San Miguel Avenue in Ortigas. Credit

The Philippines is an island nation located in the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia, with Manila as its capital. It comprises 7,107 islands called the Philippine Archipelago, with a total land area of approximately 300,000 square kilometers or 116,000 square miles, making it the 72nd largest country by area.

Modern day Filipinos are mostly of Austronesian ancestry, although there are a number of Filipinos with Spanish, Chinese, American, and Arab ancestry.

The country was named "Las Islas Filipinas" (The Philippine Islands) by Ruy López de Villalobos after King Philip II of Spain. Spanish colonial rule began in 1565 and lasted for about three centuries until the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

The United States gained possession of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War in 1898 and the Philippine-American War in 1899. The U.S. ruled the country for about five decades. Philippine culture has many affinities with the West. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, and Filipino and English are the official languages.