement of the island a low priority.
The French and Dutch, on the other hand, both coveted the island. While the French wanted to colonize the islands between Trinidad and Bermuda, the Dutch found San Martín a convenient halfway point between their colonies in New Amsterdam (present day New York) and Brazil. With few people inhabiting the island, the Dutch easily founded a settlement there in 1631, erecting Fort Amsterdam as protection from invaders. Jan Claeszen Van Campen became its first governor, and soon thereafter the Dutch East India Company began their salt mining operations. French and British settlements sprang up on the island as well. Taking note of these successful colonies and wanting to maintain their control of the salt trade, the Spanish now found St. Martin much more appealing. The Eighty Years' War which had been raging between Spain and the Netherlands provided further incentive to attack.
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Siquijor
Siquijor is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. Its capital is the municipality also named Siquijor. To the northwest of Siquijor are Cebu and Negros, to the northeast is Bohol and to the south, across the Bohol Sea, is Mindanao.
Siquijor is the third smallest province in the country, in terms of population as well as land area (after Camiguin and Batanes). For a time it was part of Negros Oriental.
Called Isla del Fuego or the "Island of Fire" during the Spanish colonial period, Siquijor is commonly associated with mystic traditions that the island's growing tourism industry capitalizes on.
According to the 2000 census, there are a total of 21,150 Siquijodnons, as the residents of Siquijor call themselves. The same census also states that Siquijor has 17,351 households with an average household size of 4.70 persons. The annual growth rate is 2.19%, lower than the national growth rate of 2.36%.
The main language spoken in Siquijor is Cebuano. English, Spanish and Tagalog languages are also spoken by Siquijodnons.
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SOCCSKSARGEN
SOCCSKSARGEN (pronounced [sokˈsardʒɛn]) is a region of the Philippines, located in central Mindanao, and is officially designated as Region XII. The name is an acronym that stands for the region's four provinces and one of its cities: South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City. The region is more formally known by its older name Central Mindanao. The regional center is Koronadal City located in the province of South Cotabato.Cotabato City, though geographically within the boundaries of the province of Maguindanao, itself is part of SOCCSKSARGEN, and is independent of that province. Maguindanao province is, in fact, a part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) which has its seat in Cotabato City. SOCCSKSARGEN and the province of Maguindanao were once part of the original Cotabato province.
The region has extensive coastlines, valleys and mountain ranges. Known for its river system, the region is the catch basin of Mindanao. The system is a rich source of food, potable water and energy production. Cotabato contains the Rio Grande de Mindanao, which is the longest river in Mindanao and the second longest in the Philippines.
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Solomon Islands
Solomon Islandsi/ˈsɒləmən ˈaɪləndz/ is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi). The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal. The nation of the Solomon Islands is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The Solomon Islands are believed to have been inhabited by Melanesian people for many thousands of years. Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to arrive in Solomon Islands in 1568 and named them Islas Salomón. The United Kingdom established a protectorate over the Solomon Islands in 1893. In the Second World War there was fierce fighting between the Americans and the Japanese in the Solomon Islands campaign of 1942–45, including the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Self-government was achieved in 1976 and independence two years later. The Solomon Islands is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen of the Solomon Islands, at present Elizabeth II, as the head of state. Gordon Lilo Darcy is the eleventh and current Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands.
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Somalia
Somalia ( /soʊˈmɑːliə/ soh-MAH-lee-ə; Somali: Soomaaliya; Arabic: الصومال aṣ-Ṣūmāl), officially the Somali Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory. The internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government controls only a small part of the country. Somalia has been characterized as a failed state and is one of the poorest and most violent states in the world.
Somalia lies in the easternmost part of Africa. It is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west. It has the longest coastline on the continent, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Hot conditions prevail year-round, along with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall.
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Somaliland
Somaliland (Somali: Soomaaliland, Arabic: صوماللاند Ṣūmālilānd or أرض الصومال Arḍ aṣ-Ṣūmāl) is an unrecognised self-declared de facto sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent on June 26, 1960 as the State of Somaliland, before uniting with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) on July 1, 1960 to form the Somali Republic.
Somaliland is bordered by Ethiopia in the south and west, Djibouti in the northwest, the Gulf of Aden in the north, and the autonomous Puntland region of Somalia to the east.
In 1988, the Siad Barre regime committed massacres against the people of Somaliland, which were among the events that led to the Somali Civil War. The war left the economic and military infrastructure severely damaged. After the collapse of the central government in 1991, the local government, led by the Somali National Movement (SNM), declared independence from the rest of Somalia on May 18 of the same year.
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Sorsogon
Sorsogon is a province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region. It is the southernmost province in Luzon and is subdivided into fourteen municipalities (towns) and one city. Its capital is Sorsogon City (formerly the towns of Sorsogon and Bacon) and borders the province of Albay to the north. Sorsogon is at the tip of the Bicol Peninsula and faces the island of Samar to the southeast across the San Bernardino Strait and Ticao Island to the southwest. Sorsogueños is how the people of Sorsogon call themselves.
In 1570 two Augustinian friars, Alonzon Jiménez and Juan Orta, accompanied by a certain captain, Enrique de Guzmán, reached Hibalong, a small fishing village near the mouth of Ginangra River, and planted the cross and erected the first chapel in Luzon. It was from this village that Ibalong, referring to the whole region, came to be. Moving inland with a northwesterly direction they passed by the territory now known as Pilar, before they reached Camalig, Albay. The establishment of the Abucay-Catamlangan Mission later was ample proof of this route.
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South Africa
Coordinates: 30°S 25°E / 30°S 25°E / -30; 25
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline. To the north of the country lie the neighbouring territories of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory.
South Africa is multi-ethnic and has diverse cultures and languages. Eleven official languages are recognised in the constitution. Two of these languages are of European origin: South African English and Afrikaans, a language which originated mainly from Dutch that is spoken by the majority of white and Coloured South Africans. Though English is commonly used in public and commercial life, it is only the fifth most-spoken home language. All ethnic and language groups have political representation in the country's constitutional democracy comprising a parliamentary republic; unlike most parliamentary republics, the positions of head of state and head of government are merged in a parliament-dependent President.
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South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around 3,500,000 square kilometres (1,400,000 sq mi). The area's importance largely results from one-third of the world's shipping transiting through its waters, and that it is believed to hold huge oil and gas reserves beneath its seabed.
It is located
The minute South China Sea Islands, collectively an archipelago, number in the hundreds. The sea and its mostly uninhabited islands are subject to competing claims of sovereignty by several countries. These claims are also reflected in the variety of names used for the islands and the sea.
South China Sea is the dominant term used in English for the sea, and the name in most European languages is equivalent, but it is sometimes called by different names in neighboring countries, often reflecting historical claims to hegemony over the sea.
The English name is a result of early European interest in the sea as a route from Europe and South Asia to the trading opportunities of China. In the sixteenth century Portuguese sailors called it the China Sea (Mar da China); later needs to differentiate it from nearby bodies of water led to calling it the South China Sea. The International Hydrographic Organization refers to the sea as "South China Sea (Nan Hai)".
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South Cotabato
South Cotabato (Filipino:Timog Kotabato) is a province of the Philippines located in the SOCCSKSARGEN region in Mindanao. Its capital is Koronadal City, and it borders Sultan Kudarat to the north and west, Sarangani to the south and east, and Davao del Sur to the east. To the southeast lies Sarangani Bay.
General Santos City, on the shores of Sarangani Bay, is the largest and most important city in the region, and is a major seaport. The province of Sarangani used to be part of South Cotabato until it was made an independent province in 1992.
Centuries ago, the area that would be the South Cotabato was sparsely inhabited by Malay Pioneers which later evolved into various ethnic groupings that still exist in the Province today. Settlers, who would lay the foundation of what would become a progressive province, started trooping down 1914.
The significant thrust occurred during the term of President Quezon in late 1930s. Gen. Paulino Santos, a man whose undaunted pioneering spirit inspired thousand, led the first of wave of settlers that time. After World War II, the final exodus of settler from Luzon and Visayas poured into the virgin land of promise.
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South Korea
South Korea ( listen), officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국; Hanja: 大韓民國; Daehan Minguk listen), is a sovereign state in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from Goryeo, a dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages (an initial "G" in Korean is pronounced like an English "K").
Its neighbors are China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the Korea Strait to the south. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It covers a total area of 99,392 square kilometers and has a population of almost 50 million. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 9,794,304.
Archaeological findings show that the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the Lower Paleolithic period.Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC by the legendary Dan-gun. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 AD, Korea went through the Goryeo Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan. After liberation and occupation by Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of World War II, the nation was divided into North and South Korea. The latter was established in 1948 as a democracy, though political turmoil and times of military rule and martial law characterized much of the period until the foundation of the Sixth Republic in 1987.
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South Ossetia
South Ossetia ( /əˈsɛtiə/ə-SET-ee-ə or /ɒˈsiːʃə/o-SEE-shə; Ossetic: Хуссар Ирыстон, Xussar Iryston; Georgian: სამხრეთ ოსეთი, Samxret Oseti; Russian: Южная Осетия, Yuzhnaya Osetiya) or Tskhinvali Region (Georgian: ცხინვალის რეგიონი, Tsxinvalis regioni; Russian: Цхинвальский регион, Tskhinvalskiy region) is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
South Ossetians declared independence from Georgia in 1990, calling themselves the Republic of South Ossetia. The Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetia's autonomy and trying to retake the region by force. This led to the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War. Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008. The last conflict led to the 2008 South Ossetia war, during which Ossetian and Russian forces gained full, de facto control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast.
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South Sudan
South Sudan (i/ˌsaʊθ suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in the east-central African region of northeastern Africa. It is also part of the North Africa UN subregion. Its current capital is Juba, which is also its largest city; the capital city is planned to be moved to the more centrally located Ramciel in the future. South Sudan is bordered by Ethiopia to the east, Kenya to the southeast, Uganda to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the southwest, the Central African Republic to the west, and Sudan to the north. South Sudan includes the vast swamp region of the Sudd formed by the White Nile, locally called the Bahr al Jabal.
The modern states of South Sudan and Sudan were part of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, later being governed as an Anglo-Egyptian condominium until Sudanese independence was achieved in 1956. Following the First Sudanese Civil War, the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was formed in 1972 and lasted until 1983. A second Sudanese civil war soon developed and ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005. Later that year, southern autonomy was restored when an Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan was formed.
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Southern Leyte
Southern Leyte (Filipino:Timog Leyte) is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Maasin City is the capital of the province. Southern Leyte was once a sub-province of Leyte before it was divided from the latter. Limasawa, an island to the south is part of the province where the first Christian Mass was held and is said to be the birthplace of Christianity in the Philippines.
The province ranks as the second least populated area in the region. According to 2007 census, the province has a population of 390,847 a 1.13% growth compared to last 2000 census with a population record of 360,160.
Southern Leyte's geological features created several issues in the province after the flooding of Subangdaku River and the awful mudslide in Guinsaugon. Organizations warned the province as susceptible to natural occurrences like landslides and floodings.
Southern Leyte contributes to the economy of the country. It forms an important part of the inter-island transportation system of the country, with ferries transporting people and goods between Liloan and Surigao del Norte in Mindanao. The province is well known for its quality abaca products and the country's major producer of abaca fiber.
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Spain
Spain (i/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.
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Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire (Spanish: Imperio Español) comprised territories and colonies administered by Spain in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its political and economic power when it became the foremost global power. Its establishment in the 15th century ushered in the modern global era and five centuries of European dominance of global affairs. Spain's territorial reach beyond Europe spanned six centuries, from the first voyages to the Americas in 1492 until the independence of its last African colonies in the 1970s.
After the War of the Castilian Succession (1475–1479), Spain had emerged with a personally unified monarchy, with the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs or los Reyes Catolicos between the Queen of Castile and the King of Aragon: the internal and foreign policy was coordinated although the rule was separate. In 1492, the Spanish monarchs completed the Reconquista with the incorporation of Granada to the Kingdom of Castile. That same year Christopher Columbus commanded the first Spanish exploratory voyage west across the Atlantic Ocean, leading to the Discovery of America and Europe's eventual colonial engagement in the New World. The Americas thereby became the focus of Spanish exploration and colonization.
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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (i/ʃriː ˈlɑːŋkə/, /sriːˈlɑːŋkə/, or /sriːˈlæŋkə/;Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකාව, Tamil: இலங்கை), is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia. Known until 1972 as Ceylon ( /sɨˈlɒn/, /seɪˈlɒn/, or /siːˈlɒn/), Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar, the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the Maldives.
As a result of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia. It was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road. Sri Lanka has also been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times, being the nation where the Buddhist teachings were first written down as well as the oldest continually Buddhist country. Sri Lanka boasts a diverse range of cultures, languages and religions. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the population; Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs, Malays and the aboriginal Vedda people.
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State of Palestine
Palestine (Arabic: فلسطين Filasṭīn/Falasṭīn/Filisṭīn), officially declared as the State of Palestine (Arabic: دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭin), is a state that was proclaimed in exile in Algiers on 15 November 1988, when the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) National Council (PNC) adopted the unilateral Palestinian Declaration of Independence. At the time of the 1988 declaration, the PLO did not exercise control over any territory, and its claimed territory remains under Israeli occupation. It claims the Palestinian territories (defined according to the 1967 borders), and has designated Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, despite Israeli control.
The 1974 Arab League summit designated the PLO as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and reaffirmed their right to establish an independent state of urgency." The PLO has had observer status at the United Nations as a "non-state entity" since 22 November 1974, which entitles it to speak in the UN General Assembly but not to vote. After the Declaration of Independence, the UN General Assembly officially "acknowledged" the proclamation and voted to use the designation "Palestine" instead of "Palestine Liberation Organization" when referring to the Palestinian permanent observer. In spite of this decision, the PLO does not participate at the UN in its capacity of the State of Palestine's government. Since 1998, the PLO is arranged for seating in the UN General Assembly immediately after non-member states, and before all other observers.
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Subic Bay
Coordinates: 14°45′N 120°13′E / 14.75°N 120.217°E / 14.75; 120.217
Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay, it is now the location of an industrial and commercial area known as the Subic Bay Freeport Zone under the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (see also, Port of Subic).
The majority of the wrecks in Subic Bay are a result of either the Spanish–American War in 1898 or of World War II, where a number of Japanese vessels were sunk by American aircraft.
El Capitan was a freighter of nearly 3,000 tons just under 130 meters long. She sank in Subic Bay where she rests on a sloping bottom.
Hell ship Oryoku Maru: On 15 December 1944, she had 1,619 American and British prisoners of war on board when she was sunk, under heavy bombardment by American fighters while on her way from Subic Bay to Japan. She was less than half a kilometer off the Alava Pier when attacked. About 300 prisoners died during the short voyage from Manila and during the attack.
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Sudan
Sudan (i/suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/;Arabic: السودان, as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان, Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), sometimes called North Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa (sometimes also considered to be part of the Middle East). It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of Nile Valley, and descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the process of Arabisation common throughout the rest of the Arab World, today Arab culture predominates in Sudan. The majority of the population of Sudan adheres to Islam. The Nile divides the country between east and west sides.
The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt. Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arab northern Sudanese and the mostly animist and Christian Nilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodless coup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himself President of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan's President al-Bashir.
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Sultan Kudarat
Sultan Kudarat is a province of the Philippines located in the SOCCSKSARGEN region in Mindanao. Its capital is Isulan and borders Maguindanao and Cotabato to the north, South Cotabato and Sarangani to the south, and Davao del Sur to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the west.
Sultan Kudarat was once a part of the former empire province of Cotabato. It was created as a separate province along with Maguindanao and North Cotabato on November 22, l973 by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 341 signed by former Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos.
The purpose of dividing Cotabato into three (3) smaller provinces is clearly stated in Presidential Decree No. 341, which pertinently provided, to wit: “Whereas, the province of Cotabato is one of the largest and richest provinces of the Philippines;
Whereas, the potentials of the province have not been fully developed due to the magnitude of the task of provincial development and troubles that have long plagued the area;
Whereas, the many conflicting political, social and economic interests that have limited the progress of the province must be resolved in order to promote the stability and accelerate the development of Cotabato; and
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Sulu
Sulu (Tausūg: سوگ, Sūg) is an autonomous island province of the Philippines located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Its capital is Jolo and occupies the middle group of islands of the Sulu Archipelago, between Basilan and Tawi-Tawi. It is home to the historical Sultanate of Sulu.
The peaceful advent of Islam around 1138 through merchants and traders had a distinct influence on Southeast Asia. The coming of Arabs, Persians and other Muslims paved the way for the arrival of religious missionaries, traders, scholars and travelers to Sulu and Mindanao in the 12th century.
A landmark born of the social process was the founding of the principality of Buansa Sumatra, who settled there and married the daughter. A decade earlier (1380), Karim-ul-Mahkdum, an Arab religious missionary and learned judge, reinforced the Islamic foundation of Rajah Baguinda’s polity (1390–1460) and that of the Sultanate of Sayid Abubakar, princely scholar from Arabia who married Paramisuli, the daughter of Rajah Baguinda. Sayid Abubakar eventually inherited the rule of Rajah Baguinda, established the Sultanate and became the first Sultan of Sulu. To consolidate his rule, Sayid Abubakar united the local political units under the umbrella of the Sultanate. He brought Sulu, Zamboanga Peninsula, Palawan and Basilan under its aegis.
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Sulu Archipelago
The Sulu Archipelago is a chain of islands in the southwestern Philippines. This archipelago is considered to be part of the Moroland by the local rebel independence movement. This island group forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea.
The archipelago is not, as is often supposed, the remains of a land bridge between Borneo and the Philippines. Rather, it is the exposed edge of small submarine ridges produced by tectonic tilting of the sea bottom Basilan, Jolo, and other islands in the group are extinct volcanic cones rising from the southernmost ridge. Tawi-Tawi, the southernmost island of the group, has a serpentine basement-complex core with a limestone covering. This island chain is an important migration route for birds.
The largest cities or towns in the area are on Maimbung and Jolo of the Sulu Archipelago, plus the larger island of Palawan to its north, the coastal regions of the westward-extending Zamboanga Peninsula of Mindanao, and the northern part of the island of Borneo were formerly parts of the thalassocratic Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo.
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Sulu Sea
The Sulu Sea is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipelago. Borneo is found to the southwest and Visayas to the northeast.
Sulu Sea contains a number of islands. The Cuyo Islands and Cagayan Sulu are part of the province of Palawan while Mapun and the Turtle Islands are part of the province of Tawi-Tawi. Sulu Sea is also where the Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park, one of the World Heritage Sites is located.
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) defines the Sulu Sea as being one of the waters of the East Indian Archipelago. The IHO defines its limits as follows:
On the Northwest. From Tanjong Sampanmangio, the North point of Borneo, along the Eastern limit of South China Sea to Cape Calavite, the Northwest point of Mindoro.
On the Northeast. The Southwest coast of Mindoro to Buruncan Point, its Southern extreme, thence a line through Semirara and Kaluya Islands to Nasog Point (11°53′N 121°53′E / 11.883°N 121.883°E / 11.883; 121.883) the Northwestern extreme of Panay, along the West and Southeast coast of that island to Tagubanhan Island (11°08′N 123°07′E / 11.133°N 123.117°E / 11.133; 123.117), thence a line to the Northern extreme of Negros and down the West coast to Siaton Point, its Southern extreme, thence across to Tagolo Point (8°44′N 123°22′E / 8.733°N 123.367°E / 8.733; 123.367), Mindanao.
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Surigao del Norte
Surigao del Norte is a province of the Philippines located in the Caraga region in Mindanao. Its capital is Surigao City. The province consists of two major islands—Siargao Island and Bucas Grande Island—in the Philippine Sea, and a small region at the northernmost tip of the island of Mindanao. This mainland portion borders Agusan del Norte, and Surigao del Sur to the south.
Surigao del Norte is the second northernmost of the Mindanao provinces and is an important transportation hub between Visayas and Mindanao. Numerous ferries cross the Surigao Strait between Surigao and the island of Leyte carrying vehicles and passengers between Liloan in Southern Leyte and Surigao City.
On September 18, 1960, pursuant to the Republic Act 2736 dated June 19, 1960, the province of Surigao was divided into Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur. The town of Surigao became a city on August 30, 1970 pursuant to RA 6134. Atty. Pedro R. Espina became the first City Mayor.
Dinagat Islands had been a part of the First District of Surigao del Norte until becoming a province on its own on December 2, 2006, with the approval of Republic Act No. 9355, the Charter of the Province of Dinagat Islands, in a plebiscite. Between February 2010 and March 2011, the islands were part again of Surigao del Norte but were reinstated as a separate province.
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Surigao del Sur
Surigao del Sur is a province of the Philippines located in the CARAGA region in Mindanao. Its capital is Tandag City and borders Surigao del Norte to the north, Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur to the west, and Davao Oriental to the south. Surigao del Sur is located at the eastern coast of Mindanao and faces the Philippine Sea.
Before the Spaniards came, the aborigines of the province were the Mamanua and Manobo. Later, our Austronesian brothers from the Visayas came to settle with the natives. It was with the arrival of the immigrants that the province acquired its name from one of the natives, Saliagao, who lived near the mouth of the river.The name Saliagao was later pronounced Surigao by the inhabitants.
It is also said that long time ago, some Visayan fishermen forced by the strong current of the Surigao Strait, sought refuge in one of the huts somewhere in the province. The Mamanua who thought that these fishermen wanted to occupy the hut by force said “Agaw”, the term which was later given a prefix “Suri” by an immigrant.
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Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname (Dutch: Republiek Suriname, Dutch pronunciation: [ˌrepyˈblik ˌsyriˈnaːmə]), is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. Suriname was first colonized by the British, and captured by the Dutch in 1667, who governed it as the colony of Suriname until 1954. The country of Suriname achieved independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in which Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles, and the Netherlands itself cooperated on a basis of equality since 1954, on 25 November 1975.
At just under 165,000 km2 (64,000 sq mi) Suriname is the smallest sovereign state in South America (French Guiana comprises less territory, but is French territory). It has an estimated population of approximately 560,000, most of whom live on the country's north coast, where the capital Paramaribo is located.
The name Suriname may derive from a Taino (Arawak-speaking) group called "Surinen" who first inhabited the region prior to European arrival.
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Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland (Umbuso weSwatini), and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique. The nation, as well as its people, are named after the 19th century king Mswati II.
Swaziland is a small country, no more than 200 kilometres (120 mi) north to south and 130 kilometres (81 mi) east to west. The western half is mountainous, descending to a lowveld region to the east. The eastern border with Mozambique and South Africa is dominated by the escarpment of the Lebombo Mountains. The climate is temperate in the west, but may reach 40 °C (104 °F) in summer in the lowveld. Rainfall occurs mainly in the summer and may reach 2 metres (6.6 ft) in the west.
The area that Swaziland now covers has been continuously inhabited since prehistory. Today, the population is primarily ethnic Swazis whose language is siSwati, though English is spoken as a second language. The Swazi people descend from the southern Bantu who migrated from Central Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Anglo-Boer War saw the United Kingdom make Swaziland a protectorate under its direct control. Swaziland gained independence in 1968. Swaziland is a member of the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Commonwealth of Nations. The head of state is the king, who appoints the prime minister and a small number of representatives for both chambers of parliament. Elections are held every five years to determine the majority of the representatives. A new constitution was adopted in 2005.
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Syria
Syria (/ˈsɪriə/ ( listen) SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians. Major ethnic minorities in Syria include Kurds (9%), Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens and Circassians. The majority of the population is Arab (90%).
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Tacloban
The City of Tacloban (Waray: Syudad han Tacloban, Tagalog or Filipino: Lungsod ng Tacloban) is a city approximately 360 miles southeast of Manila. It is the first in Eastern Visayas to be classified as a Highly Urbanized City. It is the capital of the Philippine province of Leyte and is the largest city in terms of population in Eastern Visayas. It is also considered as the regional center of the Region VIII. Tacloban was briefly the seat of the Philippine Commonwealth Government, from October 20, 1944 to February 27, 1945.
In an extensive survey conducted by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center and released in July 2010, Tacloban City was ranked among the top ten most competitive cities in the Philippines. Tacloban ranked fifth overall, and second in the emerging cities category.
Tacloban was first known as Kankabatok, an allusion to the first inhabitants of the place – Kabatok. They established their dwelling in the vicinity of the present day Sto. Niño Church. Others who came later were Gumoda, Haraging and Huraw who erected their own settlements in nearby sites. Huraw’s domain is the hill where the city hall now sits. The combined settlements acquired the name Kankabatok, meaning Kabatok’s property.
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Tagaytay
The City of Tagaytay (Filipino: Lungsod ng Tagaytay) is a component city in the province of Cavite, in the Philippines. It is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations because of outstanding scenery and cooler climate provided by its high altitude. Tagaytay overlooks Taal Lake in Batangas and provides one of the iconic views of the Philippines, the view of Taal Volcano Island in the middle of the lake, viewable from several vantage points in the city.
Tagaytay is relatively close to the capital city of Manila, only 55 km (34 mi) away via Aguinaldo Highway, providing an easy escape for the locals from the heat of the big city.
Tagaytay City has a total land area of 66.1 km2 (26 sq mi) which represents about 4.37% of the total area of the Province of Cavite. It lies within 120° 56' longitude and 14° 6' latitude and overlooks Manila Bay to the North, Taal Volcano and Lake to the south and Laguna de Bay to the east.
The southern and eastern portions of Tagaytay City are covered by hills and mountains which is generally forests and open grasslands. The city lies along Tagaytay Ridge, a ridge stretching about 32 kilometres (20 mi) from Mount Batulao in the west to Mount Sungay (now People's Park in the Sky) in the east with elevations averaging about 610 metres (2,000 ft) above sea level. Mount Sungay, in Tagaytay, is the highest point of the province of Cavite at 709 metres (2,326 ft).
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Taguig
The City of Taguig (formerly spelled as Tagig; Filipino: Lungsod ng Taguig) is a highly urbanized city located in south-eastern portion of Metro Manila in the Philippines. From a thriving fishing community along the shores of Laguna de Bay, it is now an important residential, commercial and industrial center. The recent construction of the C-5 highway and the acquisition of the Fort Bonifacio development area has paved the way for the cityhood of the municipality. It will also be accessed by the future C-6 Road.
Taguig City lies on the western shore of Laguna de Bay and is bordered by Muntinlupa City to the south, Parañaque City to the southwest, Pasay City to the west, Cainta and Taytay on the northeast and Makati City, Pateros, and Pasig City to the north. Taguig River, a tributary of the Pasig River cuts through the northern half of the municipality and Napindan River, also a tributary of the Pasig forms the common border of Taguig with Pasig City.
The city ranked first among Philippine cities in the Ease of Doing Business Index, conducted by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation.
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Taiwan
Taiwan (i/ˌtaɪˈwɑːn/ TY-WAHN; Chinese: 臺灣 or 台灣; pinyin: Táiwān; see below), officially the Republic of China (ROC; Chinese: 中華民國; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Mínguó), is a state in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China now governs the island of Taiwan (formerly known as Formosa), which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other minor islands. Neighboring states include the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east and northeast, and the Philippines to the south. Taipei is the capital city and economic and cultural centre of the country, and New Taipei is the most populous city.
The earliest evidence of inhabitation of Taiwan dates back to the late Paleolithic era. The island of Taiwan was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before being colonized in the 17th century by the Dutch and the Spanish Empire. The first Han Chinese polity on Taiwan began when Koxinga's troops defeated Dutch forces and established the Kingdom of Tungning. The island was subsequently ruled by the Qing Dynasty after the kingdom's defeat in the Battle of Penghu in 1683, a period that lasted for over 200 years. Following Japan's victory over the Qing Dynasty in the first Sino-Japanese war, Taiwan was ceded to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895.
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Tajikistan
Tajikistan (i/tɑːˈdʒiːkɨstɑːn/, /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/, or /tæˈdʒiːkiːstæn/; Тоҷикистон [ˈtɔjikɪsˈtɔn]), officially the Republic of Tajikistan (Tajik: Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Cumhuriyi Tocikiston; Persian: جمهوری تاجیکستان Jomhuri-ye Tajikestan; Russian: Республика Таджикистан, Respublika Tadzhikistan), is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. It borders Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east. Gilgit Baltistan as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan are separated from Tajikistan by the narrow Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan in the south.
Most of Tajikistan's population belongs to the Persian-speaking Tajik ethnic group, who share language, culture and history with Afghanistan and Iran. Once part of the Samanid Empire, Tajikistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union in the 20th century, known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR). Mountains cover over 90% of this Central Asian republic.
After independence, Tajikistan suffered from a devastating civil war which lasted from 1992 to 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow. Trade in commodities such as cotton, aluminium and uranium has contributed greatly to this steady improvement.
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Tanzania
Coordinates: 6°18′25″S 34°51′14″E / 6.307°S 34.854°E / -6.307; 34.854 Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( /ˌtænzəˈniːə/ Swahili: Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern border lies on the Indian Ocean.
Tanzania is a state composed of 26 regions (mikoa), including those of the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar. The head of state is President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, elected in 2005. Since 1996, the official capital of Tanzania has been Dodoma, where Parliament and some government offices are located. Between independence and 1996, the main coastal city of Dar es Salaam served as the country's political capital. Today, Dar es Salaam remains the principal commercial city of Tanzania and the de facto seat of most government institutions. It is the major seaport for the country and its landlocked neighbours.
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Tarlac
Tarlac is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Luzon Island. Its capital is Tarlac City. Tarlac borders Pampanga to the south, Nueva Ecija to the east, Pangasinan to the north, and Zambales to the west. It is a part of Central Luzon, which is also composed of Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Zambales.
As of the 2000 census, Tarlac has a population of 1,068,783. Its population density is 350/km².[citation needed]
In the southern half of the province Kapampangan is the spoken language whereas Ilocano and Pangasinan dominate the northern half. Tagalog, being the country's national language, is widely understood throughout the province.
The economy of Tarlac is dominantly agricultural. Principal crops are rice and sugarcane. Other major crops are corn and coconut; vegetables such as eggplant, garlic, and onion; and fruit trees like mango, banana, and calamansi. It is among the biggest producers of Rice and Sugarcane notably grown in Hacienda Luisita in Barangay San Miguel, Tarlac City which is owned by the Cojuangco Family.
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Thailand
Thailand ( /ˈtaɪlænd/ TY-land or /ˈtaɪlənd/;Thai: ประเทศไทย, RTGS: Prathet Thai), officially the Kingdom of Thailand (Thai: ราชอาณาจักรไทย, RTGS: Ratcha Anachak Thai; IPA: [râːt.tɕʰā ʔāːnāːtɕàk tʰāj] ( listen)), formerly known as Siam (Thai: สยาม; RTGS: Sayam), is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Burma. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea to the southwest.
The country is a constitutional monarchy, headed by King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri, who, having reigned since 1946, is the world's longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. The king of Thailand is titled Head of State, Head of the Armed Forces, the Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all Faiths.
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The Bahamas
The Bahamasi/bəˈhɑːməz/, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is a country consisting of more than 3,000 islands, cays, and islets. It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States (nearest to the state of Florida). Its land area is 13,939 km2 (5,382 sq mi), with a population of 353,658. Its capital is Nassau. Geographically, the Bahamas lie in the same island chain as Cuba, Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands; the designation of Bahamas refers normally to the Commonwealth and not the geographic chain.
Originally inhabited by the Lucayans, a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taino people, the Bahamas were the site of Columbus' first landfall in the New World in 1492. Although the Spanish never colonized the Bahamas, they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 to 1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera.
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The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambiai/ˈɡæmbiə/, is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west.
The country is situated around the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the country's centre and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Its area is 11,295 km² with an estimated population of 1.7 million.
On 18 February 1965, Gambia gained independence from the United Kingdom and joined the Commonwealth of Nations. Banjul is Gambia's capital, but the largest cities are Serekunda and Brikama.
Gambia shares historical roots with many other West African nations in the slave trade, which was the key factor in the placing and keeping of a colony on the Gambia River, first by the Portuguese and later by the British. Since gaining independence in 1965, Gambia has enjoyed relative political stability, with the exception of a brief period of military rule in 1994.
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Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republici/ˈtoʊɡoʊ/, is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east, and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately 57,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi) with a population of approximately 6.7 million.
Togo is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with a climate that provides good growing seasons. The official language is French, with many other languages spoken in Togo, particularly those of the Gbe family. The largest religious group in Togo are those with indigenous beliefs, and there are significant Christian and Muslim minorities. Togo is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie and Economic Community of West African States.
From the 11th to the 16th century, various tribes entered the region from all directions. From the 16th century to the 18th century, the coastal region was a major trading centre for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast". In 1884, Germany declared Togoland a protectorate. After World War I, rule over Togo was transferred to France. Togo gained its independence from France in 1960.
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Tokelau
Tokelau ( /ˈtoʊkəlaʊ/) is a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls with a combined land area of 10 km2 and a population of approximately 1,400. The atolls lie north of the Samoan Islands, east of Tuvalu, south of the Phoenix Islands, southwest of the more distant Line Islands (both island groups belonging to Kiribati) and northwest of the Cook Islands.
The United Nations General Assembly designated Tokelau a Non-Self-Governing Territory. Until 1976 the official name was Tokelau Islands. Tokelau is sometimes referred to by the older, colonial name of The Union Islands.
The name Tokelau is a Polynesian word meaning "North Wind". The islands were named the Union Islands and Union Group by European explorers at an unknown time. Tokelau Islands was adopted as the name in 1946, and was contracted to Tokelau on 9 December 1976.
The change from Tokelau Islands to Tokelau marked a slight shift in emphasis, with consequences in regional diplomacy, in that the term Tokelau Islands clearly and substantially referred to a geographical expression, that is, a range of islands, whatever else it may connote. It is not necessarily controversial to refer by name to a range of islands, even though they may come under two or more political jurisdictions. Tokelau, on the other hand, can be taken to refer more immediately to some concept of nationhood, arguably infusing increased meaning to the draft 2006 independence constitution of Tokelau (which somewhat controversially claims Tokelauan inhabited Olohega (or Swains Island), currently part of American Samoa, as part of its national territory).[citation needed]
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Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga (Tongan: Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a sovereign state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over 700,000 square kilometres (270,000 sq mi) of ocean in the South Pacific. Fifty-two of the islands are inhabited.
The Kingdom stretches over a distance of about 800 kilometres (500 mi) in a north-south line located at about a third of the distance from New Zealand to Hawaii.
Tonga also became known as the Friendly Islands because of the friendly reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit there in 1773. He happened to arrive at the time of the ʻinasi festival, the yearly donation of the first fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga, the islands' paramount chief, and received an invitation to the festivities. According to the writer William Mariner, in reality the chiefs had wanted to kill Cook during the gathering, but could not agree on a plan.
Tonga is also the only island nation in the region to have avoided formal colonisation. In 2010, Tonga took a decisive step towards becoming a fully functioning constitutional monarchy after legislative reforms paved the way for its first ever fully representative elections which resulted in the election of Noble Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō as its first democratically elected Prime Minister.
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Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (i/ˌtrɪnɨdæd/ & /tɵˈbeɪɡoʊ/) officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles. It shares maritime boundaries with other nations including Barbados to the northeast, Guyana to the southeast, and Venezuela to the south and west.
The country covers an area 5,128 square kilometres (1,980 sq mi) and consists of two main islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous smaller landforms. Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the main islands, comprising about 94% of the total area and 96% of the total population of the country. The nation lies outside the hurricane belt.
The island of Trinidad was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1498 to the capitulation of the Spanish Governor, Don José Maria Chacón, on the arrival of a British fleet of 18 warships on 18 February 1797. During the same period, the island of Tobago changed hands between Spanish, British, French, Dutch and Courlander colonizers. Trinidad and Tobago was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. The country obtained independence in 1962, becoming a republic in 1976. Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago's economy is primarily industrial, with an emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals.
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Tuguegarao
Coordinates: 17°37′0″N 121°43′0″E / 17.616667°N 121.716667°E / 17.616667; 121.716667 Tuguegarao City (Filipino: Lungsod ng Tuguegarao) is the city capital of Cagayan, Philippines and the regional capital of Region 02 (Cagayan Valley Region). Tuguegarao is the economic center of the Cagayan Valley Region; it is located on a peninsula in the Cagayan Valley. It is sheltered by the Sierra Madre Mountains in the East; Cordilleras in the West; and, the Caraballo Mountains in the South. It grew on the banks of the Cagayan River and the Pinacanauan River, near the southern border of the province.
Tuguegarao City is a Center of Excellence in Education, Commerce, Trade and Culture and as the Economic Center of Region 02, Tuguegarao City continuously aims for outstanding performance and competence in administration, citizen participation, community and economic development, cultural arts, education, fiscal management, infrastructure, intergovernmental cooperation, planning, public safety, recreation and leisure services, social services, and technology.
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Tunisia
Tunisia (USi/tuːˈniːʒə/ two-NEE-zhə or UK /tjuːˈnɪziə/ tew-NIZ-iə; Arabic: تونس Tūnis pronounced [ˈtuːnɪs]), officially the Republic of Tunisia (Arabic: الجمهورية التونسية al-Jumhūriyyah at-Tūnisiyyah), is the northernmost country in Africa. It is an Arab Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area is almost 165,000 square kilometres (64,000 sq mi), with an estimated population of just under 10.7 million. Its name is derived from the capital Tunis located in the northeast.
Tunisia is the smallest country in North Africa. The south of the country is composed of the Sahara desert, with much of the remainder consisting of particularly fertile soil and 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) of coastline.
Tunisia has relations with both the European Union—with whom it has an association agreement—and the Arab world. Tunisia is also a member of the Arab Maghreb Union, the Arab League, and the African Union. Tunisia has established close relations with France in particular, through economic cooperation, industrial modernization, and privatisation programs.
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan (i/tɜrkˈmɛnɨstæn/ or i/tɜrkmɛnɨˈstɑːn/; Turkmen: Türkmenistan), formerly also known as Turkmenia (Russian: Туркмения), is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR). Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, Uzbekistan to the east and northeast, Kazakhstan to the north and northwest and the Caspian Sea to the west.
Turkmenistan's GDP growth rate of 11% in 2010[update] ranks 4th in the world, but these figures are subject to wide margins of error. It possesses the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Although it is wealthy in natural resources in certain areas, most of the country is covered by the Karakum (Black Sand) Desert.
The Turkmen government operates as a single-party system. Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov (called "Türkmenbaşy" — "leader of the Turkmens") until his sudden death on 21 December 2006. Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was elected the new president on 11 February 2007.
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Tuvalu
Tuvalu (i/tuːˈvɑːluː/ too-VAH-loo or /ˈtuːvəluː/ TOO-və-loo), formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls spread out from 6° to 10° south. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. Its population of 10,544 makes it the third-least populous sovereign state in the world, with only Vatican City and Nauru having fewer inhabitants. In terms of physical land size, at just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world, larger only than the Vatican City at 0.44 km2 (0.17 sq mi), Monaco at 1.98 km2 (0.76 sq mi) and Nauru at 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi).
The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. In 1568 Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña sailed through the islands and is understood to have sighted Nui during his expedition in search of Terra Australis. In 1819 the island of Funafuti was named Ellice's Island; the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay (1812–1876). The islands came under Britain's sphere of influence in the late 19th century, when the Ellice Islands were declared a British protectorate by Captain Gibson, R. N. of HMS Curaçao between 9th and 16 October 1892. The Ellice Islands were administered as British protectorate by a Resident Commissioner from 1892 to 1916 as part of the British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT), and later as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony from 1916 to 1974.
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Uganda
Coordinates: 1°17′N 32°23′E / 1.28°N 32.39°E / 1.28; 32.39
Uganda ( /juːˈɡændə/ yew-GAN-də or /juːˈɡɑːndə/ yew-GAHN-də), officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, which is also shared by Kenya and Tanzania.
Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala.
The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country. Uganda gained independence from Britain on 9 October 1962.
The official languages are English and Swahili, although multiple other languages are spoken in the country.
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Ukraine
Ukraine (i/juːˈkreɪn/ yew-KRAYN; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, [ukrɑˈjinɑ]; Russian: Украина; Crimean Tatar: Ukraina) is a country in Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after the Russian Federation.
According to a popular and well established theory, the medieval state of Kievan Rus was established by the Varangians in the 9th century as the first historically recorded East Slavic state which emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages until it disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721) Ukraine was divided between a number of regional powers and, by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. A chaotic period of incessant warfare ensued, with several internationally recognized attempts at independence from 1917 to 1921, following World War I and the Russian Civil War. Ukraine emerged from its own civil war, and on December 30, 1922 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian SSR's territory was enlarged westward during the civil war shortly before, and after World War II, and further south in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations.
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United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emiratesi/juːˌnaɪtɨd ˌærəb ˈɛmɪrɨts/ (Arabic: دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, Al Imārāt al ‘Arabīyah al Muttaḥidah), sometimes simply called the Emirates or the UAE, is a country situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing sea borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north.
The UAE is a federation of seven emirates (equivalent to principalities), each governed by a hereditary emir, with a single national president. The constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. The capital is Abu Dhabi, which is also the state's center of political, industrial, and cultural activities.
Prior to independence in 1971, the UAE was known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, in reference to a 19th-century truce between the local sheikhs, hereditary rulers of the territories, and the United Kingdom. The term Pirate Coast was also used by some to refer to the emirates from the 18th to the early 20th century, owing to the preponderance of pirates operating from Emirati ports.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
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Uruguay
Uruguayi/ˈjʊərəɡwaɪ/, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay pronounced: [re̞ˈpuβ̞lika o̞ɾje̞n̪ˈt̪al̪ d̪e̞l uɾuˈɰwai̯]) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88% of the population are of European ancestry.
Except for the recent union of Timoteo Domínguez Island and Argentina's Martín García Island, Uruguay's only land border is with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to the north. To the west lies the Uruguay River and the estuary of the Río de la Plata to the southwest. To the southeast lies the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi), Uruguay is the second-smallest nation in South America by area, after Suriname.
Colonia del Sacramento, one of the oldest European settlements in the country, was founded by the Portuguese in 1680. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1811–28 following a three-way struggle between the claims of Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, with a president who is both the head of state and the head of government.
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Uzbekistan
Uzbekistani/ʊzˌbɛkɨˈstɑːn/, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan (Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi, Ўзбекистон Республикаси) is the only doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of only two such countries worldwide. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south. Before 1991, it was part of the Soviet Union.
Uzbekistan is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia.
Once part of the Persian Samanid and later Timurid empires, the region was conquered in the early 16th century by Uzbek nomads, who spoke an Eastern Turkic language. Most of Uzbekistan’s population today belong to the Uzbek ethnic group and speak the Uzbek language, one of the family of Turkic languages.
Uzbekistan was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century, and in 1924 became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR). It became independent on 31 August 1991 (officially, from the following day).
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Vanuatu
Vanuatu (Englishi/ˌvɑːnuːˈɑːtuː/ vah-noo-AH-too or /vænˈwɑːtuː/ van-WAH-too; Bislama IPA: [vanuaˈtu]), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (French: République de Vanuatu, Bislama: Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 mi) east of northern Australia, 500 kilometres (310 mi) northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.
Vanuatu was first inhabited by Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were the members of a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese navigator Fernandes de Queirós who arrived in Espiritu Santo in 1605. In the 1880s France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the New Hebrides through a British–French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.
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Venezuela
Venezuela (i/ˌvɛnɨˈzweɪlə/ VEN-ə-ZWAY-lə), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela [repuˈβlika βoliβaˈɾjana ðe βeneˈswela]), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Its northern coastline of roughly 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) includes numerous islands in the Caribbean Sea, and in the north east borders the northern Atlantic Ocean. Caribbean islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba and the Leeward Antilles lie near the Venezuelan coast. Venezuela's territory covers around 916,445 square kilometres (353,841 sq mi) with an estimated population of 29,105,632. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the Andes mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rainforest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.
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Vietnam
Vietnam ( listen), formally the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam; listen), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 91.5 million inhabitants as of 2012, it is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "South Viet", and was officially adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east.
The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. The First Indochina War eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two states, North and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.
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Vigan
The City of Vigan (Ilokano: Ciudad ti Bigan; Tagalog: Vīgân; Chinese: 美岸; pinyin: Měi'àn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Bîgá) is a 5th class city in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. It is the capital of the Province of Ilocos Sur. The city is located on the western coast of the large island of Luzon, facing the South China Sea.
It is a World Heritage Site in that it is one of the few Hispanic towns left in the Philippines, and is well known for its cobblestone streets, and a unique architecture that fuses Philippine and Oriental building designs and construction, with colonial European architecture.
According to the latest Philippines census, it has a population of 47,246 people in 9,193 households.
Former Philippine president Elpidio Quirino, the sixth president of the Philippines, was born in Vigan, at the current location of the Provincial Jail (his father was a warden); and resided in the Syquia Mansion.
The area of Vigan was originally a settlement of traders coming from the Fujian Province, China. At the time of Spanish colonisation, the Chinese settlers, whose language was Southern Fujianese (Min Nan, often referred to as "Hokkien" by most Filipinos), referred to the area as "Bee Gan" (Chinese: 美岸; pinyin: Měi'àn), which means "Beautiful Shore." Since the Castillian and Basque Spanish conquistadors interchanged V and the B to refer to the B sound, they spelled the Hokkien Chinese name "Bee Gan" as "Vigan", which is the name used to this day.
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Visayas
The Visayas /vɪˈs[unsupported input]jəs/ və-SY-əz or Visayan Islands (Visayan languages: Kabisay-an, Tagalog: Kabisayaan), is one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Mindanao and Luzon. It consists of several islands, primarily surrounding the Visayan Sea, although the Visayas are considered the northeast extremity of the entire Sulu Sea. Residents are known as the Visayans.
The major islands of the Visayas are Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, and Samar. The region may also include the islands of Romblon and Masbate, whose population identify as Visayan.
There are three administrative regions in the Visayas: Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas.
The early people in the Visayas region were Austronesians and Negritos who migrated to the islands about 6,000 to 30,000 years ago. These early settlers were animist tribal groups. In the 12th century, settlers from the collapsing empires of Srivijaya, Majapahit and Brunei, led by the chieftain Datu Puti and his tribes, settled in the island of Panay and its surrounding islands. By the 14th century, Arab traders and their followers, venturing into the Malay Archipelago, converted some of these tribal groups into Muslims. These tribes practiced a mixture of Islam and Animism beliefs. There is also some evidence of trade among other Asian people. The Visayans were thought to have kept close diplomatic relations with Malaysia and Indonesian kingdoms since the tribal groups of Cebu were able to converse with Enrique of Malacca using the Malay language when the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in 1521.
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Wallis and Futuna
Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (French: Wallis et Futuna or Territoire des îles Wallis et Futuna, Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: Uvea mo Futuna), is a Polynesian French island territory in the South Pacific between Tuvalu to the northwest, Rotuma of Fiji to the west, the main part of Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast, Samoa to the east, the New Zealand-associated state of Tokelau to the northeast and to a more distant north the Phoenix Islands (Kiribati). (However, Wallis and Futuna is not part of, nor even contiguous with, French Polynesia. Wallis and Futuna is located at the very opposite western end of Polynesia.)
Its land area is 264 km2 with a population of about 15,000. Mata-Utu is the capital and biggest city. The territory is made up of three main volcanic tropical islands along with a number of tiny islets, and is split into two island groups that lie about 260 km apart, namely Wallis Islands (Uvea) in the northeast, and Hoorn Islands (also called the Futuna Islands) in the southwest, including Futuna Island proper and the mostly uninhabited Alofi Island.
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Western Visayas
Coordinates: 10°35′N 122°35′E / 10.583°N 122.583°E / 10.583; 122.583 Western Visayas, one of the regions of the Philippines, is designated as Region VI. It consists of six provinces; Aklan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo and 16 cities making it the region with the highest number of cities. Iloilo City is the regional center.
Western Visayas is composed of six provinces and the highly urbanized cities of Bacolod and Iloilo.
Notes:
The Western Visayas region was created from Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo (including its then-subprovince of Guimaras) and Negros Occidental by Presidential Decree No. 1 as part of the Integrated Reorganisation Plan of President Ferdinand Marcos.
The Province of Palawan was transferred to Region VI (Western Visayas) on May 23, 2005 by Executive Order 429. The Department of the Interior and Local Government announced in June 2005 that the transfer had been completed. However, Palaweños criticized the move, citing a lack of consultation, with most residents in Puerto Princesa City and all municipalities but one preferring to stay with Region IV-B. Consequently, Administrative Order No. 129 was issued on August 19, 2005 to address this backlash. This Order directed the abeyance of Executive Order 429 pending the approval of an implementation plan for the orderly transfer of Palawan from Region IV-B to Region VI. Hence, Palawan is currently (as of May, 2007) still part of Region IV-B.
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World Wide Web
The World Wide Web (abbreviated as WWW or W3, commonly known as the Web, or the "Information Superhighway"), is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia, and navigate between them via hyperlinks.
Using concepts from his earlier hypertext systems like ENQUIRE, British engineer and computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee, now Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), wrote a proposal in March 1989 for what would eventually become the World Wide Web. At CERN, a European research organization near Geneva situated on Swiss and French soil, Berners-Lee and Belgian computer scientist Robert Cailliau proposed in 1990 to use hypertext "... to link and access information of various kinds as a web of nodes in which the user can browse at will", and they publicly introduced the project in December.
In the May 1970 issue of Popular Science magazine Arthur C. Clarke was reported to have predicted that satellites would one day "bring the accumulated knowledge of the world to your fingertips" using a console that would combine the functionality of the Xerox, telephone, television and a small computer, allowing data transfer and video conferencing around the globe. Clarke also determined that geosyncronous orbit would be possible at the altitude of 22,000 miles, which is why that region is called the Clarke Belt.
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Yemen
The Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), commonly known as Yemeni/ˈjɛmən/ (Arabic: اليَمَن al-Yaman), is a country located in Western Asia, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east. Yemen is considered one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. Its capital and largest city is Sana'a. Yemen's territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 km (258 mi) to the south of mainland Yemen, off the coast of Somalia. It is the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government. Approximately 53% of Yemenis are Sunnis, while 45% are Zaydi Shias.
One etymology derives Yemen from yamin, meaning "on the right side", as the south is on the right when facing the sunrise. Another derives Yemen from yumn, meaning "felicity", as the region is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) as opposed to Arabia Deserta (Deserted Arabia), which was their term for northern Arabia.
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Zambales
Zambales is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is Iba. Zambales borders Pangasinan to the north, Tarlac and Pampanga to the east, Bataan to the south and the South China Sea to the west. With a land area of 3,700 km2, Zambales is the second largest among the seven provinces of Central Luzon. It has a population density of 150 people per square kilometer², one of the lowest in the country. The province is noted for its mangoes, which are abundant from January to April.
Zambales is served by the Subic Bay International Airport, which is located in Cubi Point in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. The Freeport Zone is host to many tourist attractions which include casinos, beach resorts, parks, beachside huts and cottages and historical sites. The Scarborough Shoal is internationally recognized as a part of Zambales Province.
Zambales lies on the western shores of Luzon island along the South China Sea. Its shoreline is very ragged, and features many coves and inlets. The Zambales Mountains, the mountain range on the eastern part of the province occupies about 60% of its total land area. Subic Bay, in the southern end of the province, provides a natural harbor, and was chosen as the location of the U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay. The peak of Mount Pinatubo lies near the tripoint of Zambales, Pampanga, and Tarlac provinces. This volcano, once considered dormant, erupted violently in 1991 blowing off its summit, leaving a caldera (now filled with Lake Pinatubo), on the mountains of Botolan, Zambales. A vast portion of the province acquired desert-like features after being buried by more than 20 feet (6.1 m) deep of lahar.
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Zambia
Zambia ( /ˈzæmbiə/), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of the country. The population is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the northwest.
Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region which comprises modern Zambia was colonised during the Bantu expansion of the thirteenth century. After visits by European explorers in the eighteenth century, Zambia became the British colony of Northern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century. For most of the colonial period, the country was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company.
On 24 October 1964, the country declared independence from the United Kingdom and then-prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president. Kaunda's socialist United National Independence Party (UNIP) maintained power from the 1964 until 1991. From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a single-party state with the UNIP as the sole-legal political party, with the goal of uniting the nation under the banner of 'One Zambia, One Nation'. Kaunda was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy in 1991, during which the country saw a rise in social-economic growth and increased decentralisation of government.
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Zamboanga City
The City of Zamboanga (Zamboangueño Chavacano/Spanish: Ciudad de Zamboanga; Tagalog: Lungsod ng Zamboanga; is a highly urbanized city located in Mindanao, Philippines. It is currently ranked as the 6th most populous city (807,129 population as of 2010 NSO Census) and the 3rd largest by land area in the Philippines (1,483.3849/km2 (572.738/sq mi)).
It is the seat of one of the largest number of military and police bases in the country. It is also home of the 3rd Air Division of the Edwin Andrews Air Base, which handles the Air Force of the Philippines in the city; and the 6th Naval District in Camp General Basilio Navarro also known as Western Mindanao Command, the main headquarters of Armed Forces of the Philippines in Western part of Mindanao; the Philippine Army, Philippine Marines, and Philippine Navy are assigned to that command. The "Camp Enrile" and other three military camps can be found in the city.
It is the former capital of Moro Province, now Mindanao Island, from 1903 to 1913. On September 15, 1911, the Municipalidad de Zamboanga was converted into a city by the legislative order Act. No.272. It is known as Ciudad Latina de Asia in Zamboangueño Language or Asia's Latin City in English for its strong Hispanic/Latin influence.[citation needed]
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Zamboanga del Norte
Zamboanga del Norte (Tagalog; Hilagang Samboanga, Standard Subanen:Utara Sembwangan) or simply known as ZANORTE is a province of the Philippines located in the Zamboanga Peninsula region in Mindanao. Its capital is Dipolog City and the province borders Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay to the south and Misamis Occidental to the east. The Sulu Sea lies to the northwest of Zamboanga del Norte. Zamboanga del Norte is the Largest province of Zamboanga Peninsula in terms of land area.
Zamboanga del Norte has a population of 957,997 according to the 2010 census. Its population density is 130/km². It is ranked 26th among the provinces both in terms of population and population density.
The main language spoken is Cebuano.
About half of the province's land area is devoted to agriculture. Corn, coconut, and rice are the major crops. The province being rich in marine and mineral sources, its fish production has accelerated through the development of fishponds. Commercial fishing has likewise steadily increased through the years, with the yellow fin tuna as the primary species.
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Zamboanga del Sur
Zamboanga del Sur (Cebuano:Lalawigan sa Habagatang Zamboanga, Spanish/Zamboangueño/Chavacano:Provincia del Zamboanga del Sur, Tagalog:Timog Zamboanga, Standard Subanen:S'helatan Sembwangan/Sembwangan dapit Shelatan) is a province of the Philippines located in the Zamboanga Peninsula region in Mindanao. Pagadian City is the capital. The province borders Zamboanga del Norte to the north, Zamboanga Sibugay to the west, Misamis Occidental to the northeast, and Lanao del Norte to the east. To the south is the Moro Gulf.
As of the 2000 census, Zamboanga del Sur had a population of 836,147, making it the 16th most populous province. The population density was 3,480/km², the 20th most densely populated province.
The most commonly spoken language is Cebuano. Also spoken, although in small percentage, are Zamboangueño/Chavacano, Tagalog, English, Hiligaynon, Maguindanao, Iranun, Subanun, and Ilocano.
The economy is predominantly agricultural. Products include coco oil, livestock feed milling, rice/corn milling, including the processing of fruits, gifts and housewares made from indigenous materials like handmade paper, roots, rattan, buri, and bamboo; wood-based manufacture of furniture and furniture components from wood, rattan, and bamboo; marine and aquaculture including support services; construction services and manufacture of marble, concrete, and wooden construction materials. There are also mining areas in the province, such as found in the Municipality of Bayog managed by TVI, a Canadian-based mining firm which concentrates on gold mining, and the Cebu Ore Mining which is handling the Ore-Copper-Steel mines. There are also small-scale mines in the Municipality of Dumingag.
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Zamboanga Peninsula
Zamboanga Peninsula is a peninsula and an administrative region in the Philippines. Designated as Region IX, the region consists of three provinces, namely, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga Sibugay, its component cities of Dipolog, Dapitan, Pagadian, and Isabela (Capital of Basilan Province, which is a part of the ARMM) and the highly-urbanized city of Zamboanga. The region was previously known as Western Mindanao before the enactment of Executive Order No. 36 on September 19, 2001. Pagadian City is the regional center.
After the United States annexed the Spanish East Indies in 1898, Zamboanga was briefly independent as the Republic of Zamboanga. It became a part of the Moro Province, which consisted of the Central and Western parts of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. The name and status of Moro province soon changed to the Department of Mindanao and Sulu on August 16, 1916, that caused Zamboanga to become a province.
On 1942, the occupied by the Japanese Imperial forces taken in Zamboanga Peninsula
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Zamboanga Sibugay
Zamboanga Sibugay is a province of the Philippines located in the Zamboanga Peninsula region in Mindanao. Its capital is Ipil and it borders Zamboanga del Norte to the north, Zamboanga del Sur to the east and Zamboanga City to the southwest. To the south lies Sibuguey Bay in the Moro Gulf. Zamboanga Sibugay was created in 2001 when the third district of Zamboanga del Sur was carved out of that province. Zamboanga Sibugay is the 79th province created in the Philippines.
As of the 2000 census, Zamboanga Sibugay has a population of 497,239 people, and a population density of 161/km2. It is ranked 29th among the provinces of the Philippines in terms of both population and population density. The annual population growth rate is 16.09%.
The vast majority of the people of Zamboanga Sibugay speak Cebuano. Other languages such as Hiligaynon, Subanen, Zamboangueño/Chavacano, Tagalog and other ethnic tongues are also spoken, so is English.
The leading industries are in the areas of bakery, rice and corn milling, food processing, and rattan and wood furniture production. New industries include concrete products, garments, wax and candle factory, and other cottage industries.
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Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (/zɪmˈbɑːbweɪ/ zim-BAHB-way; officially the Republic of Zimbabwe) is a landlocked country of southern Africa. It shares a 125-mile (200-kilometre) border on the south with the Republic of South Africa and is bounded on the southwest and west by Botswana, on the north by Zambia, and on the northeast and east by Mozambique. The capital is Harare (formerly called Salisbury). Zimbabwe achieved majority rule and internationally recognised independence in April 1980 following a long period of colonial rule and a 15-year period of white-dominated minority rule, instituted after the minority regime’s so-called Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965.
Zimbabwe has three official languages: English, Shona and Ndebele. Zimbabwe began as the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, created from land held by the British South Africa Company. President Robert Mugabe is the head of State and Commander in Chief of the armed forces. Morgan Tsvangirai is the Prime Minister. Mugabe has been in power since the country's internationally recognised independence in 1980.
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Alejandro Roces
Alejandro Reyes Roces (13 July 1924 – 23 May 2011) was a Filipino author, essayist, dramatist and a National Artist of the Philippines for literature. He served as Secretary of Education from 1961 to 1965, during the term of Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal.
Noted for his short stories, the Manila-born Roces was married to Irene Yorston Viola (granddaughter of Maximo Viola), with whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth Roces-Pedrosa. Anding attended elementary and high school at the Ateneo de Manila University, before moving to the Arizona State University for his tertiary education. He graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts and, not long after, attained his M.A. from Far Eastern University back in the Philippines. He has since received honorary doctorates from Tokyo University, Baguio's St. Louis University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, and the Ateneo de Manila University. Roces was a captain in the Marking’s Guerilla during World War II and a columnist in Philippine dailies such as the Manila Chronicle and the Manila Times. He was previously President of the Manila Bulletin and of the CAP College Foundation.
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Alfred Vail
Alfred Lewis Vail (September 25, 1807 – January 18, 1859) was a machinist and inventor. Vail was central, with Samuel F. B. Morse, in developing and commercializing the telegraph between 1837 and 1844. Vail and Morse were the first two telegraph operators on Morse's first experimental line between Washington, DC, and Baltimore, and Vail took charge of building and managing several early telegraph lines between 1845 and 1848. He was also responsible for several technical innovations of Morse's system, particularly the sending key and improved recording registers and relay magnets. Vail left the telegraph industry in 1848 because he believed that the managers of Morse's lines did not fully value his contributions. His last assignment, superintendent of the Washington and New Orleans Telegraph Company, paid him only $900 a year, leading Vail to write to Morse, "I have made up my mind to leave the Telegraph to take care of itself, since it cannot take care of me. I shall, in a few months, leave Washington for New Jersey, ... and bid adieu to the subject of the Telegraph for some more profitable business."
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Ambeth Ocampo
Ambeth R. Ocampo is a multi-awarded Filipino historian, academic, journalist, and author best known for his writings about Philippines' national hero José Rizal and for "Looking Back", his bi-weekly editorial page column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He became the chair of the Philippines' National Historical Institute in 2002 and of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in 2005.
Ocampo was educated in the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University from primary, secondary and tertiary levels but attained his BA and MA in Philippine Studies from De La Salle University, Manila. He took graduate courses in the University of the Philippines (Diliman) and later read for a DPhil in Southeast Asian History at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). His postgraduate work was interrupted in 1993 when he entered the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat, Manila where he was known as Dom. Ignacio Maria, OSB. He left the monastery in 1997 but still considers returning sometime in the future.
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Andrés Bonifacio
Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro (30 November 1863 – 10 May 1897) was a Filipino nationalist and revolutionary. He is often called "the great plebeian," "father of the Philippine Revolution," and "father of the Katipunan." He was a founder and later Supremo ("supreme leader") of the Katipunan movement which sought the independence of the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule and started the Philippine Revolution. He is considered a de facto national hero of the Philippines, and is also considered by some Filipino historians to be the first President, but he is not officially recognized as such.
Bonifacio was born to Santiago Bonifacio and Catalina de Castro in Tondo, Manila and was the eldest of five children.Sagmit 2007, p. 149.</ref> His father was a tailor who served as a tenyente mayor of Tondo, Manila while his mother was a mestiza born of a Spanish father and a Filipino-Chinese mother who worked at a cigarette factory. As was custom, upon baptism he was named for the saint on whose feast he was born, Andrew the Apostle.
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Apolinario Mabini
Apolinario Mabini y Maranan (July 23, 1864 — May 13, 1903) was a Filipino political philosopher and revolutionary who wrote a constitutional plan for the first Philippine republic of 1899-1901, and served as its first prime minister in 1899. In Philippine history texts, he is often referred to as "the Sublime Paralytic", and as "the Brains of the Revolution." To his enemies and detractors, he is referred to as the "Dark Chamber of the President."
Mabini was born on July 23, 1864 in Barangay Talaga in Tanauan, Batangas. He was the second of eight children of Dionisia Maranan, a vendor in the Tanauan market, and Inocencio Mabini, an unlettered peasant.
Mabini began informal studies under his maternal grandfather, who was the village teacher. Because he demonstrated uncommon intelligence, he was transferred to a regular school owned by Simplicio Avelino, where he worked as a houseboy, and also took odd jobs from a local tailor - all in exchange for free board and lodging. He later transferred to a school conducted by the Fray Valerio Malabanan, whose fame as an educator merited a mention in José Rizal's novel El Filibusterismo.
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Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.
Native ethnic groups of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan self-identify themselves as Asian. They are also recognized as Asian by Russians and Chinese.[citation needed]
This self-identification is based phenotypically, and on cultural differences from Russians, as these countries used to be parts of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, and therefore have significant Russian populations. Another reason for such self-identification is patriotic: "the native people of the Center of Asia - are undoubtedly Asians".[citation needed]
In parts of anglophone Africa, especially East Africa and South Africa, and in parts of the Anglophone Caribbean, the term "Asian" is more commonly associated with people of South Asian origin, particularly Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans.
Notably, the Australian Census includes Central Asia, a region that is often considered to be part of the Greater Middle East. The Australian Census includes four regions of Asia in its official definition. Defined by the 2006–2011 Australian Census, three broad groups have the word Asian included in their name: Central and Southern Asian, South-East Asian and North-East Asian. Russians are classified as Southern and Eastern Europeans while Middle Easterners are classified as North African and Middle Easterners.
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Ati people
The Ati is a Negrito ethnic group in Panay, which is located in the Visayas (Islands of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Leyte, Samar, Panay, Masbate, Negros and Guimaras), the central portion of the Philippine archipelago. They are genetically-related to other Negrito ethnic groups in the Philippines such as the Aeta of Luzon, the Batak of Palawan, and the Mamanwa of Mindanao.
In the Philippines the Aetas or Ati ancestors were the 'aboriginals' or the 'first' inhabitants of this Archipelago. They most probably arrived from Borneo 20-30,000 years ago, through what is thought to be an isthmus (remnants of which today comprise the island of Palawan) that in the prehistoric epoch connected the Philippine archipelago to Borneo via a land bridge. According to some oral traditions, they also predate the Bisaya, who now inhabit most of the Visayas.
Legends, such as those involving the Ten Bornean Datus and the Binirayan Festival, tell tales about how, at the beginning of the 12th century, the ancestors of the Bisaya escaped from Borneo from the persecution of Rajah Makatunaw. Led by Datu Puti and Datu Sumakwel and sailing with boats called balangays, they landed near a river called Suaragan, on the southwest coast of Panay, (the place then known as Aninipay), and bartered the land from an Ati headman named Polpolan and his son Marikudo for the price of a necklace and one golden salakot. The hills were left to the Atis while the plains and rivers to the Malays. This meeting is commemorated through the Ati-atihan festival. This legend, though, is challenged by some historians.
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Benigno Aquino III
Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (/bɛˈnɪɡnoʊ əˈkiːnoʊ/; [bɛˈniɡno aˈkino]; born February 8, 1960), also known as Noynoy Aquino or PNoy, is a Filipino politician who has been the 15th and current President of the Philippines since June 2010.
Aquino is a fourth-generation politician: his great-grandfather, Servillano "Mianong" Aquino, served as a delegate to the Malolos Congress; his grandfather, Benigno Aquino, Sr., served as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 1943 to 1944; and his parents were President Corazon Aquino and Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. Aquino is a member of the Liberal Party. In the Liberal Party, Aquino held various positions such as Secretary General and Vice President for Luzon. Aquino is currently the Chairman of the Liberal Party.
Born in Manila, Aquino graduated from Ateneo de Manila University in 1981 and joined his family in their exile in the United States shortly thereafter. He returned to the Philippines in 1983 shortly after the assassination of his father and held several positions working in the private sector. In 1998, he was elected to the House of Representatives as Representative of the 2nd district of Tarlac province. He was subsequently re-elected to the House in 2001 and 2004. In 2007, having been barred from running for re-election to the House due to term limits, he was elected to the Senate in the 14th Congress of the Philippines.
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Bicolano people
The Bicolanos are the fifth-largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group.[citation needed]
Bicolanos live in the southeastern peninsula of Luzon, now containing the provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Sorsogon. Many Bicolanos also live near in the province of Quezon.
The Bicolanos number about 5,907,000.[citation needed] They are descended from the Austronesian-speaking immigrants who came from Southern China during the Iron Age. Some Bicolanos also have Chinese, Arab, and Spanish admixtures. Their language is referred to as Bicol or Bicolano. The Bicolano language is very fragmented, and its dialects are mutually incomprehensible to speakers of other Bicolano dialects. The majority of the Bicolano people are devout Roman Catholics. Catholic Mass is celebrated daily in many churches in the Bicol Region.
The Bicolano cuisine is primarily noted for the prominent use of chili peppers and gata (coconut milk) in its food. A classic example is the gulay na lada, known outside the region as Bicol Express, a well-loved dish using siling labuyo (native small chillies) and the aforementioned gata.
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Boxer Codex
The Boxer Codex is a manuscript written c. 1595 which contains illustrations of Filipinos at the time of their initial contact with the Spaniards. Aside from a description of, and historical allusions to the Philippines and various other Far Eastern countries, it also contains seventy-five colored drawings of the inhabitants of these regions and their distinctive costumes. At least fifteen illustrations deal with the natives of the Philippine Archipelago.
It is believed that the original owner of the manuscript was Luis Pérez das Mariñas, son of Governor General Gómez Pérez das Mariñas, who was killed in 1593 by Sangleys (Chinese living in the Philippines). Luis succeeded his father in office as Governor General of the Philippines. Since Spanish colonial governors were required to supply written reports on the territories they governed, it is likely that the manuscript was written under the orders of the governor.
The manuscript's earliest known owner was Lord Ilchester. The codex was among what remained in his collection when his estate, Holland House in London, suffered a direct hit during an air raid in 1942. The manuscript was auctioned in 1947 and came into the possession of Prof. Charles Ralph Boxer, an authority on the Far East. It is now owned by the Lilly Library at Indiana University.
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Carlos Loyzaga
Carlos M. Loyzaga (born 29 August 1930) is a former Filipino basketball player and coach. He led the Philippine National team to a Bronze Medal finish in the 1954 FIBA World Championship. The Philippines third place finish remains the highest rank of any Asian team in the history of the tournament. He is also the father of the Filipina TV and movie actresses Bing Loyzaga and Teressa Loyzaga.
Loyzaga was born to a Basque family during World War II and he is the son of former Philippine national football team member and player Joaquin Loyzaga. After surviving the war with his mother, sister and two brothers, he attended San Beda College, where he played for the San Beda Red Lions basketball team in the Philippine NCAA. Standing at 191 cm (6 ft 3 in), he towered over most other players in the league and came to be a dominating player at the center position. Because of his shooting and rebounding ability, he quickly became a superstar in the Philippines. He led the Red Lions to a consecutive NCAA championships win during his career.
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Charles Wheatstone
Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for displaying three-dimensional images), and the Playfair cipher (an encryption technique). However, Wheatstone is best known for his contributions in the development of the Wheatstone bridge, originally invented by Samuel Hunter Christie, which is used to measure an unknown electrical resistance, and as a major figure in the development of telegraphy.
Charles Wheatstone was born in Barnwood Gloucester Gloucester. His father was a music-seller in the town, who moved to 128 Pall Mall, London, four years later, becoming a teacher of the flute. Charles, the second son, went to a village school, near Gloucester, and afterwards to several institutions in London. One of them was in Kennington, and kept by a Mrs. Castlemaine, who was astonished at his rapid progress. From another he ran away, but was captured at Windsor, not far from the theatre of his practical telegraph. As a boy he was very shy and sensitive, liking well to retire into an attic, without any other company than his own thoughts.
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Chinese Filipino
A Chinese Filipino (simplified Chinese: 华菲; traditional Chinese: 華菲; pinyin: Huáfēi; Hokkien: Huâ-hui; Cantonese: Wàhfèi; Tagalog/Filipino: "Tsinoy" (pronounced [tʃɪnoɪ]) derived from two words: "Tsino" (meaning "Chinese") and "Pinoy" (the slang word for "Filipino")) is a Philippine national of Chinese ethnicity but was born/raised in the Philippines. Chinese Filipino's constitute one group of Overseas Chinese and are one of the largest Overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. As of 2005, Chinese Filipino's number approximately 1.1 million corresponding to 1.3% of the Filipino population.
Many, if not all people in the Philippines, including Chinese Filipinos themselves, use and accept the term "Filipino Chinese"/"Filipino-Chinese". However, this is inconsistent with the usage of American English, on which Philippine English is largely based. Despite its inconsistency with American English, the term remains to be the officially accepted reference in the Philippines.
Chinese Filipinos are well represented in all levels of Filipino society, and well integrated politically and economically. The ethnically Chinese Filipinos comprise 1.3% (1.1 million) of the population or 22% of the population including Chinese mestizos, Chinese Filipinos are present within several commerce and business sectors in the Philippines and are estimated to own a majority of the Filipino economy.
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Claude Chappe
Claude Chappe (December 25, 1763 – January 23, 1805) was a French inventor who in 1792 demonstrated a practical semaphore system that eventually spanned all of France. This was the first practical telecommunications system of the industrial age, making Chappe the first telecom mogul with his "mechanical internet."
Chappe was born in Brûlon, Sarthe, France, the grandson of a French baron. He was raised for church service, but lost his sinecure during the French Revolution. He was educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen.
He and his four unemployed brothers decided to develop a practical system of semaphore relay stations, a task proposed in antiquity, yet never realized.
Claude's brother, Ignace Chappe (1760–1829) was a member of the Legislative Assembly during the French Revolution. With his help, the Assembly supported a proposal to build a relay line from Paris to Lille (fifteen stations, about 120 miles), to carry dispatches from the war.
The Chappe brothers determined by experiment that the angles of a rod were easier to see than the presence or absence of panels. Their final design had two arms connected by a cross-arm. Each arm had seven positions, and the cross-arm had four more permitting a 196-combination code. The arms were from three to thirty feet long, black, and counterweighted, moved by only two handles. Lamps mounted on the arms proved unsatisfactory for night use. The relay towers were placed from 12 to 25 km (10 to 20 miles) apart. Each tower had a telescope pointing both up and down the relay line. Chappe first called his invention the "tachygraph", which means fast writer. A friend suggested a name meaning a far writer, telegraph.
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Corazon Aquino
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office. She led the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines. She was named "Woman of the Year" in 1986 by Time Magazine.
A self-proclaimed "plain housewife", Aquino was married to Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., the staunchest critic of then President Ferdinand Marcos. Senator Aquino was assassinated on August 21, 1983 upon returning to the Philippines after three years in exile in the United States. After her husband's assassination, Corazon Aquino emerged as the leader of the opposition against the Marcos administration. In late 1985, when President Marcos called for a snap election, Aquino ran for president with former senator Salvador Laurel as her vice-presidential running mate. After the elections were held on February 7, 1986, and the Batasang Pambansa proclaimed Marcos the winner in the elections, she called for massive civil disobedience protests, declaring herself as having been cheated and as the real winner in the elections. Filipinos enthusiastically heeded her call and rallied behind her. These events eventually led to the ousting of Marcos and the installation of Aquino as President of the Philippines on February 25, 1986 through the "People Power Revolution".
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Datu
Datu is the title for chiefs, sovereign princes, and monarchs in the Visayas and Mindanao Regions of the Philippines. Together with Lakan (Luzon), Apo in Central and Northern Luzon,Sultan and Rajah, they are titles used for native royalty, and are still currently used in the Philippines. Depending upon the prestige of the sovereign prince, this title of Datu could be roughly equated to the European dukes, marquesses, counts, or barons.
The word datu is akin to the Malay word Dato' or Datuk, which are royal titles of the Malay people, and to the Fijian title of Ratu. It came to be in use in the Philippines during the pre-colonial period through the migrations of Malays to what is now the Philippine Archipelago. During the 11th century several exiled datus of the collapsing empire of Srivijaya led by Datu Puti made a mass migration to the central islands of the Philippines, fleeing from Rajah Makatunao of the island of Borneo. The Malays reached the island of Panay, which in ancient times was known as the island of "Aninipay". Purchasing the island from the Negrito chieftain Marikudo, they established a confederation of polities and named it the Confederation of Madyaas, centered in Aklan.
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Diego Silang
Diego Silang y Andaya (December 16, 1730 – May 28, 1763) was a revolutionary leader who conspired with British forces to overthrow Spanish rule in the northern Philippines and establish an independent Ilocano nation. His revolt was fueled by grievances stemming from Spanish taxation and abuses, and by his belief in self-government, that the administration and leadership of the Roman Catholic Church and government in the Ilocos be invested in trained Ilocano officials.
Born in Aringay, Pangasinan (an area in present-day Caba or Aringay, La Union), Silang's mother was Ilocano; his father was Pangasinense. Young Diego worked as a messenger for a local Castilian priest in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Bright, passionate, and fluent in Spanish, he ferried correspondence from the Ilocos to Manila; journeys that gave him his first glimpse of colonial injustice and that planted the seed of rebellion.
Spain allied with France during the Seven Years' War, in opposition to Great Britain. The British in response sought to diminish the Spanish Empire. The seizure of Manila by British naval forces in October, 1762, and the subsequent surrender of the Spanish Philippines to Britain during the British occupation of the Philippines, inspired uprisings in the farthest north of Ilocos Norte and Cagayan, where anti-Spanish sentiments festered. Though Silang initially wanted to replace Spanish functionaries in the Ilocos with native-born officials and volunteered to head Ilocano forces against the British, desperate Spanish administrators instead transferred their powers to the Catholic Bishop of Nueva Segovia (Vigan), who rejected Silang's offer. Silang's group attacked the city and imprisoned its priests. He then began an association with the British who appointed him governor of the Ilocos on their behalf and promised him military reinforcement. The British force never materialized.
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Efren Reyes
Efren Manalang Reyes (born August 26, 1954) is a Filipino professional pool player and a two-time world champion.
Reyes was born in Pampanga in 1954. He moved to Manila with his family at the age of 5. In Manila, he worked as a billiards attendant at his uncle's billiards hall, where he started learning the various cue sports. Because he was not tall enough to reach the pool table, he played while standing on Coca-cola cases that he moved around. At night, while he was dreaming of playing pool, the pool table was his bed.[citation needed]
He is called Bata, which is Filipino for "Kid", because there was another older pool player named Efren when he was young. To distinguish between the two, he was referred to as Efren Bata.
Gambling from a young age, Reyes played three cushion billiards in the 1960s and 1970s. After establishing himself as a winner, he was discovered by promoters. This gave him the opportunity to compete in big time tournaments.
During the 1980s, when Reyes was considered a top-class player in his homeland but not yet internationally recognized, he went to the U.S. to hustle. Popular legend claims that Reyes earned US$80,000 in a week; this feat made him a folk hero back home.
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Elisha Gray
Elisha Gray (August 2, 1835 – January 21, 1901) was an American electrical engineer who co-founded the Western Electric Manufacturing Company. Gray is best known for his development of a telephone prototype in 1876 in Highland Park, Illinois and is considered by some writers to be the true inventor of the variable resistance telephone, despite losing out to Alexander Graham Bell for the telephone patent.
Gray is also considered to be the father of the modern music synthesizer, and was granted over 70 patents for his inventions.
Born into a Quaker family in Barnesville, Ohio, Gray was brought up on a farm. He spent several years at Oberlin College where he experimented with electrical devices. Although Gray was not a graduate of Oberlin College, he taught electricity and science at Oberlin and built laboratory equipment for Oberlin science departments.
In 1862 while at Oberlin, Gray met and married Delia Minerva Shepard.
In 1865 Gray invented a self-adjusting telegraph relay that automatically adapted to varying insulation of the telegraph line.
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Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (March 22, 1869 – February 6, 1964) was a Filipino general, politician, and independence leader. He played an instrumental role during the Philippines' revolution against Spain, and the subsequent Philippine-American War or War of Philippine Independence that resisted American occupation.
Aguinaldo became the Philippines' first President. He was also the youngest (at age 29) to have become the country's president, the longest-lived president (having survived to age 94) and the president to have outlived the most number of successors.
Emilio, nicknamed Miong was born on March 22, 1869 at Cavite El Viejo (now Kawit). The seventh of the eight children of Kapitan Carlos Aguinaldo y Jamir and Kapitana Trinidad Famy y Valero.
He was the seventh of eight children. His parents were of Chinese and Tagalog descent. His father, Carlos, died when Aguinaldo was just nine years old. After graduating from the University of Santo Thomas and at the San Juan de Letran College in Manila, Aguinaldo returned home to Kawit, where he developed a growing awareness of Filipino frustration with Spanish colonial rule.
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Emma Helen Blair
Emma Helen Blair (September 12, 1851, Menasha, Wisconsin—September 25, 1911, Madison, Wisconsin) was a United States historian, journalist and editor, whose most notable work was a monumental documentary history of the Philippines.
Although born in Wisconsin, she attended high school in Westfield, Massachusetts. In 1871, she returned to Wisconsin and enrolled in Ripon College, where she graduated in 1874. After graduation she taught in public school for two years and then moved to Milwaukee, where she worked as a journalist. In 1892, she began postgraduate work in history, economics and sociology at Wisconsin State University. She later became a librarian at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
In 1894, Blair resigned from the library staff and became assistant to Dr. Reuben Gold Thwaites. Thwaites was the translator of the 73-volume work Jesuit Relations (1896-1901). This massive work consisted of English translations of the annual reports issued by the superior of the Jesuit missions in New France to the Jesuit overseer in France between the years 1632 and 1673. Blair participated in the editing and annotations. After her work on the Jesuit Relations, she assisted in the editing of the journal of Father Louis Hennepin and of the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition, still working with Thwaites.
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Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães, IPA: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃w ðɨ mɐɣɐˈʎɐ̃jʃ]; Spanish: Fernando de Magallanes, IPA: [ferˈnando ðe maɣaˈʎanes]; c. 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" (modern Maluku Islands in Indonesia).
Magellan's expedition of 1519–1522 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean (then named "peaceful sea" by Magellan; the passage being made via the Strait of Magellan), and the first to cross the Pacific. It also completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, although Magellan himself did not complete the entire voyage, being killed during the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines. (For background see Exploration of the Pacific).
Magellan also gives his name to the Magellanic Penguin, which he was the first European to note, and the Magellanic clouds, now known to be nearby dwarf galaxies.
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Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician who held the title of President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives (1949–1959) and a member of the Philippine Senate (1959–1965). He was Senate President from 1963–1965.
While in power he implemented wide-ranging programs of infrastructure development and economic reform. However, his administration was marred by massive authoritarian corruption, despotism, nepotism, political repression, and human rights violations.
In 1983, his government was accused of being involved in the assassination of his primary political opponent, Benigno Aquino, Jr. Public outrage over the assassination served as the catalyst for the People Power Revolution in February 1986 that led to his removal from power and eventual exile in Hawaii. It was later discovered that, during his 20 years in power, he and his wife Imelda Marcos had moved billions of dollars of embezzled public funds to accounts and investments in the United States, Switzerland, and other countries.
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Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry, including those who migrated from the Philippines. There are over 3.4 million people of Filipino descent residing in the United States, according to the 2010 United States Census. Filipino Americans make up about 1.1% of the country's population and making them the second largest Asian American subgroup. The Philippines is also one of the major sources of immigration into the United States.
The term Filipino American is sometimes shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy". Some Filipinos believe that the term Pinoy was coined by the early Filipinos who came to the United States to distinguish themselves from Filipinos living in the Philippines.
Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century. Mass migration did not begin until the early 20th Century when the Philippines was ceded by Spain to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. The Philippines' independence recognized by the United States on July 4, 1946. Immigration was reduced significantly during the 1930s, except for those who served in the United States Navy, and increased following immigration reform in the 1960s.
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Filipino mestizo
Filipino mestizo is a term used in the Philippines to describe people of mixed Filipino and foreign ancestry. The word mestizo is of Spanish origin, and was originally used in the Americas to only describe people of mixed European and Native American ancestry.
The Spanish expedition in 1565, prompted a period of Spanish colonization over the Philippines which lasted for 333 years. The Roman Catholic Church played an important role in allowing Spanish settlements in the Philippines. The Spanish government and religious missionaries were quick to learn native Filipino languages and Roman Catholic rituals were interpreted in accordance with Filipino beliefs and values. As a result, a folk Roman Catholicism developed in the Philippines. A small number of European settlers from Spain and Mexico immigrated and their offspring (of either Spanish, or Spanish and Filipino) may have adopted the culture of their parents and grandparents, however only a small amount of the population has White ancestries from Spanish and American colonization. Most Filipinos of Spanish descent in the Philippines are of mixed ancestries or are of pure European ancestry. Some individuals still speak Spanish in the country, in addition, Chavacano (a creole language based largely on the Spanish vocabulary) is widely spoken in the Southern Philippines, including the Zamboanga Peninsula and its neighbouring regions.
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Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 94 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines.
There are around 180 languages spoken in the Philippines, most of them belonging to the Austronesian language family, with Tagalog and Cebuano having the greatest number of native speakers. The official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and English and most Filipinos are bilingual or trilingual.
Most Filipinos refer to themselves colloquially as "Pinoy" (feminine: "Pinay"), which is a slang word formed by taking the last four letters of "Pilipino" and adding the diminutive suffix "-y". The lack of the letter "F" in the pre-1987 Philippine alphabet, Abakada, had caused the letter "F" to be substituted with "P". This is why, when the 28-letter modern Filipino alphabet was made official in 1987, the name Filipino was preferred over Pilipino. The name Filipino was chosen by the Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, who named the islands "las Islas Filipinas" ("the Philippine Islands") after Philip II of Spain.
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Francisco Balagtas
Francisco Baltazar y dela Cruz (April 2, 1788 – February 20, 1862), known much more widely through his nom-de-plume Francisco Balagtas, was a prominent Filipino poet, and is widely considered as the Tagalog equivalent of William Shakespeare for his impact on Filipino literature. The famous epic, Florante at Laura, is regarded as his defining work.
Francisco Baltazar was born on April 2, 1788 in Barrio Panginay, Bigaa, Bulacan as the youngest of the four children of Juan Baltazar, a blacksmith, and Juana de la Cruz. He studied in a parochial school in Bigaa and later in Manila. During his childhood years. Francisco later worked as houseboy in Tondo, Manila.
The popular Filipino debate form Balagtasan is named after Balagtas. Balagtas also won an award during his schooldays and graduated valedictorian in Madrid. He was recognized by the Pahayagang Kastilyano (Spanish Declaration) and became the front cover for two weeks.
Balagtas learned to write poetry from José de la Cruz (Huseng Sisiw), one of the most famous poets of Tondo. It was de la Cruz himself who personally challenged Balagtas to improve his writing. (source: Talambuhay ng mga Bayani, for Grade 6 textbook)
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Francisco Guilledo
Francisco Guilledo (August 1, 1901 - July 14, 1925), more commonly known as Pancho Villa, was a Filipino professional boxer. Villa, who stood only 5 feet and 1 inch (154 cm) tall and never weighed more than 114 pounds (51 kg), rose from obscurity to win the World Flyweight Championship in 1923, earning acclaim in some quarters as "the greatest Asian fighter in boxing history." He was never knocked out in his entire boxing career, which ended with his sudden death at the age of 23 from complications following a tooth extraction.
Guilledo was born in Ilog, Negros Occidental, the son of a cowhand who abandoned his family when Guilledo was just six months old. He grew up in the hacienda of a wealthy local, helping his mother raise goats she tended on the farm.
When Guilledo was 11, he sailed to Iloilo City to work as a bootblack. While in Iloilo, he befriended a local boxer and together they migrated to Manila, settling in Tondo. He would occasionally spar with friends and soon attracted the attention of local boxing habitués. He fought his first professional fight in 1919 against Kid Castro. Within two years, he was the Philippine Flyweight Champion, having dethroned Terrible Pondong. He nearly gave up boxing after being spurned by a woman he courted, actually returning to Negros early in 1922 to retire. The clamor of Filipino boxing fans compelled him to return to the ring.
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Gabriela Silang
María Josefa Gabriela Cariño Silang (March 19, 1731 – September 20, 1763) was the wife of the Ilocano insurgent leader, Diego Silang. Following Diego's assassination in 1763, she led the group for four months before she was captured and executed.
Born in Barangay Caniogan, Santa, Ilocos Sur, Silang was a mestiza, of Spanish and Ilocano descent. The people of Abra do claim she was born in what is now Pidigan, Abra (those two places are not far from each other, and Abra was not incorporated as a province until early in the 20th century). She was adopted by a very wealthy businessman Tomás Millan, who later married her at the age of 20, but died after three years. In 1757, she re-married, this time to 27-year-old Ilocano insurgent leader, Diego Silang. The groups’ goal was to ensure an independent Ilocos. She became one of his closest advisors, whenever the troops battle, Gabriela always went with them to give support and help with the battle, a major figure in her husband's collaboration with the British and the brief expulsion of Spanish officials from Vigan, Ilocos Sur during the British occupation of the Philippines.
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Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi (Italian pronunciation: [ɡuʎˈʎɛːlmo marˈkoːni]; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy". Much of Marconi's work in radio transmission was built upon previous experimentation and the commercial exploitation of ideas by others such as Hertz, Maxwell, Faraday, Popov, Lodge, Fessenden, Stone, Bose, and Tesla. As an entrepreneur, businessman, and founder of the The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company in 1897, Marconi succeeded in making a commercial success of radio by innovating and building on the work of previous experimenters and physicists. In 1924, he was ennobled as Marchese Marconi.
Marconi was born in Bologna on April 25, 1874, the second son of Giuseppe Marconi, an Italian landowner, and his Irish wife, Annie Jameson, daughter of Andrew Jameson of Daphne Castle in the County Wexford, Ireland and granddaughter of John Jameson, founder of whiskey distillers Jameson & Sons. Marconi was educated privately in Bologna in the lab of Augusto Righi, in Florence at the Istituto Cavallero and, later, in Livorno. As a child Marconi did not do well in school.Baptized as a Catholic, he was also a member of the Anglican Church, being married into it; however, he still received a Catholic annulment.
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Ilocano people
The Ilocano or Ilokano people are the third largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group. Aside from being referred to as Ilocanos, from "i"-from, and "looc"-bay, they also refer to themselves as Samtoy, from the Ilocano phrase "sao mi ditoy", meaning 'our language here.' The word "Ilocano" came from the word "Iloco" or "Yloco."
The Ilocano people are indigenous to coastal areas of northern Luzon in the Philippines. Today, the Ilocanos are the dominant ethnic group in northern Luzon, and their language (Ilocano) has become the lingua franca of the region, as Ilocano traders provide highland peoples with their primary link to the commerce of the outside world.Ilocandia is the term given to the traditional homeland of the Ilocano people; present-day Ilocandia roughly encompasses regions 1 through 3 of the Philippines (the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and parts of Central Luzon), as well as the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Many Ilocanos have left their homeland to settle elsewhere. The Ilocanos are the majority in the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, La Union, Apayao, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, and Quirino. They form 10-49% of the populations of the province of Aurora, Zambales, Kalinga, Nueva Ecija, Ifugao, Benguet, Pangasinan, and Tarlac. Less than 10% in the Batanes, and Mountain Province. Further government-sponsored migrations have led to the resettlement of Ilocanos to Mindanao, particularly to the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat. Other important Ilocano communities exist in Metro Manila and the world over.
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Jacinto Zamora
Jacinto Zamora y del Rosario (14 August 1835 - 17 February 1872) was a Filipino friar, part of the Gomburza trio who were falsely accused of mutiny by the Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippines in the 19th century. He was placed in a mock trial and summarily executed in Manila along with two other clergymen.
Born on August 14, 1835 to Venancio Zamora and Hilaria del Rosario, he began his early education in Pandacan and later at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran. He was classified as an insular under the Spanish caste system prevailing at that time. He later transferred to the University of Santo Tomas after finishing his Bachiller en Artes. Zamora graduated on March 16, 1858 with the degree of Bachelor of Canon and Civil Laws. He became a student preparing for the priesthood in the Seminary of Manila.
After being ordained, Zamora handled parishes in Marikina, Pasig, and Batangas. He was also assigned to manage the Manila Cathedral on 3 December 1864. In league with fellow priests Mariano Gómez and José Burgos, he continued the mission that Pedro Pelaez began, the secularization of Filipino priests.
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Jaime Sin
Jaime Lachica Sin (August 31, 1928 – June 21, 2005) (Chinese name: 辛海梅; 辛海棉 Xīn Hǎiméi; Xīn Hǎimián), was a Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila known for his instrumental role in the People Power Revolution, which toppled the regime of Ferdinand Marcos and installed Corazon Aquino as president of the Philippines. During his reign, he was considered an influential and charismatic leader of the Filipino people having led another "people power" revolution in 2001. He died at the age of 76 on 21 June 2005 due to complications to the kidney as a result of diabetes.
Cardinal Sin was the third native Filipino Archbishop of Manila, following centuries of Spanish, American and Irish episcopacy. He led the Archdiocese of Manila as its archbishop and was created a cardinal by Pope Paul VI. As Archbishop of Manila, he was widely considered Primate of the Philippines, though no formal dignity has ever been attached to the archdiocese. He retired as the Archbishop of Manila on 15 September 2003, having reached the age of retirement for bishops under Canon Law, and was succeeded by Gaudencio Rosales.
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Jejomar Binay
Jejomar "Jojo" Cabauatan Binay, Sr. (born November 11, 1942), also known as Jojo Binay or VPNay, is a Filipino politician who has been the 15th Vice President of the Philippines since 2010. He is the first Black Filipino to hold the office. Previously, he was Mayor of Makati City from 1986 to 1998 and again from 2001 to 2010. He is also the President of the United Opposition (UNO), President of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), Chairman of Asia-Pacific Region Scout Committee, and the President of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines.
Binay studied at the Philippine Normal College Training Department, University of the Philippines Preparatory High School, and earned a bachelor's degree in political science and Bachelor of Laws from UP (LIB). Binay joined the youth fraternal organization Order of DeMolay, Loyalty Chapter, Manila, Philippines under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay of the Republic of the Philippines, sponsored by Free and Accepted Masons. Mayor Binay received a DeMolay Leadership award on March 16, 1996 from the Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay for outstanding leadership and DeMolay Legion of Honor given by the Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay on July 13, 1996. In his collegiate stint, he also joined Alpha Phi Omega fraternity in the University of the Philippines (Eta Chapter). He passed the bar exam in 1968, and took masteral subjects in public administration and law in UP and University of Santo Tomas, respectively.
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Johann Philipp Reis
Johann Philipp Reis (January 7, 1834 – January 14, 1874) was a self-taught German scientist and inventor. In 1861, he constructed the first make-and-break telephone, today called the Reis telephone.
Reis was born in Gelnhausen, Germany. Reis's mother died while he was an infant, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother, a well-read, intelligent woman. At the age of six Reis was sent to the common school of his home town of Gelnhausen. Here his talents attracted the notice of his instructors, who advised his father to extend his education at a higher college. His father died before Reis was ten years old. His grandmother and guardians placed him at Garnier's Institute, in Friedrichsdorf, where he showed a taste for languages, and acquired both French and English, as well as a stock of miscellaneous information from the library.
At the end of his fourteenth year, Reis was accepted to a Hassel Institute, at Frankfurt am Main, where he learned Latin and Italian. A love of science became apparent, and his guardians were recommended to send him to the Polytechnic School of Karlsruhe. His uncle wished him to become a merchant, and on March 1, 1850, Reis was apprenticed as a paints dealer in the establishment of J. F. Beyerbach, of Frankfurt, against his will. He told his uncle that he would learn the business chosen for him, but would continue his preferred studies as he could.
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John Logie Baird
John Logie Baird FRSE (13 August 1888 – 14 June 1946) was a Scottishengineer and inventor of the world's first practical, publicly demonstrated television system, and also the world's first fully electronic colour television tube. Although Baird's electromechanical system was eventually displaced by purely electronic systems (such as those of Vladimir Zworykin, Marconi-EMI and Philo Farnsworth), Baird's early successes demonstrating working television broadcasts and his colour and cinema television work earn him a prominent place in television's invention. In 2002, Logie Baird was ranked number 44 in the list of the "100 Greatest Britons" following a UK-wide vote. In 2006, Logie Baird was also named as one of the 10 greatest Scottish scientists in history, having been listed in the National Library of Scotland's 'Scottish Science Hall of Fame'. The "Baird" brand name was first owned by Thorn-EMI and was sold off to a small Chinese manufacturer when Thorn-EMI was dissolved.
Baird was born in [[Helensburgh], Argyll and Bute (then Dunbartonshire). He was educated at Larchfield Academy (now part of Lomond School) in Helensburgh; the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (which later became the University of Strathclyde); and the University of Glasgow. His degree course was interrupted by World War I and he never returned to graduate.
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Joseph Estrada
Joseph "Erap" Ejercito Estrada (born Jose Marcelo Ejercito on April 19, 1937) was the 13th President of the Philippines, serving from 1998 until 2001. Estrada was the first person in the Post-EDSA era to be elected both to the presidency and vice-presidency.
Estrada gained popularity as a film actor, playing the lead role in over 100 films in an acting career spanning 33 years. He used his popularity as an actor to make gains in politics, serving as mayor of San Juan for seventeen years, as Senator for one term, then as Vice President of the Philippines under the administration of President Fidel Ramos.
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José Burgos
José Apolonio Burgos y García was a Filipino mestizo secular priest, accused of mutiny by the Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippines in the 19th century. He was placed in a mock trial and summarily executed in Manila along with two other clergymen.
Burgos was born in Vigan, Ilocos Sur on February 9, 1837 to a Spanish officer, Don José Tiburcio Burgos, and a mestiza mother named Florencia García. He obtained three undergraduate degrees with honors, two masters degrees and two doctorate degrees from the Colegio de San Juan de Letran and from the University of Santo Tomas. He conducted his first mass in the Intramuros.
Burgos' liberal views, codified in editorial essays, championing political and ecclesiastic reforms in favor of empowering more native clergymen, made him a target of opposition by Roman Catholic authorities.
In 1864, an anonymous pamphlet was published in Manila, criticizing the prejudice in the Church, and providing rebuttals against several canards against the native clergy. Although the document was unsigned, historians believe the author to be Burgos, based on its style and content. Burgos also penned several signed articles later in his life, in response to a series of anonymous written attacks on the Filipino clergy. Though Burgos offered few new ideas, his name caught the attention of Spanish authorities, who would report that the native clergy was becoming liberal and separatist.
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José Rizal
José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896), was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by the National Heroes Committee. His execution by the Spanish in 1896, a date marked annually as Rizal Day, a Philippine national holiday, was one of the causes of the Philippine Revolution.
Rizal was born to a rich family in Calamba, Laguna and was the seventh of eleven children. He attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, earning a Bachelor of Arts, and enrolled in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas. He continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Madrid, Spain, earning the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He also attended the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg.
Rizal was a polyglot conversant in twenty-two languages. He was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist whose most famous works were his two novels, Noli me Tangere and El filibusterismo. These social commentaries on Spanish rule formed the nucleus of literature that inspired peaceful reformists and armed revolutionaries alike.
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Juan Luna
Juan Luna y Novicio (October 23, 1857 — December 7, 1899) was an Ilocano Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. He became one of the first recognized Philippine artists.
His winning the gold medal in the 1884 Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts, along with the silver win of fellow Filipino painter Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, prompted a celebration which was a major highlight in the memoirs of members of the Propaganda Movement, with the fellow Ilustrados toasting to the two painters' good health and to the brotherhood between Spain and the Philippines.
Regarded for work done in the manner of the Spanish and French academies of his time, Luna painted literary and historical scenes, some with an underscore of political commentary. His allegorical works were inspired with classical balance, and often showed figures in theatrical poses.
Born in the town of Badoc, Ilocos Norte in the northern Philippines, Juan Luna was the third among the seven children of Don Joaquin Luna de San Pedro y Posadas and Doña Laureana Novicio y Ancheta. In 1861, the Luna family moved to Manila and he went to Ateneo Municipal de Manila where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree. He excelled in painting and drawing, and was influenced by his brother, Manuel Luna, who, according to Filipino patriot José Rizal, was a better painter than Juan himself.
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Juan Ponce Enrile
Juan Ponce Enrile (born February 14, 1924) is a Filipino politician. As a protege of President Ferdinand Marcos, he served as Justice Secretary and then Defense Secretary under the Marcos regime. He later became one of the leaders (along with General Fidel V. Ramos) of the 1986 People Power Movement that drove Marcos from power. Enrile has continued to be a prominent politician since then; he has been President of the Senate of the Philippines since November 2008.
Juan Ponce Enrile was born Juanito Furagganan in Gonzaga, Cagayan, to Petra Furagganan, the daughter of a poor fisherman. He was born out of wedlock—his father was the already married powerful regional politician and renowned lawyer Alfonso Ponce Enrile. He is the second great-nephew of Mariano Ponce. He was reunited with his father by the time he reached his high school years.
He graduated cum laude in 1949 with an Associate of Arts degree at the Ateneo de Manila University. Afterward, he attended the University of the Philippines College of Law and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Laws degree. While in law school, he joined the Sigma Rho fraternity. Upon graduation, he was elected to the prestigious Pi Gamma Mu and Phi Kappa Phi international honor societies. He achieved the 11th highest score in the 1953 bar examinations with a 91.72% rating and a perfect score in mercantile law. As a scholar at the Harvard Law School, he earned a Master of Laws degree with specialized training in international tax law.
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Kapampangan people
The Kapampangans or Pampangos or are the sixth largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group, numbering about 2,890,000. The original Kapampangans may have descended from Austronesian-speaking immigrants to Luzon during the Iron Age.
The province of Pampanga is traditional homeland of the Kapampangans. Once occupying a vast stretch of land that extended from Tondo to the rest of Central Luzon, huge chunks of territories were carved out of Pampanga so as to create the provinces of Bulacan, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Aurora and Tarlac. As a result, Kapampangans now populate a region that extends beyond the political boundaries of the small province of Pampanga. In the province of Tarlac, the indigenous population of Tarlac City and the municipalities of Bamban, Capas and Concepcion are Kapampangans, while the municipalities of Victoria, La Paz, have a significant Kapampangan population. In Bataan, Kapampangans populate the municipalities of Dinalupihan and Hermosa, and the barangays of Mabatang in Abucay and Calaguiman in Samal. Kapampangans can be found scattered all across the southern barrios of Cabiao in the province of Nueva Ecija and in the western section of the province of Bulacan. Kapampangan enclaves still exist in Tondo and other parts of the National Capital Region. Kapampangans have also migrated to Mindoro, Palawan and Mindanao and have formed strong Kapampangan organizations called aguman in Davao City and General Santos City. Agumans based in the United States and Canada are active in the revival of the Kapampangan language and culture.[citation needed]
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Korean War
The Korean War (Korean: 한국전쟁 or 조선전쟁, Hanja: 韓國戰爭 or 朝鮮戰爭; 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was a war between the Republic of Korea (supported primarily by the United States of America, with contributions from allied nations under the aegis of the United Nations) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (supported by the People's Republic of China, with military and material aid from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The Korean War was primarily the result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. The Korean Peninsula was ruled by the Empire of Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II. Following the surrender of the Empire of Japan in September 1945, American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th parallel, with U.S. military forces occupying the southern half and Soviet military forces occupying the northern half.
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Lee De Forest
Lee de Forest (August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961) was an American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit. De Forest invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that takes relatively weak electrical signals and amplifies them. De Forest is one of the fathers of the "electronic age", as the Audion helped to usher in the widespread use of electronics. He is also credited with one of the principal inventions that brought sound to motion pictures.
He was involved in several patent lawsuits and he spent a substantial part of his income from his inventions on the legal bills. He had four marriages and 25 companies, he was defrauded by business partners (as well as defrauding business partners himself), and he was once indicted for mail fraud, but was later acquitted.
He typically signed his name "Lee de Forest."
He was a charter member of the Institute of Radio Engineers, one of the two predecessors of the IEEE (the other was the American Institute of Electrical Engineers).
DeVry University was originally named DeForest Training School, after Lee De Forest, by its founder Dr. Herman A. DeVry, who was a friend and colleague of De Forest's.
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Limahong
Limahong, Lim Hong or also called Lin Feng (simplified Chinese: 林风; traditional Chinese: 林風; pinyin: Lín Fēng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm-Hong) was a notorious Chinese pirate and warlord who invaded the northern Philippine Islands in 1574. He built up a reputation for his constant raids to ports in Guangdong, Fujian and southern China. He is noted to have twice attempted, and failed, to overthrow the Spanish city of Manila in 1574.
Born Dim Mhon to a poor family in the city of Tru Cheo (Teochew) in the province of Cuy Tan (called Catim by the Portuguese during the middle of the 16th century). Known to be called Limahong, he had an early start in criminal activity and progressed to piracy becoming leader of around 2000 pirates. His activities and attacks on ports and ships throughout southern China increased and a warrant was issued by the authorities to capture him alive and send him to the city of Tay Bin. He was married to Nataracy.
He shifted his activities to piracy on the high seas and out of reach of China's power. He was able to accumulate up to 40 ships, whereupon he once again raided cities and ports in southern China. Limahong attacked a city occupied by Vinh To Quiam, another pirate, but Vinh was able to escape along with 5 of Limahong's ships. However, Limahong was able to capture 55 of Vinh's fleet and thus increased his own to 95 ships. He was now a veritable king of the high seas of southern China.
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Lino Brocka
Catalino Ortiz Brocka (April 3, 1939–May 21, 1991) is known as one of the greatest film directors of the Philippines. Brocka was openly gay and many of his films incorporated LGBT themes into their often dramatic storylines.
Brocka was born in Pilar, Sorsogon. He directed his first film, Wanted: Perfect Mother, based on The Sound of Music and a local comic serial, in 1970. It won an award for best screenplay at the 1970 Manila Film Festival. Later that year he also won the Citizen’s Council for Mass Media's best-director award for the film Santiago!.
In 1974 Brocka directed Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang (Weighed But Found Wanting), which told the story of a teenager growing up in a small town amid its petty and gross injustices. It was a box-office hit, and earned Brocka another best-director award, this time from the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS).
The following year he directed Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (The Claws of Light), which is considered by many critics to be the greatest Philippine film ever made - including British film critic and historian Derek Malcolm [1]. The film tells the allegorical tale of a young provincial named Julio Madiaga who goes to Manila looking for his lost love, Ligaya Paraiso. The episodic plot has him careering from one adventure to another until he finally finds Ligaya. Much of the film's greatness can be traced to the excellent cinematography by Mike de Leon, who would become a great Filipino filmmaker himself.
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Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel "Manny" Dapidran Pacquiao, PLH (English pronunciation: /ˈpæki.aʊ/ PAK-ee-ow; Tagalog: [pɐkˈjaʊ]; born December 17, 1978) is a Filipino professional boxer and politician. He is the first eight-division world champion; having won six world titles, as well as the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes. He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 2000s (decade) by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). He is also a three-time The Ring and BWAA "Fighter of the Year," winning the award in 2006, 2008 and 2009.
As of 2012, Pacquiao is the WBO Welterweight Champion. He was long rated as the best pound for pound boxer in the world by some sporting news and boxing websites, including BoxRec.com, Sporting Life and The Ring. However, in April 2012, Pacquiao dropped to number two in the rankings, behind Floyd Mayweather Jr. In their ratings ending May 7, 2012, Ring Magazine declared the top position vacant and jointly ranked Pacquiao and Mayweather in the number two spot.
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Mariano Gómez
Mariano Gómez y Guard was a Filipino secular priest, part of the Gomburza trio who were falsely accused of mutiny by the Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippines in the 19th century. He was placed in a mock trial and summarily executed in Manila along with two other clergymen.
Gómez was born on August 2, 1799 in the suburb of Santa Cruz, Manila. He was a Tornatrás, one born of mixed Chinese and Spanish ancestries. His parents were Francisco Gómez and Martina Guard. After studying in the Colegio de San Juan de Letrán, he took theology in the University of Santo Tomás. He was a student preparing for the priesthood in the Seminary of Manila.
On June 2, 1824, he was designated the head priest of Bacoor, Cavite. Aside from taking care of the spiritual necessities of the town and the church, he also taught agriculture and cottage industries.[citation needed] Gómez also helped in maintaining a harmonious relationship among his other priests. He fought for equal rights of native priests against the abuses of their Spanish counterparts.
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Mariano Ponce
Mariano Ponce (March 23, 1863 – May 23, 1918), was a Filipino physician, writer, and active member of the Propaganda Movement. In Spain, he was among the founders of La Solidaridad and Asociacion Hispano-Filipino. Among his significant works was Efemerides Filipinas, a column on historical events in the Philippines which appeared in La Oceania Española (1892–1893) and El Ideal (1911–1912). He wrote Ang Wika at Lahi (1917), a discussion on the importance of a national language. He served as Bulacan's representative to the National Assembly.
Ponce was born in Baliwag, Bulacan where he completed his primary education. He later enrolled at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran and took up medicine at the University of Santo Tomas. In 1881, he traveled to Spain to continue his medical studies at the Unversidad Central de Madrid.
There he joined Marcelo del Pilar, Graciano López Jaena and José Rizal in the Propaganda Movement which espoused Filipino representation in the Spanish Cortes and reforms in the Spanish colonial authorities of the Philippines. He wrote in the propaganda publication La Solidaridad (The Solidarity).
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Melchora Aquino
Melchora Aquino de Ramos (January 6, 1812 – March 2, 1919) was a Filipina revolutionary who became known as "Tandang Sora" in the history of the Philippines because of her age when the Philippine Revolution broke out in 1896 (she was already 84 at the time). She gained the titles Grand Woman of the Revolution and the Mother of Balintawak for her heroic contributions to Philippine history.
Aquino was born on January 6, 1812, in Balintawak. Aquino, daughter of a peasant couple, Juan and Valentina Aquino, never attended school. However, she was apparently literate at an early age and talented as a singer and performed at local events as well as at Mass for her Church. She was also often chosen for the role of Reyna Elena during the "Santacruzan" in May.
Later in life, she married to Fulgencio Ramos, a cabeza de barrio (village chief), and bore six children. Ramos died when their youngest child was seven and she was left as a single parent for their children. Aquino continued her life as an hermana mayor active in celebrating fiestas, baptisms, and weddings. She worked hard in order to give her children an education.
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Negrito
The Negrito are a class of several ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia.
Their current populations include 12 Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands, six Semang peoples of Malaysia, the Mani of Thailand, and the Aeta, Agta, Ati, and 30 other peoples of the Philippines. Reports from British traders also speak of negrito people on Borneo (Sarawak). (Journal of the Malayan Branch Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXIX, part 1, 1956)
Negritos share some common physical features with African pygmy populations, including short stature, natural afro-hair texture, and dark skin; however, their origin and the route of their migration to Asia is still a matter of great speculation. They are the most genetically distant human population from Africans at most loci studied thus far (except for MC1R, which codes for dark skin).
They have also been shown to have separated early from Asians, suggesting that they are either surviving descendants of settlers from an early migration out of Africa, commonly referred to as the Proto-Australoids, or that they are descendants of one of the founder populations of modern humans.
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Nick Joaquin
Nicomedes Márquez Joaquín (May 4, 1917–April 29, 2004) was a Filipino writer, historian and journalist, best known for his short stories and novels in the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Joaquin was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature.
He is considered the most important Filipino writer in English, and the third most important overall, after José Rizal and Claro M. Recto.
Joaquín was born in Paco, Manila, one of ten children of Leocadio Joaquín, a colonel under General Emilio Aguinaldo in the 1896 Revolution, and Salome Márquez, a teacher of English and Spanish. After being read poems and stories by his mother, the boy Joaquín read widely in his father's library and at the National Library of the Philippines. By then, his father had become a successful lawyer after the revolution. From reading, Joaquín became interested in writing.
At age 17, Joaquín had his first piece published, in the literary section of the pre-World War II Tribune, where he worked as a proofreader. It was accepted by the writer and editor Serafín Lanot. After Joaquín won a nationwide essay competition to honor La Naval de Manila, sponsored by the Dominican Order, the University of Santo Tomas awarded him an honorary Associate in Arts (A.A.). They also awarded him a scholarship to St. Albert's Convent, the Dominican monastery in Hong Kong.
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Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, and futurist. He was an important contributor to the use of commercial electricity, and is best known for developing the modern alternating current (AC) electrical supply system. His many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were based on the theories of electromagnetic technology discovered by Michael Faraday. Tesla's patents and theoretical work also formed the basis of wireless communication and the radio.
Born in the village of Smiljan (now part of Gospić, present day Croatia), Tesla was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. Because of his 1894 demonstration of short range wireless communication through radio and as the eventual victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. He pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. In the United States during this time, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture. Tesla demonstrated wireless energy transfer to power electronic devices in 1891, and aspired to intercontinental wireless transmission of industrial power in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project.
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Nora Aunor
Nora "Guy" Aunor (born Maria Leonora Teresa Cabaltera Aunor on May 21, 1953) is a multi-awarded Filipina actress, singer, & producer. Aunor has also topbilled several stage plays, television shows, and concerts. She is regarded as the "Superstar in Philippine Entertainment Industry". In 1999, Aunor received the Centennial Honor for the Arts awarded by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). She was the only film actress included in the prestigious list of awardees. In 2010, she was hailed by the Green Planet Awards as one of the 10 Asian Best Actresses of the Decade.
Aunor has received numerous national and international awards and nominations. She is the first Filipino actress to win an International acting award in a major Film Festival (Cairo 1995 for the movie The Flor Contemplacion Story). She has been directed by four Philippine National Artist Awardees, Gerardo de Leon, Lamberto Avellana, Lino Brocka, and Ishmael Bernal. Since the late 1960s, Nora Aunor has appeared in more than 170 films.
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Oskar Spate
Oskar Hermann Khristian Spate (London, England 1911 - Canberra, Australia 2000) was a geographer best known for his role in strengthening geography as a discipline in Australia and the Pacific.
Spate was born to a German father and English mother in the Bloomsbury district of England. During the First World War his father was interned as a German national and Spate fled to Iowa in the United States. He returned to England in 1919, where he developed an early interest in geography and history. He went on to study at Cambridge University in the 1930s. It was during this period that many of Spate's characteristic personality traits revealed themselves: he studied both English as well as Geography, thus cementing a deeply humanistic tendency that would become obvious in his future thinking. His irreverence and sense of humor was also manifest as well -- he joined a Communist cell but was thrown out for his frivolity. He was later to claim that he could be 'solemn but not serious'. His doctoral dissertation was on the historical geography of London from 1801 to 1851.
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Overseas Filipino
An Overseas Filipino is a person of Filipino origin who lives outside of the Philippines. This term applies both to people of Filipino ancestry who are citizens or residents of a different country and to those Filipino citizens abroad on a more temporary status.
Most overseas Filipinos migrate to other nations to find employment or support their families in the Philippines. As a result of this migration, many countries have substantial Filipino communities.
Often, these Filipinos are referred to as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). "Global Filipino" is another term of more recent vintage but less widely used.
Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo applied the term "Overseas Filipino Investor" or "OFI" for Filipino expatriates who contribute to the economy through remittances, buying properties and creating businesses.
Around 9.5 million to 12.5 million overseas Filipinos are the estimated count worldwide or about 11% of the total population of the Philippines as of 2010.
More than a million Filipinos try their luck each year to work abroad through overseas employment agencies and other programs, including government-sponsored initiatives. A majority of them are women applying as domestic helpers and personal service workers. Others emigrate and become permanent residents of other countries. Overseas Filipinos often work as doctors, physical therapists, nurses, accountants, IT professionals, engineers, architects, entertainers, technicians, teachers, military servicemen, seafarers, students, caregivers, domestic helpers, fast wood workers especially in the middle east and maids.
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Pangasinan people
The Pangasinan (Pangasinan:Totoon Pangasinan, Spanish: pangasinense) are the eighth largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group. They are the residents or indigenous peoples of the Province of Pangasinan, one of the provinces of the Republic of the Philippines, located on the west central area in the island of Luzon along Lingayen Gulf. The term Pangasinan can also refer to the indigenous speakers of the Pangasinan language, or people of Pangasinan heritage.
The name Pangasinan means "land of salt" or "place of salt-making"; it is derived from asin, the word for "salt" in the Pangasinan language. The Pangasinan people are also called taga-Pangasinan, which means "from Pangasinan" in the Pangasinan language.
The estimated population of the Pangasinan people in the province of Pangasinan is 1.5 million. The rest of the population of the province are mostly Ilocanos and Sambal.
Urduja was a legendary woman warrior who is regarded as a heroine in Pangasinan. Malong and Palaris fought for independence from Spanish rule. The first president of the Philippines of Pangasinan origin (and the first Protestant Philippine president), Fidel V. Ramos, was elected in 1992. Other prominent people of Pangasinan descent include lawmaker Jose de Venecia, Jr., who was born in Dagupan City, Pangasinan; and the late actor and presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr., whose father was from San Carlos City, Pangasinan.
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Pascal Lamy
Pascal Lamy (born 8 April 1947) is the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, a French political advisor, a businessman, and a former European Commissioner for Trade. Lamy is Honorary President of Paris-based think tank Notre Europe.
Born in Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, he graduated from the prestigious Sciences Po Paris, from HEC and ÉNA, graduating second in his year of those specialising in economics. Lamy is also an honorary graduate of the University of Warwick.
Lamy then joined the civil service, and in this role he ended up serving as an adviser to Jacques Delors as Economics and Finance Minister and Pierre Mauroy as Prime Minister.
He has been a member of the French Socialist Party since 1969.
When Delors became President of the European Commission in 1984, he took Lamy with him to serve as chef de cabinet, which he did until the end of Delors' term in 1994. During his time there, Lamy became known as the Beast of the Berlaymont, the Gendarme and Exocet due to his habit of ordering civil servants, even Directors-General (head of departments) "precisely what to do – or else." He was seen as ruling Delor's office with a "rod of iron", with no-one able to bypass or manipulate him and those who tried being "banished to one of the less pleasant European postings".
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Paulino Alcántara
Paulino Alcántara Riestrá (7 October 1896–13 February 1964) was a Filipino–Spanish footballer and manager. He spent most of his playing career at Barcelona and was the first Filipino and Asian player to play for a European club. He also played for Catalonia, the Philippines and Spain. Alcántara made his debut for Barcelona at the age of 15 and remains the youngest player to play or score for the club. He also scored 369 goals in 357 matches, making him the club's highest goalscorer (counting goals scored in both official games and friendlies). After retiring as a player in 1927 at the age of 31, he became a doctor. On 3 July 1927, Barcelona played against Spain in a testimonial match in his honour (Spain won 2-1) and he later served as a club director between 1931 and 1934. In 1951, Alcántara became a coach and managed Spain for three games.
Alcántara was born in the province of Iloilo in the Philippines to a Spanish military officer and an Ilongga mother. He was three years old when his family moved to Barcelona, the same year that FC Barcelona was formed by Joan Gamper. Alcántara was slated to play for FC Galeno when he was discovered by Gamper. He then joined Barcelona's youth team. He made his debut at the age of 15 years, 4 months and 18 days old on 25 February 1912 against Catalá SC in the Campionat de Catalunya (Catalan football championship) at the old Carrer de la Indústria ground. Barcelona won that game 9–0, with Alcántara scoring the first three goals of the game, setting the still unbroken record for being the youngest player to ever score for FC Barcelona in an official match. Among his team mates during his time at the club were Francisco Bru Sanz, Jack Greenwell and Romà Forns. He went on to help the club win a Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) and Campionat de Catalunya in 1913 and a Campionat de Catalunya in 1916.
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Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain (Spanish: Felipe II; Portuguese: Filipe I ; 21 May 1527 – 13 September 1598) was the King of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. He was also king of Sicily and Naples as Philip I. During his marriage to Mary I, he was King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count.
Also known as Philip the Prudent (Felipe el Prudente), he ruled one of the world's largest empires which included territories in every continent then known to Europeans.
Philip was born in Valladolid, the son of Charles I of Spain, and his consort, Isabella of Portugal. During his reign, Spain was the foremost Western European power. Under his rule, Spain reached the height of its influence and power, directing explorations all around the world and settling the colonization of territories in all the known continents. He was described by the Venetian ambassador Paolo Fagolo in 1563 as "slight of stature and round-faced, with pale blue eyes, somewhat prominent lip, and pink skin, but his overall appearance is very attractive." The Ambassador went on to say "He dresses very tastefully, and everything that he does is courteous and gracious."
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Philo Farnsworth
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. Although he made many contributions that were crucial to the early development of all-electronic television, he is perhaps best known for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic image pickup device (video camera tube), the "image dissector", the first fully functional and complete all-electronic television system, and for being the first person to demonstrate such a system to the public. Farnsworth developed a television system complete with receiver and camera, which he produced commercially in the form of the Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation, from 1938 to 1951.
In later life, Farnsworth invented a small nuclear fusion device, the Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor, or simply "fusor", employing inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC). Although not a practical device for generating nuclear energy, the fusor serves as a viable source of neutrons. The design of this device has been the acknowledged inspiration for other fusion approaches including the Polywell reactor concept in terms of a general approach to fusion design. Farnsworth held 165 patents, mostly in radio and television.
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Ramon Fernandez
Ramon S. Fernandez is generally regarded as the greatest basketball player (and certainly the best and most revolutionary player at the center position) produced by the Philippine Basketball Association. Fernandez won four Most Valuable Player awards and a record of 19 PBA championships (the equivalent of 6 championships in the NBA as the PBA runs three championships a year) bagged. Fernandez scored 18,996 points to finish as the PBA's all-time scoring leader. He is also the PBA's all-time leader in rebounds, blocked shots, and second all-time in assists and steals. He played for five teams in his entire the PBA career starting with Toyota, Manila Beer, Tanduay, Purefoods, and with San Miguel, his last stop. Fernandez played in many overseas tournaments by being a part of the Philippine basketball team.
Fernandez was a product of the University of San Carlos in Cebu and was a member of several national teams. These include the 1972 Asian Youth Championships(Champion), 1973 Asian Basketball Confederation championship team, 1974 World Basketball Championships in Puerto Rico, the 1974 Asian Games in Iran and the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing.
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Ramon Magsaysay
Ramón del Fierro Magsaysay (31 August 1907 – 17 March 1957) was the seventh President of the Republic of the Philippines, serving from 30 December 1953 until his death in a 1957 aircraft disaster. An automobile mechanic, Magsaysay was appointed military governor of Zambales after his outstanding service as a guerilla leader during the Pacific War. He then served two terms as Liberal Party congressman for Zambales before being appointed as Secretary of National Defense by President Elpidio Quirino. He was elected President under the banner of the Nacionalista Party.
Ramón Magsaysay was born in Iba, Zambales on August 31, 1907 to Exequiel Magsaysay, a blacksmith, and Perfecta del Fierro, a schoolteacher. He entered the University of the Philippines in 1927. He worked as a chauffeur to support himself as he studied engineering; later, he transferred to the Institute of Commerce at José Rizal College (1928–1932), where he received a baccalaureate in commerce. He then worked as an automobile mechanic and shop superintendent.
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Reginald Fessenden
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (October 6, 1866 – July 22, 1932), a naturalized American citizen born in Quebec, Canada, was an inventor who performed pioneering experiments in radio, including early—and possibly the first—radio transmissions of voice and music. In his later career he received hundreds of patents for devices in fields such as high-powered transmitting, sonar, and television.
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden was born October 6, 1866, in East-Bolton, Quebec, Canada, the eldest of the Reverend Joseph Elisha Fessenden and Clementina Trenholme Fessenden's four children. Joseph Fessenden was a priest of the Church of England in Canada, and through the years the family moved to a number of postings within the Province of Ontario. While growing up, Reginald was an accomplished student. In 1877, at the age of eleven, he attended Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario for two years. At the age of fourteen, Bishop's College School in Lennoxville, Quebec granted Fessenden a mathematics mastership. At this time, Bishop's College School was a feeder school of Bishop's University and shared the same campus and buildings. In June 1878, the school had an enrollment of only 43 boys. Thus, while Fessenden was only a teenager, he was teaching mathematics to the young children at the school while simultaneously studying with the older students at Bishop's University. Total enrollment at the university for the school year 1883-84 was twenty-five students. At the age of eighteen, Fessenden left Bishop's without having been awarded a degree, even though he had "done substantially all the work necessary." (This lack of a degree may have hurt Fessenden's employment opportunities; when McGill University established an electrical engineering department, Fessenden was turned down on an application to be the chairman, in favor of an American.)
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Robert Bradford Fox
Dr.Robert Bradford Fox (1918-1985) was an anthropologist and leading historian on the prehispanic Philippines.
In 1958, Fox led a National Museum team in conducting extensive excavations on two sites at Calatagan, Batangas in what may be considered the first systematic excavation involving the National Museum in the country. His report, published in 1959, was based on artifacts and information derived from 505 graves in two sites known as Kay Tomas and Pulong Bakaw. In the 1960s, by then the head of the Anthropology Division of the National Museum of the Philippines, he led a six-year archaeological research project in Palawan, focusing mainly on the caves and rockshelters of Lipuun Point in the southern part of the island (Fox 1970). Its most outstanding site is the Tabon Cave complex, the large main cave delivered the only Pleistocene human fossils found in the Philippines to date. The fossil finds include a skullcap, jaw bones, teeth and several other fragmented bones. Dubbed as the "Tabon Man", the finds represent more than just one individual. Their age has been determined using Radiometric dating, giving dates between 16500 ±2000 B.P for the skull cap and 48,000 ±11-10,000 B.P. for a tibia fragment.
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Robert Jaworski
Robert Salazar Jaworski (born March 8, 1946 in Baguio City, Philippines), also known as Sonny Jaworski, Bobby Jaworski, Robert Jaworski, Sr. or simply Jawo, is a former Philippine senator, basketball coach and Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) and PBA basketball player.
Known as The Big J and called The Living Legend during his playing days, Jaworski was a former playing coach—the first ever in the PBA in 1985—for Ginebra San Miguel. In 2000 he was honored as one of the PBA’s 25 Greatest Players of all time.
Born to a Polish American father and a Ilocano mother in Baguio, Philippines, Jaworski grew up in the streets of Pandacan in Manila. Jaworski began to gain fame when he started playing basketball for the University of the East's Red Warriors. In 1966, Jaworski towed the Recto-based school to the UAAP championship in the 1966 and 1967 championships. Because of his outstanding accomplishment with UE, he was first labeled "Big Hands" by sportscaster Willie Hernandez describing the large palms he possessed and how easy it was for him to clutch the ball with a single hand.
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Rufus Yerxa
Rufus H. Yerxa (born 1951) is currently Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). He has served in this position since 2002. He was the former Chief International Counsel for Monsanto Company.
As an American public servant (under both Republican and Democratic administrations), he was US Ambassador to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Geneva; he played a key role in the Uruguay Round Negotiations. Yerxa served as a Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Envoy to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, in Geneva. Prior to 1989, he served as the Assistant Chief Counsel of the House Ways and Means Committee and Staff Director of its Subcommittee on Trade.
From 1977 to 1981, he was the Legal Advisor to the Chairman of the International Trade Commission. An attorney and a member of the Washington State and District of Columbia Bars, Yerxa is a graduate of the University of Washington and the University of Puget Sound, and holds an LL.B. in international law from Cambridge University (UK). Prior to being named as Monsanto's international counsel, Yerxa was Monsanto's European general counsel.
wn.com/Rufus_Yerxa -
Tagalog people
The Tagalog people are an ethnic group in the Philippines. The name Tagalog comes from either the native term tagá-ilog, meaning 'people living along the river', or another native term, tagá-alog, meaning 'people living along the ford', a ford being a shallow part of a river or stream where people, animals, or vehicles can cross it. The prefix taga- means "coming from" or "native of", while the word ilog means 'river'. Translated, tagá-ilog means 'coming from the river' or 'native of the river', and tagá-alog means 'coming from the ford' or 'native of the ford' with 'the' being implied in both cases. Either way, the original name has been contracted to become simply Tagalog. In more recent times, the people of this ethnolinguistic group rarely refer to themselves as "Tagalog", and instead, refer to themselves simply as "Filipino".
The Tagalogs are one of the most widespread groups of people in the Philippines. They form a majority in the provinces of Aurora, Bataan, Batangas, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, Marinduque, Metro Manila, Nueva Ecija, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Quezon, and Rizal. Other provinces with some significant Tagalog populations include the provinces of Palawan, Tarlac, and in Zambales.
wn.com/Tagalog_people -
Taiwanese aborigines
Taiwanese aborigines (Chinese: 原住民; pinyin: yuánzhùmín; Wade–Giles: yüan2-chu4-min2; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: gôan-chū-bîn; literally "original inhabitants") is the term commonly applied in reference to the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Although Taiwanese indigenous groups hold a variety of creation myths, recent research suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major Han Chinese immigration began in the 17th century (Blust 1999). Taiwanese aborigines are Austronesian peoples, with linguistic and genetic ties to other Austronesian ethnic groups, such as peoples of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Polynesia, and Oceania (Hill et al. 2007; Bird, Hope & Taylor 2004). The issue of an ethnic identity unconnected to the Asian mainland has become one thread in the discourse regarding the political status of Taiwan.
For centuries, Taiwan's aboriginal peoples experienced economic competition and military conflict with a series of colonizing peoples. Centralized government policies designed to foster language shift and cultural assimilation, as well as continued contact with the colonizers through trade, intermarriage and other dispassionate intercultural processes, have resulted in varying degrees of language death and loss of original cultural identity. For example, of the approximately 26 known languages of the Taiwanese aborigines (collectively referred to as the Formosan languages), at least ten are extinct, five are moribund (Zeitoun & Yu 2005:167) and several are to some degree endangered. These languages are of unique historical significance, since most historical linguists consider Taiwan to be the original homeland of the Austronesian language family (Blust 1999).
wn.com/Taiwanese_aborigines -
Vint Cerf
Vinton Gray "Vint" Cerf (/ˈsɜrf/; born June 23, 1943) is an American computer scientist, who is recognized as one of "the fathers of the Internet", sharing this title with American computer scientist Bob Kahn. His contributions have been acknowledged and lauded, repeatedly, with honorary degrees and awards that include the National Medal of Technology, the Turing Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and membership in the National Academy of Engineering.
In the early days, Cerf was a program manager for the United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funding various groups to develop TCP/IP technology. When the Internet began to transition to a commercial opportunity during the late 1980s,[citation needed] Cerf moved to MCI where he was instrumental in the development of the first commercial email system (MCI Mail) connected to the Internet.
Vinton Cerf was instrumental in the funding and formation of ICANN from the start. Cerf waited in the wings for a year before he stepped forward to join the ICANN Board. Eventually he became the Chairman of ICANN. Cerf was elected as the president of the Association for Computing Machinery in May 2012.
wn.com/Vint_Cerf -
Wilhelm Solheim
Wilhelm G. Solheim II is an American anthropologist recognized as most senior practitioner of archaeology in Southeast Asia, and as a pioneer in the study of Philippine and Southeast Asian prehistoric archaeology. He is perhaps best known, however, for hypothesizing the existence of the Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication Network (NMTCN), one of two dominant hypotheses regarding the peopling of the Asia-Pacific region during the Neolithic age.
Solheim began his archaeological training at the University of California, Berkeley, and then spent several semesters at the University of the Philippines under Prof. H. Otley Beyer. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona in 1959.
He has been Professor Emeritus Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Manoa since he retired in December 1991.
In 1997, he joined the staff of the Archaeological Studies Program at the University of the Philippines, Diliman.
wn.com/Wilhelm_Solheim -
Zoilo Galang
Zoilo Galang is the Filipino author of the first Philippine novel written in the English language A Child of Sorrow, published in 1921.
wn.com/Zoilo_Galang
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Travel Manila, Philippines
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:47
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Quick view of Manila, video courtesy of Travel Bug
http://wn.com/Travel_Manila,_Philippines
Quick view of Manila, video courtesy of Travel Bug
Foreigners Selling Balut in the Philippines (Ep. 4)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:04
- Updated: 27 Feb 2013
Delicious baaluuut! We go around Manila to give everyone a taste of this mouth-watering aphrodisiac. Production: Island Media Asia (www.facebook.com Videography: Michael McDonnell Models: Daniel Marsh, Charlie Sutcliffe, Michael McDonnell, and Brian WilsonMusic: Music: "Funky Little Me - RightBeatsRadio" "Wind - Spence Mills"
http://wn.com/Foreigners_Selling_Balut_in_the_Philippines_Ep_4
Delicious baaluuut! We go around Manila to give everyone a taste of this mouth-watering aphrodisiac. Production: Island Media Asia (www.facebook.com Videography: Michael McDonnell Models: Daniel Marsh, Charlie Sutcliffe, Michael McDonnell, and Brian WilsonMusic: Music: "Funky Little Me - RightBeatsRadio" "Wind - Spence Mills"
- published: 20 Oct 2012
- views: 42158
- author: IslandMediaAsia
Bruno Mars' Family Reunion in the Philippines
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 16:02
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Bruno Mars' family returns to the Philippines for the first time since they moved to Hawaii. They go there to see Bruno play his concert in Cebu (2011). Directors: Mike Talampas & Nick Santiago Source: vimeo.com/45046110 rhapsodyincolour.tumblr.com Twitter @rhapsodyxcolour
http://wn.com/Bruno_Mars'_Family_Reunion_in_the_Philippines
Bruno Mars' family returns to the Philippines for the first time since they moved to Hawaii. They go there to see Bruno play his concert in Cebu (2011). Directors: Mike Talampas & Nick Santiago Source: vimeo.com/45046110 rhapsodyincolour.tumblr.com Twitter @rhapsodyxcolour
- published: 20 Aug 2012
- views: 118163
- author: rhapsodyincolour
Alleged Underage Prostitution in Philippines
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:34
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Part 1: "Nightline" goes undercover to investigate Americans accused of selling young women for sex.
http://wn.com/Alleged_Underage_Prostitution_in_Philippines
Part 1: "Nightline" goes undercover to investigate Americans accused of selling young women for sex.
- published: 26 Feb 2013
- views: 3816
- author: ABCNews
Sorry no Philippines in World's 5 Mega Construction Projects 2015-2017.mp4
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:01
- Updated: 27 Feb 2013
World's 5 Mega Construction Projects - as part of the travel series by GeoBeats. Around the world, we keep building structures that are taller and bigger than the existing ones. Here are 5 current mega constructions projects. Number 5 is the Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia. Upon its expected completion in 2017, it will have an approximate height of 3280 feet, making it the tallest building in the world. With a budget of nearly $1.2 billion, the tower will have more than 160 floors, including apartments, office space, and condos. Number 4 - The Falconcity of Wonders in Dubai. With an area of 400000 sq feet, this mega construction project would host the replicas of 7 wonders of the world such as Taj Mahal, Effiel Tower, and The Great Wall. In addition, it will feature a theme park, educational institute, sports facilities, and approximately 5500 residential units. The project is expected to complete between 2015 and 2017. Number 3 is the Shanghai Tower in Shanghai, China. Upon its completion in 2014, this 2074 feet structure would be the second tallest building in the world. The 121-story tower will have plenty of dinning, entertainment, and office space options. The mega construction project has a budget of $1.9 billion. Number 2 is the Crystal Island in Moscow, Russia. With an approximate height of 1500 feet, this "tent-like" structure will comprise of apartment buildings, hotel, office, shopping, exhibition & performance space. Number 1 is the 1 World Trade Center, which ...
http://wn.com/Sorry_no_Philippines_in_World's_5_Mega_Construction_Projects_2015-2017mp4
World's 5 Mega Construction Projects - as part of the travel series by GeoBeats. Around the world, we keep building structures that are taller and bigger than the existing ones. Here are 5 current mega constructions projects. Number 5 is the Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia. Upon its expected completion in 2017, it will have an approximate height of 3280 feet, making it the tallest building in the world. With a budget of nearly $1.2 billion, the tower will have more than 160 floors, including apartments, office space, and condos. Number 4 - The Falconcity of Wonders in Dubai. With an area of 400000 sq feet, this mega construction project would host the replicas of 7 wonders of the world such as Taj Mahal, Effiel Tower, and The Great Wall. In addition, it will feature a theme park, educational institute, sports facilities, and approximately 5500 residential units. The project is expected to complete between 2015 and 2017. Number 3 is the Shanghai Tower in Shanghai, China. Upon its completion in 2014, this 2074 feet structure would be the second tallest building in the world. The 121-story tower will have plenty of dinning, entertainment, and office space options. The mega construction project has a budget of $1.9 billion. Number 2 is the Crystal Island in Moscow, Russia. With an approximate height of 1500 feet, this "tent-like" structure will comprise of apartment buildings, hotel, office, shopping, exhibition & performance space. Number 1 is the 1 World Trade Center, which ...
- published: 10 Feb 2013
- views: 887
- author: lamberto lusanta
Philippines now a 'rising tiger' - World Bank official
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:59
- Updated: 27 Feb 2013
DAVAO CITY — President Aquino cited the gains that his administration has achieved, recognizing the need to ensure that these gains are felt by as many people as possible.
http://wn.com/Philippines_now_a_'rising_tiger'_World_Bank_official
DAVAO CITY — President Aquino cited the gains that his administration has achieved, recognizing the need to ensure that these gains are felt by as many people as possible.
- published: 05 Feb 2013
- views: 18598
- author: TheABSCBNNews
Philippines taps geothermal potential
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:47
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Eco Solutions looks at how the Philippines is tapping into its geothermal potential.
http://wn.com/Philippines_taps_geothermal_potential
Eco Solutions looks at how the Philippines is tapping into its geothermal potential.
- published: 25 Feb 2013
- views: 2276
- author: CNN
MISS UNIVERSE 2012 - Philippines
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:17
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Get to know the contestants of 2012 MISS UNIVERSE® Pageant. Watch the event on December 19th, LIVE on NBC at 8 PM. Vote your favorite contestant into the semi finals at: www.missuniverse.com Category; 2012 MISS UNIVERSE PAGEANT - CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS
http://wn.com/MISS_UNIVERSE_2012_Philippines
Get to know the contestants of 2012 MISS UNIVERSE® Pageant. Watch the event on December 19th, LIVE on NBC at 8 PM. Vote your favorite contestant into the semi finals at: www.missuniverse.com Category; 2012 MISS UNIVERSE PAGEANT - CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS
- published: 09 Dec 2012
- views: 464429
- author: OfficialMissUniverse
How to Call Philippines Unlimited Globe Phones No More Phone Cards
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:12
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
goo.gl - Calling to the Philippines using phone cards is very expensive. Try this service to call to the philippines and for cheap monthly you can call your globe families and friends mobile and landline for unlimited. Can be used on landlines and through your mobile phones as extension with no other cost. Unlimited¹ calling to all Globe numbers in the Philippines — including Globe Postpaid, Globe Prepaid, TM and Globelines subscribers. Unlimited¹ local and long distance home phone service across the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. Sign up now with this link and above goo.gl you will get one month FREE. (make sure you use the link provided to get the free 1 month)
http://wn.com/How_to_Call_Philippines_Unlimited_Globe_Phones_No_More_Phone_Cards
goo.gl - Calling to the Philippines using phone cards is very expensive. Try this service to call to the philippines and for cheap monthly you can call your globe families and friends mobile and landline for unlimited. Can be used on landlines and through your mobile phones as extension with no other cost. Unlimited¹ calling to all Globe numbers in the Philippines — including Globe Postpaid, Globe Prepaid, TM and Globelines subscribers. Unlimited¹ local and long distance home phone service across the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. Sign up now with this link and above goo.gl you will get one month FREE. (make sure you use the link provided to get the free 1 month)
- published: 25 Feb 2013
- views: 25498
- author: lourazon
Sarah cries as 'Sarah G Live' airs finale
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:15
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
MANILA, Philippines -- It was an emotional moment for singer-actress Sarah Geronimo and her fans on Sunday as Popstar Princess said goodbye to her weekly musical show "Sarah G Live." The show aired its final episode on Sunday and Geronimo ended the show with her hit "Forever's Not Enough," surrounded by her co-host and fans who gave her flowers.
http://wn.com/Sarah_cries_as_'Sarah_G_Live'_airs_finale
MANILA, Philippines -- It was an emotional moment for singer-actress Sarah Geronimo and her fans on Sunday as Popstar Princess said goodbye to her weekly musical show "Sarah G Live." The show aired its final episode on Sunday and Geronimo ended the show with her hit "Forever's Not Enough," surrounded by her co-host and fans who gave her flowers.
- published: 10 Feb 2013
- views: 141077
- author: TheABSCBNNews
China Focus - Loida Lewis on the Philippines and the South China Sea
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:30
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
China Focus has moved to a new channel, Be sure to subscribe to www.youtube.com The Spratly Islands and the Scarborough Shoal have been subject of big disputes between China, the Philippines, and other southeast Asian nations. Whoever controls the South China Sea—or the "West Philippine Sea" as Manila is now calling it—controls key shipping lanes as well as offshore oil and natural gas deposits. Last month, the conflict escalated when the Chinese navy sent a garrison to the Scarborough Shoal. Joining host Shelley Zhang on China Focus to discuss the issue is a woman who The Philippine Daily Inquirer called "China's Newest Public Enemy Number One" for her role in calling for a boycott of made-in-China goods: Loida Nicolas-Lewis, the national chair of US Pinoys for Good Governance.
http://wn.com/China_Focus_Loida_Lewis_on_the_Philippines_and_the_South_China_Sea
China Focus has moved to a new channel, Be sure to subscribe to www.youtube.com The Spratly Islands and the Scarborough Shoal have been subject of big disputes between China, the Philippines, and other southeast Asian nations. Whoever controls the South China Sea—or the "West Philippine Sea" as Manila is now calling it—controls key shipping lanes as well as offshore oil and natural gas deposits. Last month, the conflict escalated when the Chinese navy sent a garrison to the Scarborough Shoal. Joining host Shelley Zhang on China Focus to discuss the issue is a woman who The Philippine Daily Inquirer called "China's Newest Public Enemy Number One" for her role in calling for a boycott of made-in-China goods: Loida Nicolas-Lewis, the national chair of US Pinoys for Good Governance.
- published: 13 Sep 2012
- views: 28683
- author: NTDTV
Challenges of Philippines' mixed race children
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:08
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Thousands of mixed-race children grow up without their fathers in the Philippines. Most of them are of Korean or American descent. Many often end up living on the streets without any support. Al Jazeera's Jamela Alindogan reports from Manila.
http://wn.com/Challenges_of_Philippines'_mixed_race_children
Thousands of mixed-race children grow up without their fathers in the Philippines. Most of them are of Korean or American descent. Many often end up living on the streets without any support. Al Jazeera's Jamela Alindogan reports from Manila.
- published: 26 Feb 2013
- views: 2660
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Philippine Arena Update - Feb. 2013 - IGLESIA NI CRISTO Centennial Project
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:23
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Philippine Arena : philippinearenaofiglesianicristo.blogspot.com INC Centennial Projects : iglesianicristo100years.weebly.com Feb. 2013 Update The Philippine Arena is an indoor arena being constructed in Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines within the Ciudad de Victoria project of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. It is expected to have a seating capacity of 50000, which is 25000 more than the Araneta Coliseum and will open early in 2014. When completed, this will become the World's Largest Domed Arena. The project is part of Iglesia Ni Cristo's 100th founding anniversary which will be celebrated in 2014. It will cost the Christian organization $175 million . The Arena will be used primarily for church events; as well as to host family entertainment, sporting events and concerts. According to INC Executive Minister, Our Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo, the Philippine Arena can be used not only by the Church but by the public in general whether for local or international events. Add & Follow Me : Google+ : plus.google.com Facebook : www.facebook.com Twitter : twitter.com SUBSCRIBE for more update video : www.youtube.com
http://wn.com/Philippine_Arena_Update_Feb_2013_IGLESIA_NI_CRISTO_Centennial_Project
Philippine Arena : philippinearenaofiglesianicristo.blogspot.com INC Centennial Projects : iglesianicristo100years.weebly.com Feb. 2013 Update The Philippine Arena is an indoor arena being constructed in Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines within the Ciudad de Victoria project of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. It is expected to have a seating capacity of 50000, which is 25000 more than the Araneta Coliseum and will open early in 2014. When completed, this will become the World's Largest Domed Arena. The project is part of Iglesia Ni Cristo's 100th founding anniversary which will be celebrated in 2014. It will cost the Christian organization $175 million . The Arena will be used primarily for church events; as well as to host family entertainment, sporting events and concerts. According to INC Executive Minister, Our Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo, the Philippine Arena can be used not only by the Church but by the public in general whether for local or international events. Add & Follow Me : Google+ : plus.google.com Facebook : www.facebook.com Twitter : twitter.com SUBSCRIBE for more update video : www.youtube.com
- published: 09 Feb 2013
- views: 16311
- author: papercoinagevideo
Philippines Sex Trafficking Raid
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:55
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Alex Marquardt with the exclusive undercover investigation.
http://wn.com/Philippines_Sex_Trafficking_Raid
Alex Marquardt with the exclusive undercover investigation.
- published: 26 Feb 2013
- views: 23614
- author: ABCNews
The X Factor Philippines 2012 Audition - KZ Tandingan (Full)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:00
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
An astig chic and a great singer from digos city, davao del sur, Philippines!
http://wn.com/The_X_Factor_Philippines_2012_Audition_KZ_Tandingan_Full
An astig chic and a great singer from digos city, davao del sur, Philippines!
- published: 17 Jul 2012
- views: 268167
- author: iamwhoiammai
Philippines, Rise! We Are Not Alone
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:01
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
As China's economy rises, so too does its political voice. Time may come that China will take as much territory and resources as they could to feed their ever-growing economy. It is best to be prepared as soon as possible, because even though we may be resorting to diplomatic means, the other side seems to let their missiles do the talking. It's not only the Philippines they're confronting, but almost all the other countries that surround them as well. Join us on Facebook! www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/Philippines,_Rise!_We_Are_Not_Alone
As China's economy rises, so too does its political voice. Time may come that China will take as much territory and resources as they could to feed their ever-growing economy. It is best to be prepared as soon as possible, because even though we may be resorting to diplomatic means, the other side seems to let their missiles do the talking. It's not only the Philippines they're confronting, but almost all the other countries that surround them as well. Join us on Facebook! www.facebook.com
- published: 14 Nov 2012
- views: 26617
- author: defendingscarborough
DOCUMENTARY "ANGELES CITY, PHILIPPINES"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 28:28
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Angeles City is the former home of Clark Air Base, the largest US Air Force Base outside continental America, which was finally closed in 1991. The base favoured the raising of many brothels and men's clubs, turning the city into one of the most popular destinations for international sexual tourism in the world.
http://wn.com/DOCUMENTARY_ANGELES_CITY,_PHILIPPINES
Angeles City is the former home of Clark Air Base, the largest US Air Force Base outside continental America, which was finally closed in 1991. The base favoured the raising of many brothels and men's clubs, turning the city into one of the most popular destinations for international sexual tourism in the world.
- published: 30 Jan 2013
- views: 20397
- author: GraffitoFilm
Usana Philippines Grandest Celebration 2013
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:33
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Usana's grandest celbration for the year 2013...celebrating the healthiest and wealthiest Filipinos... celebrating YOU!!!
http://wn.com/Usana_Philippines_Grandest_Celebration_2013
Usana's grandest celbration for the year 2013...celebrating the healthiest and wealthiest Filipinos... celebrating YOU!!!
- published: 28 Feb 2013
- views: 6
- author: angelsheng77
WHY DO FOREIGNERS LOVE CEBU, PHILIPPINES???...TRAVEL, CULTURE, ADVENTURE, FESTIVALS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:49
- Updated: 27 Feb 2013
The majority of foreigners really love Cebu. Here is a series of interviews asking foreigners WHY they like Cebu. Some have been here as long as 30 years, others short visits but always wish to return. There's some intriguing responses! During the ON-CAMERA interviews, I've inserted 'B roll" footage to cover their subject matter and keep it visual. If you enjoy this clip, please subscribe. Thanks! info@globalvideoprotv.com
http://wn.com/WHY_DO_FOREIGNERS_LOVE_CEBU,_PHILIPPINES???TRAVEL,_CULTURE,_ADVENTURE,_FESTIVALS
The majority of foreigners really love Cebu. Here is a series of interviews asking foreigners WHY they like Cebu. Some have been here as long as 30 years, others short visits but always wish to return. There's some intriguing responses! During the ON-CAMERA interviews, I've inserted 'B roll" footage to cover their subject matter and keep it visual. If you enjoy this clip, please subscribe. Thanks! info@globalvideoprotv.com
- published: 03 Jan 2013
- views: 2809
- author: globalvideopro1
My 2nd Solo Flight (RPC63 - Cessna 150) (Plaridel Airport, Bulacan, Philippines)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:08
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
This is my 2nd Solo flight on a Cessna 150 airplane. RW 35, Plaridel Airport, Bulacan, Philippines... It was an awesome day for me... ;) My first solo happened on Feb 26, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get it on film. This 2nd solo flight took place the next day.. 27th of Feb, 2013. Calm, nice weather! A perfect flying day for the Plaridel flyboys and girls. ;)
http://wn.com/My_2nd_Solo_Flight_RPC63_Cessna_150_Plaridel_Airport,_Bulacan,_Philippines
This is my 2nd Solo flight on a Cessna 150 airplane. RW 35, Plaridel Airport, Bulacan, Philippines... It was an awesome day for me... ;) My first solo happened on Feb 26, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get it on film. This 2nd solo flight took place the next day.. 27th of Feb, 2013. Calm, nice weather! A perfect flying day for the Plaridel flyboys and girls. ;)
- published: 28 Feb 2013
- views: 54
- author: naeemster
Harlem Shake (Philippines Original)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:31
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
TROPANG PHAX Feat. GenNazSei (Harlem Shake Filipino Edition) Please like and share your harlem shake video here :) tinyurl.com ORIGINAL VIDEO - www.youtube.com Harlem Shake V2 - www.youtube.com All rights belong to their respective owners. I do not own any of this content. SONG NAME: Harlem Shake - Baauer *ALL COPYRIGHTS go to Baauer or whoever is in charge. This is not my song* Harlem Shake v4 (Firefighter Edition) The Harlem Shake - Gamer Office Version The Harlem Shake - Life Teen Style The Harlem Shake (Atlantic Version) The Harlem Shake (Korean Version) The Harlem Shake V6 The Harlem Shake v7 The Harlem Shake v74 (Official College Edition) The Harlem shake. Sexy schoolgirl edition_ (BreakingMaas at Maastricht University Library) The Harlem Shake
http://wn.com/Harlem_Shake_Philippines_Original
TROPANG PHAX Feat. GenNazSei (Harlem Shake Filipino Edition) Please like and share your harlem shake video here :) tinyurl.com ORIGINAL VIDEO - www.youtube.com Harlem Shake V2 - www.youtube.com All rights belong to their respective owners. I do not own any of this content. SONG NAME: Harlem Shake - Baauer *ALL COPYRIGHTS go to Baauer or whoever is in charge. This is not my song* Harlem Shake v4 (Firefighter Edition) The Harlem Shake - Gamer Office Version The Harlem Shake - Life Teen Style The Harlem Shake (Atlantic Version) The Harlem Shake (Korean Version) The Harlem Shake V6 The Harlem Shake v7 The Harlem Shake v74 (Official College Edition) The Harlem shake. Sexy schoolgirl edition_ (BreakingMaas at Maastricht University Library) The Harlem Shake
- published: 16 Feb 2013
- views: 42052
- author: makeithardearl
Binibining Pilipinas / Miss Philippines - Venus Raj X Shancey Supsup X Janine Tugonon
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:06
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Binibining Pilipinas / Miss Philippines - Venus Raj X Shancey Supsup X Janine Tugonon
http://wn.com/Binibining_Pilipinas_Miss_Philippines_Venus_Raj_X_Shancey_Supsup_X_Janine_Tugonon
Binibining Pilipinas / Miss Philippines - Venus Raj X Shancey Supsup X Janine Tugonon
- published: 18 Feb 2013
- views: 412
- author: Diego Lima
Top 10 Most Beautiful Women in the Philippines & South Korea
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:10
- Updated: 28 Feb 2013
Korea and the Philippines are two of the countries in Asia that share the maximum number of pretty girls. Here's my list of the 10 most beautiful actresses from these two countries.
http://wn.com/Top_10_Most_Beautiful_Women_in_the_Philippines_South_Korea
Korea and the Philippines are two of the countries in Asia that share the maximum number of pretty girls. Here's my list of the 10 most beautiful actresses from these two countries.
- published: 14 Feb 2013
- views: 294
- author: pretty andy
photo: AP / Ibrahim Zayed
26 Feb 2013
Updated. February 26, 2013 8.35AM. LUXOR, Egypt — A hot air balloon flying over Egypt’s ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 19 foreign tourists in one of the world’s deadliest ballooning accidents and handing a new blow to Egypt’s ailing tourism industry ... The balloon then shot up in the air, the investigator said ... The security official said all 18 bodies have been recovered ... ....(size: 6.2Kb)
photo: Russian Presidential Press and Information Office
27 Feb 2013
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the country's top brass on Wednesday to drastically upgrade the armed forces in the next few years as part of response to attempts by the United States and NATO to "tip the strategic balance" in the world. In his address to Russia's defense ministry and top military officials, Putin said Russia is witnessing "insistent attempts" to change that balance and complained about U.S ... ....(size: 2.3Kb)
photo: AP / Mary Altaffer
26 Feb 2013
Jesus Diaz - . Scientists have found proof of a sunken continent in the Indian Ocean. According to a study published in Nature Geoscience, the continent “was separated from Madagascar and fragmented into a ribbon-like configuration by a series of mid-ocean ridge jumps during the opening of the Mascarene ocean basin.”. Its name is not Atlantis, though ... [Nature Geoscience via BBC News]. Image by Shutterstock ... Related Posts ... ....(size: 3.6Kb)
photo: WN / Marzena Jazowska
28 Feb 2013
European Union chiefs have agreed a package of financial laws that includes capping bankers' bonuses at a maximum of one year's basic salary. The bonuses will only be allowed to reach twice the annual fixed salary if a large majority of a bank's shareholders agrees, said Othmar Karas, the European Parliament's chief negotiator ... The only hope now of stopping a deal is a vote of EU finance ministers to endorse the provisional agreement....(size: 5.4Kb)
photo: AP / Ismael Francisco
28 Feb 2013
MEXICO CITY — He may have just taken on the toughest job in Cuba. Rivals at home will try to take him down. Enemies abroad will discredit him. Almost anyone with an interest in Cuba — including American spies and Cuban intelligence officers — will dig through his public and private lives, rummaging for secrets or clues about his plans. Connect With Us on Twitter ... Twitter List. Reporters and Editors ... Mr ... Mr ... 2 ... ... Op-Ed ... ....(size: 6.9Kb)
noodls
28 Feb 2013
Congress of the Philippines) ... Golez supports DFA move elevating dispute with China on West Philippine Sea to international tribunal ... A lawmaker is supporting the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in its initiative of elevating the West Philippine Sea dispute with China before an arbitral tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in order to arrive at a peaceful resolution to the matter....(size: 3.1Kb)
noodls
28 Feb 2013
Kingdom of Bahrain Government) Foreign Minister receives copy of credentials of the Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines ... The Philippines' Ambassador expressed his appreciation for the Ministry's support to the Embassy of the Philippines....(size: 1.3Kb)
PhysOrg
28 Feb 2013
Livestreaming the pair gives a global Internet audience a rare insight into the courtship, mating and chick-rearing habits of the birds, which could soon become extinct, said Philippine Eagle Foundation spokesman Rolando Pinsoy ... Graphic fact file on the Philippine eagle, one of the world's rarest raptors. The mating rituals of two captive Philippine ......(size: 1.9Kb)
noodls
28 Feb 2013
International real estate advisor Savills has expanded its global network by forming a new association in the Philippines with KMC MAG Group. The alliance increases Savills presence in Southeast Asia and gives the firm a foothold in the Philippines real estate market ... Together we will be able to provide best in class advice and offer our services to clients throughout the Philippines....(size: 2.9Kb)
Xinhua
28 Feb 2013
28 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine stock market reclaimed its record-high level, breaching past the 6,700 level on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve's positive announcement overnight. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index jumped by 1.59 percent or 105.18 points to 6,721.45....(size: 1.5Kb)
CNBC
28 Feb 2013
Asia Times
28 Feb 2013
ZAMBOANGA CITY - A two-week standoff between a group of Filipino Muslims and Malaysian security officials over territory on the oil-rich island of Borneo highlights the lack of consensus surrounding last year's peace agreement between the Philippine government and the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) ... On Monday, the group rebuffed Manila's offer to escort them back to the Philippines on a naval vessel....(size: 7.5Kb)
Xinhua
28 Feb 2013
MANILA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Demand for money in the Philippines expanded 10.8 percent on year to 5.2 trillion pesos (127.76 billion U.S. dollars) in January, the local central bank said Thursday ... Editor. Fu Peng. 分享. ....(size: 1.2Kb)
Xinhua
28 Feb 2013
MANILA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Outstanding loans of Philippine commercial banks including reverse repurchase agreements (RRPs) rose 16.6 percent on year to 3.4 trillion pesos (83.54 billion U. S ... "Sustained credit growth is expected to support the momentum of the economy ... Editor ... ....(size: 1.3Kb)
Joy Online
28 Feb 2013
The suspects are now in the grips of Philippines National Bureau of Investigation, according to the ABS-CBN News report. ....(size: 0.8Kb)
noodls
28 Feb 2013
(Source. Congress of the Philippines). Source. Public Relations and Information Bureau. Solon seeks creation of legislative-executive body to reconcile GSIS accounts. Send FeedBack. 28 February 2013 09.33.44 AM. Writer. Lorelei V. Castillo, Media Relations Service-PRIB ... Rep ... Total views. 7. distributed by. This noodl was issued by Congress of the Philippines and was initially posted at www.congress.gov.ph ... (noodl. 17701791) ....(size: 3.4Kb)
Business Wire
28 Feb 2013
“We appreciate the opportunity to showcase our fuel-flexible and environmentally friendly CFB which will provide power to the local residents in the Philippines” ... Foster Wheeler will design and supply the 100 MWe (net megawatt electric) CFB steam generator plus auxiliary equipment for the project which is located in the province of Sarangani on Southern Mindanao, Philippines....(size: 8.8Kb)
Sun Star
28 Feb 2013
Michael Oliver Manuel, managing director for Asia investments of Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, said all the elements for economic growth will work in the Philippines’ favor this year, which is why they hope more people will invest in funds and get better returns ... He noted that Vietnam’s markets are thinner than the Philippines’ while Malaysia ranked among the lowest performing markets in Southeast Asia last year....(size: 3.8Kb)
"Philippine" redirects here. For a town in the Netherlands, see Philippine, Netherlands.
| Republic of the Philippines
Republika ng Pilipinas
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Motto: Maka-Diyos, Maka-Tao, Makakalikasan, at Makabansa[1] ("For God, People, Nature, and Country") |
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Anthem:
 Lupang Hinirang |
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.svg) |
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| Capital | Manila[2] 14°35′N 121°0′E / 14.583°N 121°E / 14.583; 121 |
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| Largest city | Quezon City | |||||
| Official language(s) | ||||||
| Recognised regional languages | Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilokano, Pampango, Pangasinense, Tagalog, Waray[3] | |||||
| Optional languagesa | Spanish and Arabic[4] | |||||
| National language | Filipino | |||||
| Ethnic groups | 30.1 % Visayans 28.1 % Tagalog 10.1 % Ilocano 9.1 % Moro 6.9 % Bicolano 3.3 % Kapampangan 1.75 % Pangasinense 1.30 % indigenous and non-indigenous. |
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| Demonym | Filipino | |||||
| Government | Unitary presidential constitutional republic | |||||
| - | President | Benigno Aquino III (LP) | ||||
| - | Vice President | Jejomar Binay (PDP-Laban) | ||||
| - | Senate President | Juan Ponce Enrile (PMP) | ||||
| - | House Speaker | Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. (LP) | ||||
| - | Supreme Court Chief Justice | Vacant | ||||
| Legislature | Congress | |||||
| - | Upper house | Senate | ||||
| - | Lower house | House of Representatives | ||||
| Independence | from Spainb from United States |
|||||
| - | Established | April 27, 1565 | ||||
| - | Declared | June 12, 1898 | ||||
| - | Self-government | March 24, 1934 | ||||
| - | Recognized | July 4, 1946 | ||||
| - | Current constitution | February 2, 1987 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Land | 299,764 km2 [3](73rd) 115,831 sq mi |
||||
| - | Water (%) | 0.61%[5] (inland waters) | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2010 census | 92,337,852[6] | ||||
| - | Density | 308.0/km2 (43rd) 797.2/sq mi |
||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $390.408 billion[7] | ||||
| - | Per capita | $4,073[7] | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $213.129 billion[7] | ||||
| - | Per capita | $2,223[7] | ||||
| Gini (2006) | 45.8[5] (medium) (44th) | |||||
| HDI (2011) |  0.644[8] (medium) (112th) |
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| Currency | Peso (Filipino: piso) ₱ ( PHP) |
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| Time zone | PST (UTC+8) | |||||
| - | Summer (DST) | not observed (UTC+8) | ||||
| Drives on the | right[9] | |||||
| Internet TLD | .ph | |||||
| Calling code | +63 | |||||
| 1 | ^a The 1987 Philippine constitution specifies, "Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis." | |||||
| 2 | ^b Philippine revolutionaries declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898, but the Spanish claim of sovereignty was passed from Spain to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. This led to the Philippine–American War. | |||||
| 3 | ^c Rankings above were taken from associated Wikipedia pages as of October 2010 and may be based on data or data sources other than those appearing here. | |||||
The Philippines i/ˈfɪlɨpiːnz/ FI-lə-peenz (Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas) is a sovereign country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest lies between the country and the island of Borneo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its tropical climate make the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons but have also endowed the country with natural resources and made it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising 7,107 islands, the Philippines is categorized broadly into three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila.
With an estimated population of about 98 million people[10], the Philippines is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12.5 million Filipinos live overseas.[11] Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade introduced Chinese cultural influences which remain to this day.
The Philippines has been part of several empires: the Spanish Empire during the age of Imperialism, the United States after the Spanish-American War of 1898, and the Japanese Empire during World War II, until the official Philippine independence in 1945.
The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 marked the beginning of an era of Spanish interest and eventual colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in the Philippines in 1565 and consolidated Spanish rule in the islands, which remained a colony of Spain for more than 300 years.
Manila became the Asian hub of the Manila–Acapulco galleon fleet. Christianity was widely adopted. As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, there followed in quick succession the Philippine Revolution, which spawned the short-lived First Philippine Republic; the Spanish-American War; and the Philippine–American War. In the aftermath, the United States emerged as the dominant power. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until the end of World War II when the Philippines gained independence. The United States bequeathed to the Philippines the English language and a stronger affinity for Western culture. Since independence the Philippines has had an often tumultuous experience with democracy, with popular "people power" movements overthrowing a dictatorship in one instance but also underlining the institutional weaknesses of its constitutional republic in others.
Contents |
Etymology[link]
Main article: Name of the Philippines
The name Philippines is derived from that of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos during his expedition in 1542 named the islands of Leyte and Samar Felipinas after the then Prince of Asturias. Eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before it became commonplace, 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 the islands.[12][13][14][15][16]
The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of the country's history. During the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the period of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine–American War until the Commonwealth period, American colonial authorities referred to the country as the Philippine Islands, a translation of the Spanish name. During the American period the name Philippines began to appear and it has since become the country's common name.[17] Since independence the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines.
History[link]
Main article: History of the Philippines
The metatarsal of Callao Man is reported to have been reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago[18] thereby replacing the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 24,000 years ago[19][20] as the oldest human remains found in the archipelago. Negritos were among the archipelago's earliest inhabitants but their appearance in the Philippines has not been reliably dated.[21] There are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos. F. Landa Jocano theorizes that the ancestors of the Filipinos evolved locally. Wilhelm Solheim's Island Origin Theory[22] postulates that the peopling of the archipelago transpired via trade networks originating in the antediluvian Sundaland area around 48000 to 5000 BCE rather than by wide-scale migration. The Austronesian Expansion Theory states that Malayo-Polynesians coming from Taiwan began migrating to the Philippines around 4000 BCE, displacing earlier arrivals.[23][24] Whatever the case, by 1000 BCE the inhabitants of the archipelago had developed into four kinds of social groups: hunter-gathering tribes, warrior societies, petty plutocracies, and maritime-centered harbor principalities.[25]
Trade between the maritime-oriented peoples and other Asian countries during the subsequent period brought influences from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. During this time there was no unifying political state encompassing the entire Philippine Archipelago. Instead, the islands were divided among competing thalassocracies ruled by various datus, rajahs, or sultans. These thalassocracies were composed of autonomous barangays which were independent to or allied with larger nations. Among them were the kingdoms of Maynila, Namayan, and Tondo, the confederation of Madyaas, the state of Ma-i, the rajahnates of Butuan and Cebu, and the sultanates of Maguindanao and Sulu.[26][27][28][29] Some of these societies were part of the Malayan empires of Srivijaya, Majapahit, and Brunei.[30][31] Islam was brought to the Philippines by traders and proselytizers from Malaysia and Indonesia.[32] By the 15th century, Islam was established in the Sulu Archipelago and by 1565 had reached Mindanao, the Visayas, and Luzon.[33]
In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines and claimed the islands for Spain.[34] Colonization began when Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi arrived from Mexico in 1565 and formed the first European settlements in Cebu. In 1571, after dealing with the local royal families in the wake of the Tondo Conspiracy and defeating the Chinese pirate warlord Limahong, the Spanish established Manila as the capital of the Spanish East Indies.[35][36]
Spanish rule contributed significantly to bringing political unity to the archipelago. From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was governed as a territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and then was administered directly from Madrid after the Mexican War of Independence. The Manila galleons linking Manila to Acapulco traveled once or twice a year between the 16th and 19th centuries. Trade introduced foods such as corn, tomatoes, potatoes, chili peppers, and pineapples from the Americas.[36] Roman Catholic missionaries converted most of the lowland inhabitants to Christianity and founded schools, a university, and hospitals. While a Spanish decree introduced free public schooling in 1863, efforts in mass public education mainly came to fruition during the American period.[37]
During its rule, the Spanish fought off various indigenous revolts and several external colonial challenges from Chinese pirates, the Dutch, and the Portuguese. In an extension of the fighting of the Seven Years' War, British forces under the command of Brigadier General William Draper and Rear-Admiral Samuel Cornish briefly occupied Manila. They found local allies like Diego and Gabriela Silang who took the opportunity to lead a revolt, but Spanish rule was eventually restored following the 1763 Treaty of Paris.[32][38][39]
In the 19th century, Philippine ports were opened to world trade and shifts were occurring within Philippine society. Many Spaniards born in the Philippines (criollos) and those of mixed ancestry (mestizos) became wealthy. The influx of Spanish and Latino settlers secularized churches and opened up government positions traditionally held by Spaniards born in the Iberian Peninsula (peninsulares). The ideals of revolution also began to spread through the islands. Criollo dissatisfaction resulted in the revolt in Cavite El Viejo in 1872 that was a precursor to the Philippine Revolution.[32][40][41][42][43]
Revolutionary sentiments were stoked in 1872 after three priests—Mariano Gómez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora (collectively known as Gomburza)—were accused of sedition by colonial authorities and executed.[40][41] This would inspire a propaganda movement in Spain, organized by Marcelo H. del Pilar, José Rizal, and Mariano Ponce, lobbying for political reforms in the Philippines. Rizal was eventually executed on December 30, 1896, on charges of rebellion.[44] As attempts at reform were meeting with resistance, Andrés Bonifacio in 1892 established the secret society called the Katipunan, a society along the lines of the freemasons, which sought independence from Spain through armed revolt.[42] Bonifacio and the Katipunan started the Philippine Revolution in 1896. A faction of the Katipunan, the Magdalo of Cavite province, eventually came to challenge Bonifacio's position as the leader of the revolution and Emilio Aguinaldo took over. In 1898, the Spanish-American War began in Cuba and reached the Philippines. Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence from Spain in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898 and the First Philippine Republic was established the following year. Meanwhile, the islands were ceded by Spain to the United States for US$20 million in the 1898 Treaty of Paris.[45] As it became increasingly clear the United States would not recognize the First Philippine Republic, the Philippine–American War broke out. It ended with American control over the islands which were then administered as an insular area.[46]
In 1935, the Philippines was granted Commonwealth status. Plans for independence over the next decade were interrupted by World War II when the Japanese Empire invaded and established a puppet government. Many atrocities and war crimes were committed during the war such as the Bataan Death March and the Manila massacre that culminated during the Battle of Manila.[47] Allied troops defeated the Japanese in 1945. By the end of the war it is estimated over a million Filipinos had died.[48]
On July 4, 1946, the Philippines attained its independence.[5] Immediately after World War II, the Philippines faced a number of challenges. The country had to be rebuilt from the ravages of war. It also had to come to terms with Japanese collaborators. Meanwhile, disgruntled remnants of the Hukbalahap communist rebel army that had previously fought against and resisted the Japanese continued to roam the rural regions. This threat to the government was dealt with by Secretary of National Defense and later President Ramon Magsaysay, but sporadic cases of communist insurgency continued to flare up long afterward.[49][50] In 1965, Ferdinand Marcos was elected president. Nearing the end of his second term and constitutionally barred from seeking a third, he declared martial law on September 21, 1972. By using political divisions, the tension of the Cold War, and the specter of communist rebellion and Islamic insurgency as justifications, he governed by decree.[51]
On August 21, 1983, Marcos' chief rival opposition leader Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. ignored warnings and returned from exile in the United States. He was assassinated as he was taken off the plane at the Manila International Airport (now called the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his memory). With political pressure building, Marcos eventually called for snap presidential elections in 1986.[49] Corazon Aquino, Benigno's widow, was persuaded to become the presidential candidate and standard bearer of the opposition. The elections were widely considered rigged when Marcos was proclaimed the winner. This led to the People Power Revolution, instigated when two long-time Marcos allies—Armed Forces of the Philippines Vice Chief-of-Staff Fidel V. Ramos and Secretary of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile—resigned and barricaded themselves in Camp Aguinaldo and Camp Crame. Exhorted by the Cardinal Archbishop of Manila Jaime Sin, people gathered in support of the rebel leaders and protested on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA). In the face of mass protests and military defections, Marcos and his allies fled to Hawaii and into exile. Corazon Aquino was recognized as president.[50][52]
The return of democracy and government reforms after the events of 1986 were hampered by national debt, government corruption, coup attempts, a persistent communist insurgency, and Islamic separatists. The economy improved during the administration of Fidel V. Ramos, who was elected president in 1992.[53] However, the economic improvements were negated with the onset of the East Asian financial crisis in 1997. In 2001, amid charges of corruption and a stalled impeachment process, Ramos' successor Joseph Estrada was ousted from the presidency by the 2001 EDSA Revolution and replaced by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Her administration that lasted 9 years was tied with graft and corruption and numerous political scandals.[54][55][56] As a result of the May 2010 elections, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III was elected president.
Politics and government[link]
Main articles: Politics of the Philippines, President of the Philippines, and Constitution of the Philippines
The Philippines has a democratic government.[57] It is a constitutional republic with a presidential system. It is governed as a unitary state with the exception of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which is largely free from the national government. The President functions as both head of state and head of government and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president is elected by popular vote for a single six-year term, during which he or she appoints and presides over the cabinet.[3]
The bicameral Congress is composed of the Senate, serving as the upper house, with members elected to a six-year term, and the House of Representatives, serving as the lower house, with members elected to a three-year term. The senators are elected at large while the representatives are elected from both legislative districts and through sectoral representation.[3]
The judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court, composed of a Chief Justice as its presiding officer and fourteen associate justices, all of whom are appointed by the President from nominations submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council.[3]
There have been attempts to change the government to a federal, unicameral, or parliamentary government since the Ramos administration.[58][59]
Security and defense[link]
Main articles: Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police
Philippine defense is handled by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and is composed of three branches: the Air Force, the Army, and the Navy (including the Marine Corps). Civilian security is handled by Philippine National Police under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the largest separatist organization, the Moro National Liberation Front, is now engaging the government politically. Other more militant groups like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the communist New People's Army, and the Abu Sayyaf still roam the provinces, but their presence has decreased in recent years due to successful security provided by the Philippine government.[60][61]
The Philippines has been an ally of the United States since World War II. A mutual defense treaty between the two countries was signed in 1951. The Philippines supported American policies during the Cold War and participated in the Korean and Vietnam wars. It was a member of the now dissolved SEATO, a group that was intended to serve a role similar to NATO and that included Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[62] After the start of the War on Terror, the Philippines was part of the coalition that gave support to the United States in Iraq.[63] The United States designated the country a major non-NATO ally. The Philippines is currently working to end its domestic insurgency with help from the United States.
International relations[link]
Main article: Foreign relations of the Philippines
The Philippines' international relations are based on trade with other nations and the well-being of the 11 million overseas Filipinos living outside the country.[64] As a founding and active member of the United Nations, the Philippines has been elected several times into the Security Council. Carlos P. Romulo was a former President of the United Nations General Assembly. The country is an active participant in the Human Rights Council as well as in peacekeeping missions, particularly in East Timor.[65][66][67][68]
In addition to membership in the United Nations, the country is also a founding and active member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), an organization designed to strengthen relations and promote economic and cultural growth among states in the Southeast Asian region.[69] It has hosted several summits and is an active contributor to the direction and policies of the bloc.[70] The relations it currently enjoys with other Southeast Asian states are in contrast to its relations with them before the 1970s when it was at war with Vietnam and was heavily disputing Sabah with Malaysia; although, disagreements continue to exist due to the Spratly Islands.[71]
The Philippines values its relations with the United States.[64] It supported the United States during the Cold War and the War on Terror and is a major non-NATO ally. Despite this history of goodwill, controversies related to the presence of the now former U.S. military bases in Subic Bay and Clark and the current Visiting Forces Agreement have flared up from time to time.[64] Japan, the biggest contributor of official development assistance to the country,[72] is thought of as a friend. Although historical tensions still exist on issues such as the plight of comfort women much of the animosity inspired by memories of World War II have faded.[73]
Relations with other nations are generally positive. Shared democratic values ease relations with Western and European countries while similar economic concerns help in relations with other developing countries. Historical ties and cultural similarities also serve as a bridge in relations with Spain and Latin America. Despite issues such as domestic abuse and war affecting overseas Filipino workers and obstacles posed by Islamic insurgency in Mindanao, relations with Middle Eastern countries (including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) are friendly as seen in the continuous employment of more than two million overseas Filipinos living there.
With communism no longer the threat it once was, once hostile relations in the 1950s between the Philippines and the People's Republic of China have improved greatly. Issues involving Taiwan, the Spratly Islands, and concerns of expanding Chinese influence, however, still encourage a degree of carefulness.[73] Recent foreign policy has been mostly about economic relations with its Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific neighbors.[64]
The Philippines is a member of the East Asia Summit (EAS), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Latin Union, the Group of 24, and the Non-Aligned Movement.[3] It is also seeking to strengthen relations with Islamic countries by campaigning for observer status in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.[74][75]
Administrative divisions[link]
Main article: Administrative divisions of the Philippines
The Philippines is divided into three island groups: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. As of March 2010[update], these were divided into 17 regions, 80 provinces, 138 cities, 1,496 municipalities, and 42,025 barangays.[76] In addition, Section 2 of Republic Act No. 5446 asserts that the definition of the territorial sea around the Philippine archipelago does not affect the claim over Sabah.[77]
A clickable map of the Philippines exhibiting its 17 regions and 80 provinces.
| Region | Designation | Regional center |
|---|---|---|
| Ilocos Region | Region I | San Fernando, La Union |
| Cagayan Valley | Region II | Tuguegarao, Cagayan |
| Central Luzon | Region III | San Fernando, Pampanga |
| CALABARZON | Region IV-A | Calamba, Laguna |
| MIMAROPA | Region IV-B | Calapan, Oriental Mindoro |
| Bicol Region | Region V | Legazpi, Albay |
| Western Visayas | Region VI | Iloilo City |
| Central Visayas | Region VII | Cebu City |
| Eastern Visayas | Region VIII | Tacloban |
| Zamboanga Peninsula | Region IX | Zamboanga City |
| Northern Mindanao | Region X | Cagayan de Oro |
| Davao Region | Region XI | Davao City |
| SOCCSKSARGEN | Region XII | Koronadal, South Cotabato |
| Caraga | Region XIII | Butuan |
| Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao | ARMM | Cotabato City |
| Cordillera Administrative Region | CAR | Baguio |
| National Capital Region | NCR | Manila |
Geography[link]
Main article: Geography of the Philippines
The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands[3] with a total land area, including inland bodies of water, of approximately 300,000 square kilometers (120,000 sq mi). Its 36,289 kilometers (22,549 mi) of coastline makes it the country with the 5th longest coastline in the world.[3][78] It is located between 116° 40', and 126° 34' E. longitude and 4° 40' and 21° 10' N. latitude and is bordered by the Philippine Sea to the east, the South China Sea to the west, and the Celebes Sea to the south. The island of Borneo is located a few hundred kilometers southwest and Taiwan is located directly to the north. The Moluccas and Sulawesi are located to the south-southwest and Palau is located to the east of the islands.[3]
Most of the mountainous islands are covered in tropical rainforest and volcanic in origin. The highest mountain is Mount Apo. It measures up to 2,954 meters (9,692 feet) above sea level and is located on the island of Mindanao. The Galathea Depth in the Philippine Trench is the deepest point in the country and the third deepest in the world. The trench is located in the Philippine Sea. The longest river is the Cagayan River in northern Luzon. Manila Bay, upon the shore of which the capital city of Manila lies, is connected to Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines, by the Pasig River. Subic Bay, the Davao Gulf, and the Moro Gulf are other important bays. The San Juanico Strait separates the islands of Samar and Leyte but it is traversed by the San Juanico Bridge.[79]
Situated on the western fringes of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity. The Benham Plateau to the east in the Philippine Sea is an undersea region active in tectonic subduction.[80] Around 20 earthquakes are registered daily, though most are too weak to be felt. The last major earthquake was the 1990 Luzon earthquake.[81] There are many active volcanoes such as the Mayon Volcano, Mount Pinatubo, and Taal Volcano. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991 produced the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century.[82] Not all notable geographic features are so violent or destructive. A more serene legacy of the geological disturbances is the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River. The white sand beaches that make Boracay a popular vacation getaway are made of coral remnants.
Due to the volcanic nature of the islands, mineral deposits are abundant. The country is estimated to have the second-largest gold deposits after South Africa and one of the largest copper deposits in the world.[83] It is also rich in nickel, chromite, and zinc. Despite this, poor management, high population density, and environmental consciousness have resulted in these mineral resources remaining largely untapped.[83] Geothermal energy, however, is another product of volcanic activity that the country has harnessed more successfully. The Philippines is the world's second-biggest geothermal producer behind the United States, with 18% of the country's electricity needs being met by geothermal power.[84]
Flora and fauna[link]
Main article: Wildlife of the Philippines
The Philippines' rainforests and its extensive coastlines make it home to a diverse range of birds, plants, animals, and sea creatures.[85] It is one of the ten most biologically mega-diverse countries and is at or near the top in terms of biodiversity per unit area.[86][87][88] Around 1,100 land vertebrate species can be found in the Philippines including over 100 mammal species and 170 bird species not thought to exist elsewhere.[89] Endemic species include the tamaraw of Mindoro, the Visayan spotted deer, the Philippine mouse deer, the Visayan warty pig, the Philippine flying lemur, and several species of bats.[90]
The Philippines lacks large predators, with the exception of snakes, such as pythons and cobras, and birds of prey, such as the national bird, known as the Philippine eagle.[91] Other native animals include the palm civet cat, the dugong, and the Philippine tarsier associated with Bohol. With an estimated 13,500 plant species in the country, 3,200 of which are unique to the islands,[89] Philippine rainforests boast an array of flora, including many rare types of orchids and rafflesia.[92][93] The narra is considered as the most important type of hardwood.[94]
Philippine maritime waters encompass as much as 2.2 million square kilometers (850,000 square miles) producing unique and diverse marine life and is an important part of the Coral Triangle.[77] There are 2,400 fish species and over 500 species of coral.[85][89] The Apo Reef is the country's largest contiguous coral reef system and the second-largest in the world.[95] Philippine waters also sustain the cultivation of pearls, crabs, and seaweeds.[85][96]
Deforestation, often the result of illegal logging, is an acute problem in the Philippines. Forest cover declined from 70% of the country's total land area in 1900 to about 18.3% in 1999.[97][98] Many species are endangered and scientists say that Southeast Asia, which the Philippines is part of, faces a catastrophic extinction rate of 20% by the end of the century.[99] According to Conservation International, "the country is one of the few nations that is, in its entirety, both a hotspot and a megadiversity country, placing it among the top priority hotspots for global conservation."[92]
Climate[link]
Main article: Climate of the Philippines
The Philippines has a tropical maritime climate and is usually hot and humid. There are three seasons: tag-init or tag-araw, the hot dry season or summer from March to May; tag-ulan, the rainy season from June to November; and tag-lamig, the cool dry season from December to February. The southwest monsoon (from May to October) is known as the Habagat, and the dry winds of the northeast monsoon (from November to April), the Amihan.[100] Temperatures usually range from 21°C (70°F) to 32°C (90°F) although it can get cooler or hotter depending on the season. The coolest month is January; the warmest is May.[3][101]
The average yearly temperature is around 26.6°C (79.88°F).[100] In considering temperature, location in terms of latitude and longitude is not a significant factor. Whether in the extreme north, south, east, or west of the country, temperatures at sea level tend to be in the same range. Altitude usually has more of an impact. The average annual temperature of Baguio at an elevation of 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) above sea level is 18.3°C (64.9°F), making it a popular destination during hot summers.[100] Likewise, Tagaytay is a favored retreat.
Sitting astride the typhoon belt, most of the islands experience annual torrential rains and thunderstorms from July to October,[102] with around nineteen typhoons entering the Philippine area of responsibility in a typical year and eight or nine making landfall.[103][104][105] Annual rainfall measures as much as 5,000 millimeters (200 inches) in the mountainous east coast section but less than 1,000 millimeters (39 inches) in some of the sheltered valleys.[102] The wettest known tropical cyclone to impact the archipelago was the July 1911 cyclone, which dropped over 1,168 millimetres (46.0 in) of rainfall within a 24-hour period in Baguio City.[106] Bagyo is the local term for a tropical cyclone in the Philippines.[106]
Economy[link]
Main article: Economy of the Philippines
The national economy of the Philippines is the 45th largest in the world, with an estimated 2011 gross domestic product (nominal) of $216 billion.[7] Primary exports include semiconductors and electronic products, transport equipment, garments, copper products, petroleum products, coconut oil, and fruits.[5] Major trading partners include the United States, Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Germany, Taiwan, and Thailand.[5] Its unit of currency is the Philippine peso (₱ or PHP).
A newly industrialized country, the Philippine economy has been transitioning from one based on agriculture to one based more on services and manufacturing. Of the country's total labor force of around 38.1 million,[5] the agricultural sector employs close to 32% but contributes to only about 13.8% of GDP. The industrial sector employs around 13.7% of the workforce and accounts for 30% of GDP. Meanwhile the 46.5% of workers involved in the services sector are responsible for 56.2% of GDP.[107][108]
File:Monument To Immortality.jpg
The Philippine Stock Exchange with the statue of Benigno Aquino, Jr.
The unemployment rate as of July 2009 stands at around 7.6% and due to the global economic slowdown inflation as of September 2009 reads 0.70%.[108] Gross international reserves as of July 2011 are $75.174 billion.[109] In 2004, public debt as a percentage of GDP was estimated to be 74.2%; in 2008, 56.9%.[5] Gross external debt has risen to $66.27 billion.[5] The country is a net importer.[108]
After World War II, the country was for a time regarded as the second wealthiest in East Asia, next only to Japan.[64][110][111] However, by the 1960s its economic performance started being overtaken. The economy stagnated under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos as the regime spawned economic mismanagement and political volatility.[64][111] The country suffered from slow economic growth and bouts of economic recession. Only in the 1990s with a program of economic liberalization did the economy begin to recover.[64][111]
The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis affected the economy, resulting in a lingering decline of the value of the peso and falls in the stock market. But the extent it was affected initially was not as severe as that of some of its Asian neighbors. This was largely due to the fiscal conservatism of the government, partly as a result of decades of monitoring and fiscal supervision from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in comparison to the massive spending of its neighbors on the rapid acceleration of economic growth.[53] There have been signs of progress since. In 2004, the economy experienced 6.4% GDP growth and 7.1% in 2007, its fastest pace of growth in three decades.[7][112][113] Yet average annual GDP growth per capita for the period 1966–2007 still stands at 1.45% in comparison to an average of 5.96% for the East Asia and the Pacific region as a whole and the daily income for 45% of the population of the Philippines remains less than $2.[114][115] Despite enjoying sustained economic growth during the first decade of the 21st century, as of 2010[update], the country's economy remains smaller than those of its Southeast Asian neighbors Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore in terms of GDP and GDP per capita (nominal).[116]
Other incongruities and challenges exist. The economy is heavily reliant on remittances which surpass foreign direct investment as a source of foreign currency. Regional development is uneven with Luzon—Metro Manila in particular—gaining most of the new economic growth at the expense of the other regions,[117] although the government has taken steps to distribute economic growth by promoting investment in other areas of the country. Despite constraints, service industries such as tourism and business process outsourcing have been identified as areas with some of the best opportunities for growth for the country.[108][118] Goldman Sachs includes the country in its list of the "Next Eleven" economies.[119] But China and India have emerged as major economic competitors.[120]
The Philippines is a member of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Asian Development Bank which is headquartered in Mandaluyong City, the Colombo Plan, and the G-77 among other groups and institutions.[5]
Demographics[link]
Population in Philippines increased from 1990 to 2008 with 28 million with 45% growth.[121] The first official census in the Philippines was carried out in 1877 and recorded a population of 5,567,685.[122] As of 2011, the Philippines has become the world's 12th most populous nation, with a population of over 94 million. It is estimated that half of the population resides on the island of Luzon. The population growth rate between 1995 to 2000 of 3.21% decreased to an estimated 1.95% for the 2005 to 2010 period, but remains a contentious issue.[123][124] The population's median age is 22.7 years with 60.9% aged from 15 to 64 years old.[5] Life expectancy at birth is 71.94 years, 75.03 years for females and 68.99 years for males.[125]
There are about 11 million Filipinos outside the Philippines.[126] Since the liberalization of United States immigration laws in 1965, the number of people in the United States having Filipino ancestry has grown substantially. In 2007 there were an estimated 3.1 million.[127][128] According to the United States Census Bureau, immigrants from the Philippines made up the second largest group after Mexico that sought family reunification.[129] Some two million Filipinos work in the Middle East, with nearly a million in Saudi Arabia alone.[130]
Ethnicity[link]
Main article: Ethnic groups of the Philippines
According to the 2000 census 28.1% of Filipinos are Tagalog, 13.1% Cebuano, 9% Ilocano, 7.6% Bisaya/Binisaya, 7.5% Hiligaynon, 6% Bikol, 3.4% Waray, and 25.3% are classified as other.[5][131] These general headings can be broken down further to yield more distinct non-tribal groups like the Moro, the Kapampangan, the Pangasinense, the Ibanag, and the Ivatan.[132] There are also indigenous peoples like the Igorot, the Lumad, the Mangyan, the Bajau, and the tribes of Palawan.[133] Negritos, such as the Aeta and the Ati, are considered among the earliest inhabitants of the islands.[134]
Filipinos generally belong to several Asian ethnic groups classified linguistically as part of the Austronesian or Malayo-Polynesian speaking people.[133] It's believed that thousands of years ago Taiwanese aborigines migrated to the Philippines from Taiwan, bringing with them knowledge of agriculture and ocean-sailing, and displacing the earlier Negrito groups of the islands.[135]
Eventually Chinese, Spanish, and American arrivals intermarried with the various indigenous ethnic groups that had evolved.[135] Their descendants are known as mestizos.[136] Chinese Filipinos number about two million.[137] Other migrant ethnic groups who have settled in the country from elsewhere include Arabs, Britons, other Europeans, Indonesians, Japanese, Koreans, and South Asians.
Cities[link]
Main article: Cities of the Philippines
Metro Manila is the most populous of the twelve defined metropolitan areas in the Philippines and the 11th most populous in the world. As of the 2007 census, it had a population of 11,553,427, comprising 13% of the national population.[138] Including suburbs in the adjacent provinces (Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal) of Greater Manila, the population is around 21 million.[138][139]
Metro Manila's gross regional product is estimated as of July 2009 to be ₱468.4 billion (at constant 1985 prices) and accounts for 33% of the nation's GDP.[140] In 2008, it ranked as the 40th wealthiest urban agglomeration in the world and the 2nd in Southeast Asia, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.[141] Cebu City in the Visayas and Davao City in Mindanao are other important urban centers.
|
Largest cities or towns of Philippines Philippines 2010 Census |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | City name | Region | Pop. | Rank | City name | Region | Pop. | ||
| 1 | Quezon City | National Capital Region | 2,761,720 | 11 | Parañaque | National Capital Region | 588,126 | ||
| 2 | Manila | National Capital Region | 1,652,171 | 12 | Dasmariñas | CALABARZON | 575,817 | ||
| 3 | Caloocan | National Capital Region | 1,489,040 | 13 | Valenzuela | National Capital Region | 575,356 | ||
| 4 | Davao City | Davao Region | 1,449,296 | 14 | Las Piñas | National Capital Region | 552,573 | ||
| 5 | Cebu City | Central Visayas | 866,171 | 15 | General Santos | SOCCSKSARGEN | 538,086 | ||
| 6 | Zamboanga City | Zamboanga Peninsula | 807,129 | 16 | Makati | National Capital Region | 529,039 | ||
| 7 | Antipolo | CALABARZON | 677,741 | 17 | Bacolod | Western Visayas | 511,820 | ||
| 8 | Pasig | National Capital Region | 669,773 | 18 | Marikina | National Capital Region | 496,205 | ||
| 9 | Taguig | National Capital Region | 644,473 | 19 | San Jose del Monte | Central Luzon | 454,553 | ||
| 10 | Cagayan de Oro | Northern Mindanao | 602,088 | 20 | Iloilo City | Western Visayas | 424,619 | ||
Language[link]
Main article: Languages of the Philippines
| Native Languages (2010)[142] | |
|---|---|
| Tagalog | 22 million |
| Cebuano | 20 million |
| Ilokano | 7.7 million |
| Hiligaynon | 7 million |
| Waray-Waray | 3.1 million |
Ethnologue lists 175 individual languages in the Philippines, 171 of which are living languages while 4 no longer have any known speakers. They are part of the Borneo–Philippines group of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is itself a branch of the Austronesian language family.[133]
According to the 1987 Philippine Constitution, Filipino and English are the official languages. Filipino is a de facto version of Tagalog, spoken mainly in Metro Manila and other urban regions. Both Filipino and English are used in government, education, print, broadcast media, and business. The constitution designates regional languages such as Bicolano, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Tagalog, and Waray-Waray as auxiliary official languages, and mandates that Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis.[4]
Other languages such as Aklanon, Boholano, Chavacano, Zamboangueño, Cuyonon, Ifugao, Itbayat, Ivatan, Kalinga, Kamayo, Kankana-ey, Kinaray-a, Maguindanao, Maranao, Masbatenyo, Romblomanon, Surigaonon, Tausug, Yakan, and several Visayan languages are prevalent in their respective provinces.
Religion[link]
Main article: Religion in the Philippines
The Philippines is a secular nation having a constitution separating the state and church. However, a large percentage of the Filipino people identify themselves as religious.[citation needed] More than 90% of the population are Christians: about 80% belong to the Roman Catholic Church while 10% belong to other Christian denominations, such as the Iglesia ni Cristo, the Philippine Independent Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and Jehovah's Witnesses.[143] The Philippines is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being East Timor.
Between five and ten percent of the population are Muslim, most of whom live in parts of Mindanao, Palawan, and the Sulu Archipelago—an area known as Bangsamoro or the Moro region.[144][145] Some have migrated into urban and rural areas in different parts of the country. Most Muslim Filipinos practice Sunni Islam according to the Shafi'i school.[33] Philippine traditional religions are still practiced by many aboriginal and tribal groups, often syncretized with Christianity and Islam. Animism, folk religion, and shamanism remain present as undercurrents of mainstream religion, through the albularyo, the babaylan, and the manghihilot. Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religion, are dominant in Chinese communities.[145] There are also followers of Judaism and Baha'i.[146]
Education[link]
Main article: Education in the Philippines
The National Statistics Office reports a simple literacy rate of 93.4% and a functional literacy rate of 84.1% for 2003.[5][108][114] Literacy is about equal for males and females.[5] Spending for education is around 2.5% of GDP.[5] According to the Department of Education, or DepEd, there were 44,846 elementary schools and 10,384 secondary schools registered for the school year 2009–2010[147] while the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) lists 2,180 higher education institutions, 607 of which are public and 1,573 private.[148] Classes start in June and end in March. The majority of colleges and universities follow a semester calendar from June to October and November to March. There are a number of foreign schools with study programs.[3] Republic Act No. 9155 gives the framework of basic education in the Philippines and provides for compulsory elementary education and free high school education.[149]
File:UST Main Building.jpg
The University of Santo Tomas, established in 1611, is the oldest extant university charter in Asia.
Several government agencies are involved with education. The Department of Education covers elementary, secondary, and nonformal education; the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) administers the post-secondary middle-level education training and development; and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) supervises the college and graduate academic programs and degrees as well as regulates standards in higher education.[150] In 2004, madrasahs were mainstreamed in 16 regions nationwide mainly in Muslim areas in Mindanao under the auspices and program of the Department of Education.[151] Public universities are all non-sectarian entities, and are further classified as State University and College (SUC) or Local College and University (LCU).[148] SUCs are funded by the national government as determined by the Philippine Congress.[152] The University of the Philippines is the national university of the Philippines.[153]
Health[link]
Main articles: Health in the Philippines and List of hospitals in the Philippines
Most of the national burden of health care is taken up by private health providers. In 2006, total expenditures on health represented 3.8% of GDP. 67.1% of that came from private expenditures while 32.9% was from government. External resources accounted for 2.9% of the total. Health expenditures represented about 6.1% of total government spending. Per capita total expenditure at average exchange rate was $52.[154] The proposed national health budget for 2010 is ₱28 billion (about $597 million) or ₱310 ($7) per person.[155] The government share of total spending on health has declined steadily, and with more people, there has been less to spend per person.
There are an estimated 90,370 physicians or 1 per every 833 people, 480,910 nurses, 43,220 dentists, and 1 hospital bed per every 769 people.[154] Retention of skilled practitioners is a problem. 70% of nursing graduates go overseas to work. The country is the biggest supplier of nurses.[156] In 2001 there were about 1,700 hospitals, of which about 40% were government-run and 60% private. Cardiovascular diseases account for more than 25% of all deaths. According to official estimates, 1,965 cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were reported in 2003, of which 636 had developed acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Other estimates have as many as 12,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in 2005.[157]
Infrastructure[link]
Transportation[link]
Main article: Transportation in the Philippines
The transportation infrastructure in the country is relatively underdeveloped. Partly this is due to the mountainous terrain and the scattered geography of the islands, but it is also the result of the government's persistent underinvestment in infrastructure. In 2003, only 3.6% of GDP went to infrastructure development which was significantly lower than that of some of its neighbors.[102] Consequently, while there are 203,025 kilometers (126,154 mi) of roads in the country, only around 20% of the total is paved.[158]
Nevertheless there are many ways to get around, especially in urban areas. Buses, jeepneys, taxis, and motorized tricycles are commonly available in major cities and towns. In 2007, there were about 5.53 million registered motor vehicles with registration increasing at an average annual rate of 4.55%.[159] Train services are provided by three main railway networks that serve different areas of Metro Manila and parts of Luzon: the Manila Light Rail Transit System (LRT), the Manila Metro Rail Transit System (MRT), and the Philippine National Railways (PNR).
As an archipelago, inter-island travel via watercraft is often necessary. The busiest seaports are Manila, Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and Zamboanga.[160] Passenger ships and other sea vessels such as those operated by Superferry, Negros Navigation, and Sulpicio Lines serve Manila, with links to various cities and towns. In 2003, the 919-kilometer (571 mi) Strong Republic Nautical Highway (SRNH), an integrated set of highway segments and ferry routes covering 17 cities was established.[161]
Some rivers that pass through metropolitan areas, such as the Pasig River and Marikina River, have air-conditioned commuter ferries. The Pasig River Ferry Service has numerous stops in Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig and Marikina.[162] There are 3,219 kilometers (2,000 mi) of navigable inland waterways.[5]
There are 85 public airports in the country, and around 111 more that are private.[158] The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is the main international airport. Other important airports include the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, Mactan-Cebu International Airport, Francisco Bangoy International Airport and Zamboanga International Airport. Philippine Airlines, Asia's oldest commercial airline still operating under its original name, and Cebu Pacific, the leading low-cost airline, are the major airlines serving most domestic and international destinations.[163][164][165]
Communications[link]
Main articles: Communications in the Philippines, Internet in the Philippines, and Social networking in the Philippines
The Philippines has a sophisticated cellular phone industry and a high concentration of users.[166] As of 2008, there are about 67.9 million cellular phone subscribers in the Philippines.[167] Text messaging is a popular form of communication and has fostered a culture of quick greetings and forwarded jokes among Filipinos. In 2007, the nation sent an average of one billion SMS messages per day.[168] Out of this growing number of avid text message senders, over five million of them use their cellular phones as virtual wallets, making it a leader among developing nations in providing financial transactions over cellular networks.[169]
The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company commonly known as PLDT is the leading telecommunications provider. It is also the largest company in the country.[166][170] Its wholly owned subsidiaries Smart Communications and Piltel, along with Globe Telecom of the Ayala Group, BayanTel, and Sun Cellular are the major cellular service providers in the country.
There are approximately 383 AM and 659 FM radio stations and 297 television and 873 cable television stations.[171] Estimates for internet penetration in the Philippines vary widely ranging from a low of 2.5 million to a high of 24 million people.[172][173] Social networking and watching videos are among the most frequent internet activities.[174][175]
Culture and society[link]
Main articles: Culture of the Philippines, Literature of the Philippines, Music of the Philippines, and Original Pilipino Music
Philippine culture is a combination of Eastern and Western cultures. The Philippines exhibits aspects found in other Asian countries with a Malay[176] heritage, yet its culture also displays a significant amount of Spanish and American influences. Traditional festivities known as barrio fiestas (district festivals) to commemorate the feast days of patron saints are common. The Moriones Festival and Sinulog Festival are a couple of the most well-known. These community celebrations are times for feasting, music, and dancing. Some traditions, however, are changing or gradually being forgotten due to modernization. The Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company has been lauded for preserving many of the various traditional folk dances found throughout the Philippines. They are famed for their iconic performances of Philippine dances such as the tinikling and singkil that both feature the use of clashing bamboo poles.[177]
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One of the most visible Hispanic legacies is the prevalence of Spanish names and surnames among Filipinos. However, a Spanish name and surname does not necessarily denote Spanish ancestry. This peculiarity, unique among the people of Asia, came as a result of a colonial decree, the Clavería edict, for the systematic distribution of family names and implementation of the Spanish naming system on the population.[178] The names of many streets, towns, and provinces are also in Spanish. Spanish architecture has left an imprint in the Philippines in the way many towns were designed around a central square or plaza mayor, but many of the buildings bearing its influence were demolished during World War II.[26] Some examples remain, mainly among the country's churches, government buildings, and universities. Four Philippine baroque churches are included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the San Agustín Church in Manila, the Paoay Church in Ilocos Norte, the Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Santa María) Church in Ilocos Sur, and the Santo Tomás de Villanueva Church in Iloilo.[179] Vigan in Ilocos Sur is also known for the many Hispanic-styled houses and buildings preserved there.[180]
The common use of the English language is an example of the American impact on Philippine society. It has contributed to the ready acceptance and influence of American pop cultural trends. This affinity is seen in Filipinos' love of fast food, film, and music. Fast food outlets are found on many street corners. American global fast food chain stalwarts have entered the market, but local fast food chains like Goldilocks and most notably Jollibee, the leading fast food chain in the country, have emerged and compete successfully against their foreign rivals.[181][182] Filipinos regularly listen to and watch contemporary American, Asian, and European music and film just as they enjoy Original Pilipino Music (also known as OPM) and local films.
Cuisine[link]
Main article: Philippine cuisine
Philippine cuisine has evolved over several centuries from its Malayo-Polynesian origins to become a mixed cuisine with many Hispanic, Chinese, American, and other Asian influences that have been adapted to local ingredients and the Filipino palate to create distinctively Filipino dishes. Dishes range from the very simple, like a meal of fried salted fish and rice, to the elaborate, such as the paellas and cocidos created for fiestas. Popular dishes include lechón, adobo, sinigang, kare-kare, tapa, crispy pata, pancit, lumpia, and halo-halo. Some common local ingredients used in cooking are calamondins, coconuts, saba (a kind of short wide plantain), mangoes, milkfish, and fish sauce. Filipino taste buds tend to favor robust flavors but the cuisine is not as spicy as those of its neighbors.[182][183]
Unlike many of their Asian counterparts, Filipinos do not eat with chopsticks; they use Western cutlery. However, possibly due to rice being the primary staple food and the popularity of a large number of stews and main dishes with broth in Philippine cuisine, the main pairing of utensils seen at the Filipino dining table is that of spoon and fork, not knife and fork.[184] The traditional way of eating with the hands known as kamayan is seen more often in less urbanized areas.[185]
Mythology and literature[link]
Philippine mythology has been handed down primarily through the traditional oral folk literature of the Filipino people. While each unique ethnic group has its own stories and myths to tell, Hindu and Spanish influence can nonetheless be detected in many cases. Many of the myths are creation stories or stories about supernatural creatures, such as the aswang (vampire), the diwata (fairy), and Nature. Some popular figures from Philippine mythologies are Maria Makiling, Lam-Ang, and the Sarimanok.[186]
Philippine literature comprises works usually written in Filipino, Spanish, or English. Some of the most known were created in the 19th century. Francisco Balagtas the poet and playwright who wrote Florante at Laura is recognized as a preeminent writer in the Filipino language. José Rizal wrote the novels Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Filibustering, also known as The Reign of Greed) and is considered a national hero. His depiction of the injustices of Spanish rule, and his death by firing squad, inspired other Philippine revolutionaries to seek independence. In the 20th century, among those officially recognized as National Artists of the Philippines in literature are N.V.M. Gonzalez, Nick Joaquin, F. Sionil Jose, and Alejandro Roces.[187]
Media[link]
Philippine media uses mainly Filipino and English. Other Philippine languages, including various Visayan languages are also used, especially in radio due to its ability to reach remote rural locations that might otherwise not be serviced by other kinds of media. The dominant television networks ABS-CBN, GMA and TV5 also have extensive radio presence.[188]
The entertainment industry is vibrant and feeds broadsheets and tabloids with an unending supply of details about celebrities and sensationalist scandals du jour. Drama and fantasy shows are anticipated as are Latin telenovelas, Asianovelas, and anime. Daytime television is dominated by game shows, variety shows, and talk shows such as Eat Bulaga and It's Showtime.[189] Philippine cinema has a long history and is popular domestically, but has faced increasing competition from American, Asian and European films. Critically acclaimed directors and actors include Lino Brocka and Nora Aunor for films like Maynila: Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila: In the Claws of Light) and Himala (Miracle). In recent years it has become common to see celebrities flitting between television and movies and then moving into politics provoking concerns.[190]
Sports and recreation[link]
Main article: Sports in the Philippines
Various sports and pastimes are popular in the Philippines including basketball, boxing, cockfighting, volleyball, football, badminton, karate, taekwondo, billiards, ten-pin bowling, chess, and sipa. motocross, cycling, and mountaineering are also becoming popular. Basketball is played at both amateur and professional levels and is considered to be the most popular sport in the Philippines.[191] In almost every corner of the cities, there is a basketball court.[177]
Traditional Philippine games such as luksung baka, patintero, piko, and tumbang preso are still played primarily as children's games among the youth.[192][193] Sungka is a traditional native Philippine board game. Card games are popular during festivities, with some, including pusoy and tong-its, being used as a form of illegal gambling. Mahjong is played in some Philippine communities. The yo-yo, a popular toy in the Philippines, was introduced in its modern form by Pedro Flores with its name from the Ilokano language.[194]
Arnis (Eskrima or Kali in some regions) is the national martial art and sport.[195] Today there are said to be almost as many Philippine fighting styles as there are islands in the Philippines. In 1972, the Philippine government included Filipino martial arts into the national sports arena. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports also incorporated them into the physical education curriculum for high school and college students.
Some Filipinos recognized for their achievements include Francisco Guilledo, Flash Elorde, and Manny Pacquiao in boxing; Paulino Alcántara in football (soccer); Carlos Loyzaga, Robert Jaworski, and Ramon Fernandez in basketball; Efren Reyes in billiards; Eugene Torre in chess; and Rafael Nepomuceno in bowling.[196][197][198]
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See also[link]
- Outline of the Philippines
- Index of Philippines-related articles
- International rankings of the Philippines
References[link]
- ^ "Republic Act No. 8491". Republic of the Philippines. Archived from the original on 2007-12-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20071205235342/http://www.gov.ph/aboutphil/RA8491.asp. Retrieved 2008-09-30. Link was revisited on November 19, 2010
- ^ "Presidential Decree No. 940". May 29, 1976. http://www.chanrobles.com/presidentialdecrees/presidentialdecreeno940.html.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k General Information. (older version -- as it existed in 2007 -- during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo), The Official Government Portal of the Republic of the Philippines.
- ^ a b 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, Article XIV, Section 7. Retrieved 2009-11-21 from the Chan Robles Virtual Law Library.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Central Intelligence Agency. (2009-10-28). "East & Southeast Asia :: Philippines". The World Factbook. Washington, DC: Author. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
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- ^ Castles, Stephen and Mark J. Miller. (July 2009). "Migration in the Asia-Pacific Region". Migration Information Source. Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
- ^ Ciria-Cruz, Rene P. (2004-07-26). 2 million reasons for withdrawing 51 troops. San Francisco Chronicle. July 26, 2004.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. National Statistics Office. (2009). The Philippines in Figures 2009. Author. ISSN 1655-2539. http://www.census.gov.ph/data/publications/pif_2009.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- ^ "Philippines". (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2009-12-18 from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
- ^ a b c Lewis, Paul M. (2009). Languages of Philippines. Ethnologue: Languages of the World (16th ed.). Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Retrieved 2009-12-16.
- ^ Dolan, Ronald E. (Ed.). (1991). "Ethnicity, Regionalism, and Language". Philippines: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress. Retrieved 2010-04-08 from Country Studies US Website.
- ^ a b Capelli, Christian, James F. Wilson, Martin Richards, Michael P. H. Stumpf, Fiona Gratrix, Stephen Oppenheimer, Peter Underhill et al. (2001-02-01). "A Predominantly Indigenous Paternal Heritage for the Austronesian-Speaking Peoples of Insular South Asia and Oceania". American Journal of Human Genetics 68 (2): 432–443. DOI:10.1086/318205. PMC 1235276. PMID 11170891. http://hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2001_v68_p432.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
- ^ "The Impact of Spanish Rule in the Philippines". (2009). Tagalog at NIU. Retrieved 2009-12-19 from the Northern Illinois University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, SEAsite Project.
- ^ "Chinese lunar new year might become national holiday in Philippines too". (2009-08-23). Xinhua News. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
- ^ a b Republic of the Philippines. National Statistics Office. (April 2008). "Total Population and Annual Population Growth Rates by Region: Population Censuses 1995, 2000, and 2007". http://www.census.gov.ph/data/census2007/index.html. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
- ^ Demographia. (July 2010). Demographia World Urban Areas (World Agglomerations) Population & Projections (Edition 6.1). Retrieved 2011-03-29.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. National Statistical Coordination Board. (July 2009). 2008 Gross Regional Domestic Product - Levels of GRDP. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
- ^ Hawksworth, John, Thomas Hoehn and Anmol Tiwari. "Global City GDP Rankings 2008-2025". UK Economic Outlook November 2009. PricewaterhouseCoopers. p. 20. https://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/imagelibrary/downloadMedia.ashx?MediaDetailsID=1562. Retrieved 2009-11-20.
- ^ Philippine Census, 2010. Table 11. Household Population by Ethnicity, Sex, and Region: 2010.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. National Statistics Office. (2003-02-18). "2000 Census: Additional Three Persons Per Minute". Author. http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2003/pr0323tx.html. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
- ^ RP closer to becoming observer-state in Organization of Islamic Conference. (2009-05-29). The Philippine Star. Retrieved 2009-07-10, "Eight million Muslim Filipinos, representing 10 percent of the total Philippine population, ...".
- ^ a b U.S. Department of State. (2008). Philippines: International Religious Freedom Report 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-20, "Islam is the largest minority religion, and Muslims constitute between 5 and 9 percent of the total population."
- ^ The Largest Baha'i Communities. (2005-09-30). Retrieved 2010-04-26 from www.adherents.com.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. Department of Education. (2010-09-23).Fact Sheet – Basic Education Statistics. Author. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
- ^ a b Republic of the Philippines. Commission on Higher Education. (August 2010). Information on Higher Education System. Official Website of the Commission on Higher Education. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. (Approved: August 11, 2001). Republic Act No. 9155 – Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001. Retrieved 2009-12-11 from the Chan Robles Virtual Law Library.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. Department of Education. (n.d.). "Historical Perspective of the Philippine Educational System". Author. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
- ^ Esplanada, Jerry E. (2009-07-20). Mainstreaming Madrasah. The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
- ^ Malipot, Ina H. (2010-11-26). Students stage walkouts against cut in SUC funding. The Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 2011-04-16.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. (Approved: 2008-04-29). Republic Act 9500 – An Act to Strengthen the University of the Philippines as the National University. Chan Robles Law Library.
- ^ a b World Health Organization. (2009). World Health Statistics 2009. Geneva: Author. ISBN 978-92-4-156381-9. http://www.who.int/entity/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- ^ Philippine News Agency. (2009-12-14). "Senate approves proposed 2010 national budget". Retrieved 2009-12-18 from the Official Government Portal of the Republic of the Philippines.
- ^ World Health Organization. (April 2006). Philippines. Country Cooperation Strategy at a Glance. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- ^ United States Agency for International Development. (May 2008). USAID Country Health Statistical Report – Philippines. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
- ^ a b World Bank. [ca. 2010]. Transport in the Philippines – Overview. Retrieved 2010-03-18 from the World Bank Website.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. Land Transportation Office. Number of Motor Vehicles Registered. (2008-01-29). Author. Retrieved January 22, 2009.
- ^ The Philippine Transportation System. (2008-08-30). Asian Info. Retrieved January 22, 2009.
- ^ Strong Republic Nautical Highway. (n.d.). Official Website of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Retrieved January 22, 2009.
- ^ Gov't revives Pasig River ferry service. (2007-02-14). GMA News. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
- ^ "About PAL". [ca. 2009]. Philippine Airlines Website. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
- ^ State of Hawaii. Department of Transportation. Airports Division. [ca. 2005]. "Philippine Air Lines". Hawaii Aviation. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
- ^ Oxford Business Group. (2009). The Report: Philippines 2009. Author. p. 97. ISBN 1-902339-12-6. http://books.google.com/?id=eY-Oq1IGzdMC&pg=PT98&dq=#v=onepage&q=. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
- ^ a b "Asia's Fab 50 Companies: PLDT-Philippine Long Distance Telephone". Forbes. 3 September 2008. Retrieved 2009-13-14.
- ^ Wireless Federation. (2009-03-06). Mobile penetration rate reaches the mark of 75% at 2008-end (Philippines). Retrieved 2010-06-02 from the Wireless Federation Website.
- ^ Francisco, Rosemarie. (2008-03-04). Filipinos sent 1 billion text messages daily in 2007. The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Reuters. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
- ^ Teves, Oliver. (2007-10-29). Cell phones double as electronic wallets in Philippines. USA Today. Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
- ^ Special Report: The Global 2000. (2008-04-02). Forbes. p.10. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. National Telecommunications Commission. [ca. 2010]. "Broadcast(AM,FM,TV,CATV) – Number of Broadcast and CATV Stations by Region". Author. Archived from the original on 20-0-06-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20100628041306/http://portal.ntc.gov.ph/wps/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_C7R/_s.7_0_A/7_0_C7R. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. National Telecommunications Commission. [ca. 2010]. "Internet Service Providers – Internet Service". Author. Archived from the original on 2009-01-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20090125092934/http://portal.ntc.gov.ph/wps/portal/!ut/p/.cmd/cs/.ce/7_0_A/.s/7_0_EBH/_s.7_0_A/7_0_EBH. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
- ^ Internet World Stats. (2009). Philippines: Internet Usage Stats and Marketing Report. Miniwatts Marketing Group. Retrieved January 22, 2009.
- ^ Universal McCann. Power To The People: Social Media Tracker, Wave3. (March 2008). Author. Archived from the original[dead link]. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
- ^ Liao, Jerry. (2008-05-09). "The Philippines – Social Networking Capital of the World". Cnet Asia. http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/infochat/post.htm?id=63003580. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
- ^ Baringer, Sally E. [ca. 2006]. "The Philippines". In Countries and Their Cultures. Advameg Inc. Retrieved 2009-12-20 from www.everyculture.com.
- ^ a b Rowthorn, Chris and Greg Bloom. (2006). Philippines (9th ed.). Lonely Planet. p. 44. ISBN 1-74104-289-5. http://books.google.com/?id=aaUR07G0yAcC&pg=PA44&q=. Retrieved 2009-12-10.
- ^ Dumont, Jean-Paul. (1992). Visayan Vignettes: Ethnographic Traces of a Philippine Island. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 160–162. ISBN 0-226-16954-5. http://books.google.com/?id=zMFKs8--FDMC&pg=PA160&dq=#v=onepage&q=. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
- ^ United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2010). "Baroque Churches of the Philippines". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/677/multiple=1&unique_number=801. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
- ^ Rowthorn, Chris and Greg Bloom. (2006). Philippines (9th ed.). Lonely Planet. p. 145. ISBN 1-74104-289-5. http://books.google.com/?id=aaUR07G0yAcC&pg=PA145&q=. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
- ^ "The Jollibee Phenomenon". Jollibee Inc. Archived from the original on 2007-06-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20070623034806/http://www.jollibee.com.ph/corporate/phenomenon.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
- ^ a b Conde, Carlos H. (2005-05-31). "Jollibee stings McDonald's in Philippines". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/30/business/worldbusiness/30iht-burger.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- ^ Zialcita, Fernando Nakpil. (2005). Authentic Though not Exotic: Essays on Filipino Identity. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. p. 281. ISBN 971-550-479-5. http://books.google.com/?id=PEy9G-HLokwC&pg=PA281&dq=#v=onepage&q=. Retrieved 2010-01-05.
- ^ Rowthorn, Chris and Greg Bloom. (2006). Philippines (9th ed.). Lonely Planet. p. 48. ISBN 1-74104-289-5. http://books.google.com/?id=aaUR07G0yAcC&pg=PA48&dq=filipino+cuisine&q=filipino%20cuisine. Retrieved 2009-12-10.
- ^ Zibart, Eve. (2001). The Ethnic Food Lover's Companion: Understanding the Cuisines of the World. Menasha Ridge Press. p. 277. ISBN 0-89732-372-6. http://books.google.com/?id=y6vTun3i4NQC&pg=PA266&q=. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
- ^ Lopez, Mellie Leandicho. (2006). A Handbook of Philippine Folklore. University of the Philippines Press. ISBN 971-542-514-3. http://books.google.com/?id=jGssp-oJrT8C&printsec=frontcover&q=. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. National Commission for Culture and the Arts. The National Artists of the Philippines. Retrieved 2009-12-26 from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts Website.
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- ^ Santiago, Erwin. (2010-04-12). AGB Mega Manila TV Ratings (April 7–11): Agua Bendita pulls away. Retrieved 2010-05-23 from the Philippine Entertainment Portal Website.
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- ^ Viera, Odete Maria and Swarnalata Vemuri. [ca. 2002]. Philippines: Sports and Recreation. Cultural Profiles Project. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). Retrieved 2009-12-20.[dead link]
- ^ Mga Larong Kinagisnan [Games One Grows Up With]. Hagonoy.com. (archived from the original on 2007-11-06)
- ^ Mga Larong Pilipino [Philippine Games]. (2009). Tagalog at NIU. Retrieved 2009-12-19 from the Northern Illinois University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, SEAsite Project.
- ^ Yo-yo. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
- ^ Republic of the Philippines. (Approved: 2009-12-11). An Act Declaring Arnis as the National Martial Art and Sport of the Philippines.Retrieved 2010-02-18 from the Senate of the Philippines Website.
- ^ "Billiard Congress of America: Hall of Fame Inductees". (2009). Retrieved 2009-12-20 from the Billiard Congress of America Website.
- ^ "9 named to Philippine Sports Hall of Fame". (2010-04-24). The Manila Bulletin. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
- ^ Mga Kilalang Pilipino [Known Filipinos]. (n.d.) (in Filipino). Tagalog at NIU. Retrieved 2010-04-25 from the Northern Illinois University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, SEAsite Project.
External links[link]
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| Bruno Mars | |
|---|---|
 Bruno Mars performing in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 19, 2010 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Peter Gene Hernandez |
| Born | (1985-10-08) October 8, 1985 (age 26)[1] Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Genres | Reggae fusion, pop, soul, R&B |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, record producer, model, dancer |
| Instruments | Vocals, drums, guitar, keyboard, bass, piano, harmonica |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Atlantic, Elektra |
| Associated acts | The Smeezingtons |
| Website | www.brunomars.com |
Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age. He performed in various musical venues in his hometown throughout his childhood. He graduated from high school and then moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a musical career. Mars produced songs for other artists, joining production team The Smeezingtons.
Mars had an unsuccessful stint with Motown Records, but then signed with Atlantic Records in 2009. He became recognized as a solo artist after lending his vocals and co-writing the hooks for the songs "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B, and "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy. He also co-wrote the hits "Right Round" by Flo Rida featuring Ke$ha, and "Wavin' Flag" by K'naan. In October 2010, he released his debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans. Anchored by the worldwide number-one singles "Just the Way You Are" and "Grenade", the album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200.[2] Mars was nominated for seven Grammys at the 53rd Grammy Awards, winning Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Just the Way You Are".
Mars' music is noted for displaying a wide variety of styles and influences, and contains elements of many musical genres. He has worked with an assortment of artists from various genres. Mars acknowledges the influences that his collaborations have had on his own music. As a child, he was highly influenced by artists such as Little Richard,[3] Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson and would often impersonate these artists from a young age. Mars also incorporates reggae and Motown inspired sounds into his work. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times referred to Mars as "one of the most versatile and accessible singers in pop."[4] Worldwide, Mars became the best-selling digital artist in 2011. He had three singles in the top ten, including first place with "Just The Way You Are," which sold 12.5 million copies.[5] Mars won Best International Male Solo Artist at the BRIT Awards in 2012.[6] Bruno Mars has sold 5 million albums and 36 million singles worldwide.[7]
Contents |
Early life[link]
Bruno Mars was born Peter Gene Hernandez on October 8th, 1985, and raised in the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii, by parents Pete Hernandez, of Puerto Rican descent, and Bernadette "Bernie," a Filipina.[8][9][10][11] His mother emigrated to Hawaii from the Philippines as a child and his father moved to the island from Brooklyn, New York.[12] Mars' parents met while performing in a show, where his mother was a hula dancer and his father played percussion.[12] At the age of two, he was nicknamed "Bruno" by his father, because of his resemblance to legendary professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino.[13]
Mars was one of six children and came from a musical family who exposed him to a diverse mix of reggae, rock, hip hop, and R&B.[14][15] In addition to being a dancer, his mother was a singer and his father used his musical ability to perform Little Richard rock n roll music.[3] Mars' uncle was an Elvis impersonator. By the age of three his uncle had Mars up on the stage performing. He also performed songs by artists such as Michael Jackson, The Isley Brothers, and The Temptations.[10] At age four, Mars began performing five days a week with his family's band, The Love Notes, in which he became known on the island for his impersonation of Presley.[16]
In 1990, Mars was featured in MidWeek as "Little Elvis", going on to have a cameo in the film Honeymoon in Vegas in 1992.[10][17] He later reflected on the influence Presley had on his music: "I watch the best. I'm a big fan of Elvis. I'm a big fan of 1950s Elvis when he would go on stage and scare people because he was a force and girls would go nuts! You can say the same thing for Prince or The Police. It's just guys who know that people are here to see a show, so I watch those guys and I love studying them because I'm a fan."[18] In 2010, he also acknowledged his Hawaiian roots and musical family as an influence, explaining, "Growing up in Hawaii made me the man I am. I used to do a lot of shows in Hawaii with my father's band. Everybody in my family sings, everyone plays instruments...I've just been surrounded by it."[19] In 2003, shortly after graduating from President Theodore Roosevelt High School at the age of seventeen, Mars moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a musical career.[10][17] He adopted his stage name from the nickname his father gave him, adding "Mars" at the end because "I felt like I didn't have [any] pizzazz, and a lot of girls say I’m out of this world, so I was like I guess I'm from Mars."[20]
Career[link]
[edit] 2004–10: Career beginnings and It's Better If You Don't Understand
Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Mars signed to Motown Records in 2004, in a deal that "went nowhere".[21] However, Mars' experience with Motown proved to be beneficial to his career when he met songwriter and producer Philip Lawrence, who was also signed to the label. Mars, Lawrence, and engineer Ari Levine began writing songs together, and formed the production team The Smeezingtons.[21] In 2006, Lawrence introduced Mars to his future manager at Atlantic Records, Aaron Bay-Schuck.[22] After hearing him play a couple of songs on the guitar, Bay-Schuck wanted to sign him immediately, but it took about three years for Atlantic records to finally sign Mars to the label.[22] In the meantime, Bay-Schuck hired Mars and the Smeezingtons to write and produce songs for the label's artists.[22] According to Bay-Schuck in an interview with HitQuarters, Mars had stated that although his ultimate goal was to be a solo artist, he was willing to write and produce for other artists, both to help improve his songwriting and help him discover the type of artist he ultimately wanted to be.[22] Bay-Schuck credits this as a period of "self-discovery" that contributed significantly to Mars' later success.[22]
Before becoming a successful solo artist, Hernandez was an acknowledged music producer, writing songs for Alexandra Burke, Travie McCoy, Adam Levine, Brandy, Sean Kingston, and Flo Rida.[14][23] He also co-wrote the Sugababes' hit song "Get Sexy" and provided backing vocals on their album Sweet 7.[24][25] His first musical appearance as a singer was in Far East Movement's second studio album Animal, featured on the track "3D".[26] He was also featured on pastor and hip hop artist Jaeson Ma's debut single "Love" in August 2009.[27][28] He reached prominence as a solo artist after being featured on and co-writing B.o.B's "Nothin' on You" and Travie McCoy's "Billionaire"; both songs peaked within the top ten of many charts worldwide.[29][30][31][32] He said of them, "I think those songs weren't meant to be full-sung songs. If I'd sung all of "Nothin' on You", it might've sounded like some '90s R&B." Following this success, Mars released his debut extended play (EP), titled It's Better If You Don't Understand, on May 11, 2010.[33] The EP peaked at the 99th position on the Billboard 200 and produced one single, "The Other Side", featuring singers Cee Lo Green and B.o.B.[34][35] Mars collaborated with Green once more in August 2010 by co-writing his single "Fuck You!". He performed a medley of "Nothin' on You" and "Airplanes" with B.o.B and Hayley Williams at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010.[36]
[edit] 2010–present: Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Bruno Mars' debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, was released digitally on October 4, and saw its physical release on October 5, 2010.[37][38] The lead single, "Just the Way You Are", was released on July 19, 2010,[39] and has reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 as well as several other charts worldwide.[40][41] The music video was released on September 8, 2010.[42] The second single, "Grenade", was released September 28, 2010, and has also seen successful international chart performance.[43][44] In the United States, Doo-Wops & Hooligans debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 for the week of October 13, 2010, selling 55,000 copies.[2] The album also received generally positive reviews from critics. Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt praised Mars for his "instant-access melodies" and "sly snatches of dance-floor swagger", but noted weaknesses in songs deviant from his conventional pop and soul genres.[45] He opened for Maroon 5 on the fall leg of the Hands All Over Tour starting October 6, 2010 and co-headlined with McCoy on a European tour starting October 18, 2010.[38]
On September 19, 2010, Mars was arrested in Las Vegas for possession of cocaine.[46] When talking to a police officer, Mars reportedly stated that what he did was "foolish" and that "he has never used drugs before".[47][48] Mars pled guilty to felony drug possession, and in return for his plea, he was told that the charges would be erased from his criminal record as long as he stayed out of trouble for a year, paid a $2,000 fine, did 200 hours of community service and completed a drug counseling course.[49]
On February 13, 2011, Mars won his first Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, having received six nominations; Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Nothin' on You", Record of the Year for "Nothin' on You" and "Fuck You", Song of the Year for "Fuck You", and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 53rd Grammy Awards.
On September 16, 2011, Bad Meets Evil released their single, "Lighters", which featured Mars in the song. The song was met with mixed reviews from critics and many criticized Mars for doing this type of song.[50] On September 22, 2011, it was announced on Mars' website that his new song "It Will Rain" will appear on The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack which was released on November 8.[51] On October 30, 2011, Mars gave an exclusive performance of "Runaway Baby" on the results show of The X Factor UK, the same day that Mars received six nominations for a Grammy Award; Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Doo-Wops & Hooligans, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Grenade", and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 54th Grammy Awards. During the ceremony, Mars performed "Runaway Baby" but he did not win any awards as Adele won in all the categories he was nominated in and also lost to Paul Epworth for Producer of the Year.
Mars has confirmed on Twitter that his work on his second album has begun.[52] On March 22, 2012, it was announced that Mars had signed a worldwide publishing deal with BMG Chrysalis US.[53]
Musical style[link]
Mars' music has been noted for displaying a wide variety of styles and influences, including pop,[55] rock,[55] reggae,[55] R&B,[56] soul,[45] and hip hop.[57] His co-producer Philip Lawrence says, "What people don't know is there's a darker underbelly to Bruno Mars." Mars himself says, "I blame that on me singing to girls back in high school."[58] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called him "one of the most versatile and accessible singers in pop, with a light, soul-influenced voice that’s an easy fit in a range of styles, a universal donor."[4] Mars was initially influenced by R&B artists such as Keith Sweat, Jodeci and R. Kelly, as well as 1950s rock 'n' roll and Motown.[59] In high school, he began listening to classic rock groups such as The Police, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles.[59] All of these genres of music have influenced Mars' musical style; he observed that "It’s not easy to [create] songs with that mixture of rock and soul and hip-hop, and there’s only a handful of them."[59] Mars also stated that he is a fan of Alicia Keys, Jessie J, Jack White and The Saturdays.[60]
In addition, Mars claims that his work with other artists influenced his musical style, saying that "'Nothin' on You' had a Motown vibe, 'Billionaire' was a reggae acoustic guitar-driven song, though one of my favorites is the Cee-Lo [Green] song ['Fuck You']. I don't think anyone else could've sung that song. And there's 'Just the Way You Are.' If you know my story, you know I love all different genres of music."[61] He cites doo-wop as a major influence on his music, referring to the genre as "just straightforward love songs – so charming and simple and romantic."[61] In addition, Mars states that growing up in Hawaii influenced his music, giving the songs a reggae sound. He explains that "In Hawaii some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley. That music brings people together. It's not urban music or pop music. It's just songs. That's what makes it cross over so well. The song comes first."[12] Lyrically, many of Mars' songs have been described as "feel-good", carefree, and optimistic,[62] however, darker subjects are addressed in songs such as "Grenade", "Liquor Store Blues", and "Talking to the Moon", which detail failed relationships and self-destructive behavior.[45][63]
Discography[link]
Main article: Bruno Mars discography
- Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010)
- TBA (2012)
Tours[link]
- Doo-Wops & Hooligans tour (2010–2011)
Awards and nominations[link]
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Bruno Mars
References[link]
- ^ De Castro, Cynthia (January 5, 2011). "Bruno Mars: The Fil-Am Artist with Universal Appeal". Asian Journal. AJ Press Los Angeles. http://www.asianjournal.com/aj-magazine/midweek-mgzn/8386-bruno-mars-the-fil-am-artist-with-universal-appeal.html. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
- ^ a b Caulfield, Keith (October 13, 2010). "Toby Keith's 'Gun' Fires at No. 1 on Billboard 200". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/news/toby-keith-s-gun-fires-at-no-1-on-billboard-1004120559.story. Retrieved October 13, 2010.
- ^ a b "Bruno Mars Interview – JustBrunoMars.com Exclusive". http://justbrunomars.com/bruno-mars/interviews/bruno-mars-interview-justbrunomars-com-exclusive/. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
- ^ a b Caramanica, Jon (October 5, 2010). "Bruno Mars in Ascension". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/arts/music/06mars.html. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ "Digital music report 2012". January 23, 2012. http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/DMR2012.pdf.
- ^ http://www.brunomars.com/forums/a2058a-brit-awards-2012-bruno-mars-wins-international-male-solo-artist/
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/features/bruno-mars-the-billboard-cover-story-1005277432.story#/features/bruno-mars-the-billboard-cover-story-1005277432.story
- ^ web|url=http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=1687696&search_in=c&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=10&start=1%7Ctitle=ACE Title Search: Hernandez Peter Gene|publisher=American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers|accessdate=September 15, 2010}}
- ^ Jeffries, David. "Bruno Mars > Biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p1107691/biography. Retrieved September 26, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Moniz, Melissa (April 14, 2010). "Starring Bruno Mars". MidWeek. Honolulu: Black Press. http://www.midweek.com/content/story/midweek_coverstory/Bruno_Mars_Nothin_On_You/. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ Yi, David (October 12, 2010). "Bruno Mars, Far East Movement lead Asian-American pop music wave taking over the Billboard charts". Daily News. New York City. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2010/10/12/2010-10-12_bruno_mars_far_east_movement_lead_asianamerican_pop_music_wave_taking_over_the_b.html. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
- ^ a b c Farber, Jim (October 3, 2010). "Bruno Mars follows his summer of hits with a big debut album 'Doo-Wops & Hooligans'". Daily News. New York City. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2010/10/03/2010-10-03_bruno_mars_follows_his_summer_of_hits_with_a_big_debut_album_doowops__hooligans.html. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
- ^ Lewis, Pete. "Bruno Mars: Out of this World!". Blues & Soul. http://www.bluesandsoul.com/feature/593/bruno_mars_out_of_this_world/. Retrieved September 22, 2010.
- ^ a b Lester, Paul (September 13, 2010). "New band of the day: Bruno Mars (No 865)". The Guardian. UK. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/sep/13/new-band-bruno-mars. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Bruno Mars and Phillip Lawrence". American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. March 18, 2010. http://www.ascap.com/playback/2010/03/ACTION/Mars_Lawrence.aspx. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Bruno Mars on Songwriting, Singing as a Tot, Working with Ne-Yo". Vibe. Vibe Media Group. October 4, 2010. http://www.vibe.com/content/bruno-mars-songwriting-singing-tot-working-neyo. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
- ^ a b "Bruno Mars gravitates toward a stellar solo career". USA Today. September 15, 2010. http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2010-09-16-brunomars16_ST_N.htm. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ Gentry, Colin (September 22, 2010). "4Music.com meets Bruno Mars". 4Music. Box Television. http://www.4music.com/artist/bruno-mars/just-the-way-you-are-interview.html. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
- ^ "Greetings From Bruno Mars (YouTube video)". Elektra Records. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yWMJyNSIpM.
- ^ Cline, Georgette. "10 Questions for Bruno Mars". Rap-Up. Devin Lazerine. http://www.rap-up.com/2010/05/11/10-questions-for-bruno-mars/. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
- ^ a b Jones, Steve (January 25, 2011). "Bruno Mars' musical orbit seems inescapable". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2011-01-25-brunomars25_ST_N.htm. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e "Interview with Aaron Bay-Schuck". HitQuarters. December 13, 2010. http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_AaronBaySchuck_int.html. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
- ^ Wete, Brad (April 13, 2010). "So who is Bruno Mars? A Q&A with the guy behind B.O.B's smash hit 'Nothin' On You'". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/04/13/bruno-mars-qa/. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Get Sexy". American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=372437211&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=10&start=1. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ Sweet 7 (CD booklet). Sugababes. Island Records. 2010.
- ^ "Animal by Far East Movement FM". iTunes Store. Apple Inc. http://itunes.apple.com/album/animal/id303539971. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Jaeson Ma Releases New Single Glory" (Press release). PR Newswire. November 11, 2010. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jaeson-ma-releases-new-single-glory-107258648.html. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
- ^ "Love – Single". iTMS. http://itunes.apple.com/album/love-single/id328941719. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
- ^ "B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars – Nothin' on You (song)". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=B.o.B+feat.+Bruno+Mars&titel=Nothin'+On+You&cat=s. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- ^ "Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars – Billionaire (song)". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Travie+McCoy+feat.+Bruno+Mars&titel=Billionaire&cat=s. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- ^ "Bruno Mars: Top 75 Releases". The Official Charts Company. http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/BRUNO%20MARS/. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- ^ Trust, Gary (December 2, 2010). "Weekly Chart Notes: P!nk, Bruno Mars, Band Perry". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/column/chartbeat/weekly-chart-notes-p-nk-bruno-mars-band-1004133464.story. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- ^ "Bruno Mars Blasts Off Into the Top Ten Albums Chart on iTunes With New Digital EP; Acclaimed Singer/Songwriter/Producer Follows B.o.B's No. 1 Blockbuster, "Nothin' On You" With Much-Anticipated Solo Debut; Four-Song EP Features Guest Appearances From B.o.B and the Legendary Cee Lo Green; Major TV Performances Slated Throughout May; "IT'S BETTER IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND" Arrives at All Digital Retailers Today" (Press release). Marketwire. May 11, 2010. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Bruno-Mars-Blasts-Off-Into-Top-Ten-Albums-Chart-on-iTunes-With-New-Digital-EP-Acclaimed-1258360.htm. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Bruno Mars Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/artist/bruno-mars/chart-history/1054629?f=305&g=Albums. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ Rodriguez, Jayson (July 15, 2010). "Bruno Mars Shows His 'Darker' Self On 'The Other Side' Video". MTV News. MTV Networks. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1643751/20100715/bruno_mars.jhtml. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ Dinh, James (September 13, 2010). "B.o.B, Hayley Williams Perform Rousing 'Airplanes' At VMAs". MTV News. MTV Networks. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1647679/20100913/bob_7_.jhtml. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Doo-Wops & Hooligans". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Doo-Wops-Hooligans/dp/B0043ZDFEQ/. Retrieved September 29, 2010.
- ^ a b "Bruno Mars Unveils Eagerly Awaited Debut Album "DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS" Slated to Arrive October 5th; New Single "Just The Way You Are" Shaping Up as Massive Hit, With Top 3 Success on iTunes "Top Singles"; Sold-Out New York City Live Debut Set for Tonight, Followed by US Tour Alongside Maroon 5 in October" (Press release). Marketwire. August 25, 2010. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Bruno-Mars-Unveils-Eagerly-Awaited-Debut-Album-DOO-WOPS-HOOLIGANS-Slated-Arrive-October-1309664.htm. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
- ^ "Bruno Mars Ready With New Solo Single; "Just The Way You Are" Drops July 20th, Heralding Hugely Anticipated Debut Album; Elektra Recording Artist and Acclaimed Singer/Songwriter/Producer to Join Maroon 5 and One Republic on Tour" (Press release). Marketwire. July 19, 2010. http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Bruno-Mars-Ready-With-New-Solo-Single-Just-The-Way-You-Are-Drops-July-20th-Heralding-1292460.htm. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ Pietroluongo, Silvio (September 22, 2010). "Bruno Mars Lands Atop Hot 100, Rihanna Roars Into Top 10". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/news/bruno-mars-lands-atop-hot-100-rihanna-roars-1004115901.story. Retrieved September 22, 2010.
- ^ "Bruno Mars – Just the Way You Are (song)". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Bruno+Mars&titel=Just+The+Way+You+Are&cat=s. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- ^ Wete, Brad (September 8, 2010). "Bruno Mars wows his lady with cassette tape drawings in 'Just the Way You Are' video: Watch here". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/09/08/bruno-mars-just-the-way-you-are-video/. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ "Grenade – Single". iTunes Store Australia. Apple Inc. http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/grenade-single/id394582499. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- ^ "Bruno Mars – Grenade (song)". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Bruno+Mars&titel=Grenade&cat=s. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- ^ a b c Greenblatt, Leah (September 29, 2010). "Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010)". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20430431,00.html. Retrieved September 29, 2010.
- ^ "Bruno Mars Arrested". TMZ.com. September 20, 2010. http://www.tmz.com/2010/09/20/bruno-mars-arrested-cocaine-mug-shot-las-vegas-singer-coke-possession/. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
- ^ "Bruno Mars – Sniffed Out by Bathroom Attendant". TMZ.com. September 20, 2010. http://www.tmz.com/2010/09/20/bruno-mars-arrested-cocaine-bathroom-attendant-hard-rock-hotel/. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
- ^ Black, Caroline (September 21, 2010}). "Bruno Mars Mug Shot: Singer Arrested in Las Vegas on Cocaine Charge". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20017098-504083.html. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
- ^ "Bruno Mars Escapes Cocaine Charge". MTV News UK. February 5, 2011. http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/bruno/news/256871-bruno-mars-escapes-cocaine-charge. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
- ^ Steven J. Horowitz (June 14, 2011). "Royce Da 5'9 Responds To "Lighters" Criticism". http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.15534/title.royce-da-59-responds-to-lighters-criticism.
- ^ "EXCLUSIVE ANNOUNCEMENT: New Bruno Mars single “It Will Rain”". BrunoMars.com. September 27, 2011. http://www.brunomars.com/news/7a50a7-exclusive-announcement-new-bruno-mars-single-it-will-rain/. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
- ^ https://twitter.com/#!/brunomars
- ^ Williams, Paul (March 22, 2012). "BMG Chrysalis captures Bruno Mars". Music Week. Music Week. http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=1048916&c=1. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
- ^ "Bruno Mars Steps Out Sobruary 4, 2011". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/news/bruno-mars-steps-out-solo-after-hitting-1004089204.story.
- ^ a b c Cohen, Sandy (October 4, 2010). "Music Review: Singer-songwriter-producer Bruno Mars shows range and pop flair on debut CD". The News. The Canadian Press. http://www.ngnews.ca/section/2010-10-04/article-1820062/Music-Review:-Singer-songwriter-producer-Bruno-Mars-shows-range-and-pop-flair-on-debut-CD/1. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
- ^ Mervis, Scott (October 7, 2010). "For the Record: Bruno Mars". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Block Communications. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10280/1093033-388.stm. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
- ^ Caramanica, Jon (October 5, 2010). "Bruno Mars in Ascension". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/arts/music/06mars.html. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
- ^ Wood, Mikael (August 18, 2010). "Bruno Mars Is Not Soft". The Village Voice. Village Voice Media. http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-08-18/music/bruno-mars-is-not-soft/. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
- ^ a b c "Bruno Mars On Damian Marley Track, Hip-Hop Influences, B.o.B.". Vibe. Vibe Media Group. October 4, 2010. http://www.vibe.com/content/bruno-mars-damian-marley-track-hiphop-influences-bob. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
- ^ Copsey, Robert (January 20, 2011). "Bruno Mars "in awe" of Alicia Keys". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a299096/bruno-mars-in-awe-of-alicia-keys.html. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
- ^ a b Johnson, Kevin C. (November 24, 2010). "Bruno Mars learned music biz by collaborating with big acts". STL Daily. STL Media Group. http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/music/article_b1db2769-06cc-5739-8104-03f294758410.html. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
- ^ Vick, Megan (August 6, 2010). "Bruno Mars, "Just the Way You Are"". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/#/new-releases/bruno-mars-just-the-way-you-are-1004108079.story. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
- ^ Toor, Amar (October 5, 2010). "Bruno Mars, 'Grenade' – New Song". AOL Radio Blog. AOL. http://www.aolradioblog.com/2010/10/05/bruno-mars-grenade/. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bruno Mars |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hernandez, Peter Gene |
| Alternative names | Bruno Mars |
| Short description | Pop singer |
| Date of birth | October 8, 1985 |
| Place of birth | Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Bruno_Mars
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http://nl.wn.com/Bruno Mars
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Mars
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2012) |
| KZ Tandingan | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kristine Zhenie Lobrigas Tandingan |
| Born | (1992-03-11) March 11, 1992 (age 20) Digos, Davao del Sur, Philippines |
| Genres | Acoustic jazz, R&B, soul |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals, Piano |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Labels | Star Music |
KZ Tandingan (born Kristine Zhenie Lobrigas Tandingan on March 11, 1992) is a Filipina singer. Tandingan won the first season of The X Factor Philippines in 2012[1], securing a 4 million peso recording contract with Star Music.[2]
Contents |
Career[link]
Tandingan started singing as a child but had to stop when she was in her junior year in high school after suffering from a throat problem.
Tandingan was considered as an early favorite after she performed a jazz version of Over the Rainbow in the fourth week of the Judges' auditions on The X Factor Philippines. After receiving positive comments and standing ovation from all the judges, she was requested to sing again. She obliged and sang Ready or Not by the American rapper, Lauryn Hill. Tandingan was greatly praised by all the judges. Martin Nievera even shouted that, "A star is born in Digos!".[3] In bootcamp stage aired on July 22, 2012, she cried after she made it for The X Factor Philippines Top 20.[4] In the Judges' home visit, she sang Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly with His Song.
The video of her audition went viral online after it was uploaded in YouTube. The video reached nearly 1 million views before it was removed due to copyright issues.[5]
On 2012, Tandingan guested on Kris TV and performed a slow version of Rivermaya's "Kisapmata".[6]
On naming Tandingan as the grand winner of The X Factor Philippines, some of the remarkable Filipino actors and actresses congratulated Tandingan through the microblogging site Twitter. Markki Stroem, a Filipino actor and singer twitted; "Congrats KZ! You are amazing. I wanna be the first to buy your album. KZ = genius!", while Sharon Cuneta, an actress also twitted; "Great job, KZ!!! Well-deserved win!".[7]
[edit] The X Factor Philippines
Main article: The X Factor Philippines (season 1)
[edit] Performances on The X Factor Philippines
Tandingan performed the following songs on The X Factor Philippines:
| Show | Theme | Song choice | Original artist | Order | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audition | Auditionee's Choice | "Over the Rainbow" | Judy Garland | N/A | Advanced |
| "Ready or Not" | Lauryn Hill | ||||
| Bootcamp 1 | Specific song | "Without You" | David Guetta | N/A | Advanced |
| Bootcamp 2 | Free choice | "Mahirap Magmahal Ng Syota Ng Iba" | APO Hiking Society | N/A | Advanced |
| Judges' Houses | Free choice | "Killing Me Softly with His Song" | Roberta Flack | N/A | Advanced |
| Live show 1 | Songs from Movies | "The Show" | Lenka | 6 | Safe |
| Live show 2 | Life or Buhay in the title | "For Once in My Life" | Stevie Wonder | 9 | Safe |
| Live show 3 | Rock | "In the End" | Linkin Park | 10 | Safe |
| Live show 4 | Tribute to late music icons | "Rehab" | Amy Winehouse | 8 | Safe |
| Live show 5 | OPM songs | "Ang Huling El Bimbo" | Eraserheads | 7 | Safe |
| Live show 6 | Songs from the 1980s | "Eternal Flame" | The Bangles | 3 | Safe |
| Live show 7 | Eraserheads or Rivermaya | "Kisapmata" | Rivermaya | 4 | Safe |
| Live show 8 | Revival songs | "Make You Feel My Love" | Bob Dylan | 3 | Safe |
| Live show 9 | Songs from musical heroes | "Forever" | Chris Brown | 3 | Bottom two1 |
| Final showdown | "Ordinary People" | John Legend | 2 | ||
| Finale | Contestant's Choice | "Superstar" | The Carpenters | 3 | Winner |
| Celebrity Duets | Duet "The Way We Were" with Rico J. Puno | Barbra Streisand | 5 | ||
| Mentor Duets | Duet "The Way You Look Tonight" with Charice | Fred Astaire | 1 |
^1 Tandingan was in the bottom two but was saved by the judges' votes.
Filmography[link]
Television[link]
| Television | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Network |
| 2012 | The X Factor Philippines | Herself/Winner | ABS-CBN |
| Kris TV | Herself/Guest | ABS-CBN | |
| ASAP 2012 | Herself/Performer | ABS-CBN | |
| Showtime | Herself/Guest | ABS-CBN | |
| Showbiz Inside Report | Guest | ABS-CBN | |
| Banana Split | Guest | ABS-CBN | |
| Sarah G. Live | Guest | ABS-CBN | |
Awards and Recognitions[link]
- 25th Aliw Awards 2012 Best New Artist
References[link]
- ^ "Tandingan won the X Factor PH". ABS-CBN News. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/10/07/12/kz-tandingan-wins-x-factor-ph. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
- ^ "Tandingan securing P4M after the won on the X Factor PH". The Philippine Star. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?publicationSubCategoryId=70&articleId=858521. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
- ^ "'A star is born' in Digos on 'X Factor ' week 3". ABS-CBN News. July 16, 2012. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/07/16/12/star-born-digos-x-factor-week-3. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
- ^ "KZ Tandingan in 'X Factor' Top 20; Osang out". ABS-CBN News. July 23, 2012. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/07/23/12/kz-tandingan-x-factor-top-20-osang-out. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
- ^ Fabian, Chris (July 24, 2012). "KZ enters ‘X Factor’ Top 20". Mindanao Times. http://www.mindanaotimes.net/kz-enters-x-factor-top-20/. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
- ^ "KZ on Kris TV". ABS-CBN News. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/entertainment/10/03/12/x-factor-phs-kz-tandingan-wows-kris. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
- ^ "Celebs congratulate kZ". ABS-CBN News. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/10/08/12/celebs-congratulate-kz-tandingan. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
External links[link]
| Preceded by N/A |
Winner of The X Factor Philippines 2012 |
Succeeded by N/A |
|
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Tandingan, K. Z. |
| Alternative names | Tandingan, Kristine Zhenie |
| Short description | Singer |
| Date of birth | March 11, 1992 |
| Place of birth | Davao del Sur, Philippines |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | SCHOOL = University of Southeastern Philippines - Obrero Campus |
http://wn.com/KZ_Tandingan
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KZ_Tandingan
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
 |
|
| Born | Maria Venus Bayonito Raj (1988-07-07) July 7, 1988 (age 23) Doha, Qatar |
|---|---|
| Agency | Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. |
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
| Measurements | 35-22-35 |
| Hair color | Black |
| Eye color | Brown |
| Title(s) | Miss Philippines Eco Tourism 2008 Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2010 |
| Major competition(s) |
Miss Philippines Earth 2008 (Miss Philippines Eco Tourism 2008) Binibining Pilipinas 2010 (Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2010) Miss Universe 2010 (4th Runner-Up) |
Maria Venus Bayonito Raj (born July 7, 1988) is a Filipina beauty queen. She was crowned Binibining Pilipinas (Miss Philippines)-Universe on March 6, 2010 during the pageant's Grand Coronation Night at the Araneta Coliseum. She represented the Philippines in the 2010 Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, and placed fourth runner-up to Ximena Navarrete of Mexico.[1]
Contents |
Early life[link]
Maria Venus Raj was born to an Indian father and a Filipina mother. Raj was taken by her mother to Bato, Camarines Sur in Bicol Region, Philippines as an infant and was registered by an aunt as a Philippine-born child to Roman Catholic parents.[2] Raj grew up with her mother, a former tenant farmer and dressmaker.[3] A former Roman Catholic, she is now a Born Again Christian
Raj lived in a nipa hut made of wood, bamboo and anahaw leaves with no electricity in the middle of a sprawling rice field in the rural town of Bato for more than twenty years. She allegedly used rice paddy dikes for her early training where she eventually developed her distinct catwalk.[3]
The youngest of five children, Maria Venus Raj started out by joining local beauty pageants. She also joined oratorical contests at San Vicente High School where her English teacher served as her coach. With her victories in major contests, Venus Raj had bought land on an installment basis for her mother as a means of improving their livelihood.[3]
Raj obtained her Diploma in Communications Arts, major in Journalism, at Bicol University in Albay, with Latin honors (Cum Laude).[4] She graduated through the scholarship that she received from the Francis Papica Foundation.[3] She worked as an Information Assistant for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region V.[5] In addition to this, she also worked as a part-time fashion model in her native Bicol and Manila.
Pageantry[link]
Miss Philippines-Earth 2008[link]
Following her victory as Miss Bicolandia, Raj represented Legazpi City and competed in the Miss Philippines-Earth 2008, and was named as Miss Philippines Earth Eco Tourism 2008, and fourth runner-up to eventual Miss Earth 2008 winner Karla Henry on May 11, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Galleria, Manila.
Binibining Pilipinas-Universe[link]
After joining Miss Philippines-Earth in 2008, Raj took a break from beauty contests and worked as an Information Assistant at the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.[citation needed] On March 6, 2010, she was crowned Binibining Pilipinas Universe during the pageant's Grand Coronation Night at the Araneta Coliseum. She won the right to represent the Philippines in the 2010 Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.[1] She also won the special awards Best in Long Gown, Best in Philippine Terno, and was a co-winner for Miss Friendship – a rare feat for a major title winner.[citation needed]
Dethronement[link]
A few weeks after her coronation, Raj was dethroned by Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. citing alleged inconsistencies between her birth certificate and the personal account of her birth. Raj was briefly replaced by second runner-up Helen Nicolette Henson since first runner-up Diane Elaine S. Necio, also from Bicol was only 17 years old and did not meet the age requirement policies of Miss Universe.[citation needed]
Raj had planned to take legal action to combat BPCI's decision in court, but she also weighed in on her decision because of its potential impact to her future career.A Lawyer Francis Padua Papica, who sponsored Raj’s college education, and another counsel volunteered to defend her for free. led supporters in sending an appeal regarding Raj's case to the Miss Universe Organization
In a local television appearance, Raj stated that a representative for the Miss universe 2010 spoke with her and looked into her case. In the same interview, she said, “My fight is now more than just chasing a dream. It is about clearing my soiled reputation. It is about standing up for people who are poor and born out of wedlock. It is a fight for acceptance.”[6]
Reinstatement[link]
On April 10, 2010, the Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. allowed Raj to reclaim her title due to humanitarian reasons. An additional requirement that Raj should legally obtain a valid Philippine passport as proof of her true citizenship was also requested by the pageant organizers.[7] On May 19, 2010, the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs issued Raj a Philippine passport thereby attesting to her Filipino citizenship.[8] According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Raj is a Philippine citizen by virtue of the jus sanguinis principle (“right of blood”), a basic right provided by the Philippine Constitution which bestows upon a person the citizenship of his father or mother regardless of where the person was born, thus declaring her of Filipino citizenship.[citation needed]
Upon the issuance of her Philippine passport, the Binibining Pilipinas Charities, Inc. announced that they are reinstating Raj. Currently, Raj holds the record as the first-ever dethroned Binibining Pilipinas to have successfully attempted for a reinstatement of a Binibining Pilipinas crown.[citation needed]
Miss Universe 2010[link]
In August 2010, Raj flew to the United States and took part in the 2010 Miss Universe pageant. As part of the six delegates which were handpicked for a media tour, Raj along with Jesinta Campbell of Australia, Natalia Navarro of Colombia, Sarodj Bertin of Haiti, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico, Mariana Vicente of Puerto Rico and Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez were scheduled for several television appearances prior to the actual pageant in Las Vegas. During the Miss Universe question and answer portion, Raj was asked by American actor William Baldwin about the biggest mistake that she made in her life and what she did to make it right, to which she simply replied that she had never made any big mistakes in her life.[9] Raj received the highest rating in the Miss Universe website, with 3.54 points, the highest-ever for a Filipina delegate.[10] In an event held in Diablos Cantina at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, Raj won in a Chicken Wing Eating Contest, increasing her popularity even more during the run of the pageant.[11]
While competing at Miss Universe 2010 in Las Vegas, Raj was emotionally distressed to hear about the death of Filipina-German beauty queen Melody Gersbach and make-up artist Alden Orense in a car accident. Gersbach, a fellow Bicolana who previously competed and secured a place in the Top15 finalists at Miss International 2009 in China, was one of Raj's coaches in her preparation for the Miss Universe pageant.[12][13]
Career[link]
Prior and post-Miss Universe, Raj guested on multiple networks as guests. On January 14, 2011, Raj signed up an exclusive contract with ABS-CBN, including the airing rights of the Binibining Pilipinas for at least five years.[14]
Filmography[link]
Television[link]
| Year | Title | Role | Network |
| 2011 | Kris TV | Guest | ABS-CBN |
| Mutya | Mikki | ||
| Happy Yipee Yehey | Performer/Herself | ||
| 2011–present | ASAP Rocks! | Host/Performer | |
| 2011–present | Umagang Kay Ganda | Host – Present | |
| 2010 | Showtime | Guest Host/Judge | |
| ABS-CBN Christmas Special 2010 | Performer/Herself | ||
| Show Me Da Manny | Special Guest | GMA-7 | |
| Unang Hirit | Guest Co-Host | ||
| Hole in the wall | Guest Co-Host | ||
| Paparazi | Guest host | TV5 | |
| Juicy | Past-Host | ||
| P.O.5 | Guest | ||
| E-Live | Host | ABS-CBN | |
| SNN | Guest-Host | ||
| The Buzz | Guest | ||
| Inside the Cinema | Guest | Cinema One |
References[link]
- ^ a b Beauty Mania .biz® – your #1 Beauty, Pageant, and Showbiz Blog! (2010-03-07)
- ^ 'Goddess' in distress. by Butch Francisco (The Philippine Star) April 6, 2010
- ^ a b c d Ephraim Aguilar Dethroned Bicol beauty queen fights for dream. Inquirer Southern Luzon. 04-09-2010
- ^ Venus Raj | Pinoy Profile
- ^ Bb. Pilipinas Universe 2010.
- ^ Lyn Cacha (August 31, 2010). "Venus Raj: From rice paddy girl to beauty queen". Philippine Online Chronicles. http://www.thepoc.net/thepoc-features/beauty-and-fashion/the-spotlight/9501-venus-raj-from-rice-paddy-girl-to-beauty-queen.html. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
- ^ Venus Raj given chance to reclaim Bb. Pilipinas-Universe title.
- ^ MANILA BULLETIN 5/21/10: Venus Raj gets her passport, braces for Miss Universe contest. Mb.com.ph (2010-08-23). Retrieved on 2012-05-12.
- ^ 'Major major:' Venus Raj's legacy? | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features (2010-08-24)
- ^ Members. Miss Universe. Retrieved on 2012-05-12.
- ^ Raj a top choice for Miss Universe crown | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online. Mb.com.ph. Retrieved on 2012-05-12.
- ^ Another mishap: beauty queen dies | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online. Mb.com.ph (2010-08-02). Retrieved on 2012-05-12.
- ^ Robert R. Requintina Venus mourns, but is ready to shine. August 22, 2010
- ^ Santos, Rhea. "Venus Raj declines Willie Revillame’s offer, signs up with ABS-CBN". Push.com.ph. http://www.push.com.ph/news-feature/2204/Venus-Raj-declines-Willie-Revillame-s-offer-signs-up-with-ABS-CBN.aspx. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
External links[link]
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bianca Manalo |
Binibining Pilipinas – Universe 2010 |
Succeeded by Shamcey Supsup |
| Preceded by Anna Katrina Bautista |
Miss Philippines-Earth Eco Tourism 2008 |
Succeeded by Grezilda Adelantar |
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| Persondata | |
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| Name | Raj, Maria Venus |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | July 7, 1988 |
| Place of birth | Doha |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Venus_Raj
Related pages:
http://fr.wn.com/Venus Raj
http://it.wn.com/Venus Raj
http://es.wn.com/Venus Raj
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Raj
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
