Interesting Facts About Philippines

The Philippines, officially called the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelago of 7,107 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Located in Southeast Asia, this archipelagic nation is surrounded by neighboring countries, such as, Indonesia, Malaysia, Palau and the Republic of China. The Philippines is the only Southeast Asian country that shares no land borders with its neighbors. Manila serves as its administrative capital. Once, it used be the colony of Spain and Spaniards ruled over it for about three centuries. Read further to know some more interesting and fun facts about the Philippines.

• Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,107 islands.

• Luzon is the largest island in the archipelago.

• The capital of Philippines is Manila and its national language is Filipino.

• With a population of about 90 million people, the Philippines is the 12th most populous country in the world.

• On the islands of Philippines, there are more than 200 volcanoes, though only a few are active.

• The Philippine flag is the only flag in the world which is hoisted upside-down when the country is in war.

• In the Tabon Cave Complex of Philippines, fossil evidence of Homo sapiens has been found. According to the studies, the area was inhabited around fifty thousand years ago.

• The Philippines comprises the two thousand years old Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras. These are accredited as World Heritage Sites.

• Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer, was the first European to visit the Philippines.

• Mount Apo, at an altitude of 2,954 m, in the island of Mindanao is the highest point in the Philippines.

• About 80% people of the country’s total population are Roman Catholics.

• The people of the Philippines are from different ethnic origins such as Malay, Chinese, Spanish, American, etc.

• This nation was baptized the Philippines, after King Philip II of Spain.

• Its capital city Manila was named after a white-flowered mangrove plant, the nilad.

• The Philippines remain the colony of Spain from 1521 to 1898. Subsequently, it went into the hands of the USA.

• It was the first Southeast Asian country to gain independence in 1946, following World War II.

• The Philippines stretches onto the area of 115,830 square miles, which makes it equal to the size of Italy.

• With more than 11 million Filipinos overseas, the Philippines has the largest diaspora networks in the world.

• The Pacific Ocean is known to contain the deepest ocean trenches in the world. The Mindanao trench, which lies close to the Philippines, is six and a half miles deep.

• The Philippines is regarded the “text capital of the world”. About 350 to 400 million SMS (Short Message Service) or text messages are sent daily by 35 million cell phone subscribers in the country, which is more than the total daily text messages sent in the U.S. and Europe, together.

• However, the land area of the Philippines is about 1/30th of the U.S.; it has a coastline of 36,289 kilometers while the U.S. coastline is just 19,924 kilometers.

• The karaoke was invented in the Philippines and not Japan. Karaoke means “singing without accompaniment” in Japanese was invented by Roberto del Rosario. The invention of “Sing-Along-System” was later called karaoke.

• The “Conus Gloriamaris”, which the rarest and most expensive seashell in the world, is one of the 12,000 species of seashells found in the Philippines. And about 488 coral species, out of the 500 coral species known worldwide, are found in the archipelago.

source: lifestyle.iloveindia.com