PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
Named in Honour of PHILIP II, King of Spain
The Philippine Islands have been picturesquely described as 'a magnificent rosary of glowing islands that nature has hung about the heaving bosom of the warm Pacific.' The archipelago is bounded on the north and west by the China Sea, on the east by the Pacific Ocean, and on the south by the Celebes and Sulu Seas. The land area is 115.000 square miles, while the land and sea area embraced within the treaty boundaries is 833,000 square miles, which is greater than the land and water area of Great Britain and Ireland. The Philippines extend from North to South between 5 and 22 North Latitude, and from East to West between 117 and 127 East Longitude, or approximately 1200 miles from North to South, and 700 miles from East to West.
AREA AND POPULATION
The total area of the Philippine Islands is 114,400 square miles. This is larger than the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware put together.
The Philippine Archipelago is composed of 7,083 islands, of which 2,441 are named and 4,642 are not. There are 11 important islands, each of which has an area of more than 1,000 square miles. Luzon has an area of 40,814 square miles; Mindanao 38,012; Sainar, 5,124; Negros, 4,903; Palawan, 4,500; Panay, 4,448; Mindoro, 3,794; Leyte 2,799; Cebu, 1,695; Bohol, 1,534; and Masbate, 1,255.
The Archipelago is divided into three great groups of islands designated as Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. Luzon includes the provinces of Abra, Albay, Bataan, Batangas, Bulacan, Cagayan, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Laguna, La Union, Mountain Province, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Rizal, Sorsogon, Tarlac, Tayabas and Zambales, and the island-provinces of Batanes, Marinduque, Masbate and Mindoro. The second group, the Visayas, is made up of the provinces of Antique, Capiz and Iloilo, on the island of Panay; Occidental Negros and Oriental Negros, on the island of Negros; and the individual island-provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, Romblon, Samar and Palawan The third group, Mindanao, is made up of the provinces of Agusan, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Davao, Lanao, Misamis, Surigao, Zamboanga, and a -cluster of islands forming the province of Sulu.
According to the last Philippine Census in 1918 the population was 10,314,310, but by 1935 the total had exceeded 13,000,000 including about 1200 British snbjects (600 of European descent, the rest Indians), 8000 Americans, 4200 Spaniards, 80,000 Chinese, 20,000 Japanese and 3800 other foreign nationals. The Filipinos are chiefly of Malay race and over 91 per cent are Christians (mainly Roman Catholics).
About half the remainder are Mohammedans (in the south) and the other half pagans.
PHYSICAL FEATURES AND CLIMATE
The coastline includes many fertile coastal plains. Added to these are the Central Plain, the Cagayan and Bicol Valleys of Luzon; the Central Plain of Panay; and the Agusan and Cotabato Valleys of Mindanao. Most of the large islands are crossed by well-defined ranges, running, as a rule, in a north and south direction; Mount Apo, in south-eastern Mindanao, is the highest peak, with an altitude of 9,610 feet.
The part of the archipelago north of the islands of Mindanao and Sulu comes within the typhoon area and violent storms are of frequent occurrence during the rainy season July to September inclusive.