The Philippine archipelago is made up of a total of 7,107 individual islands and may be located in the southern region of China, sandwiched between Borneo in the south and Taiwan in the north. Even though there are hundreds upon thousands of islands, only roughly 2,000 of them have permanent human settlements. In addition, only 500 of the islands have a surface area that is more than one square kilometre. Surprisingly, just nine of the islands account for 90 percent of the total land area. These nine islands are as follows: Cebu, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Palawan, and Panay. Samur is the smallest island in the group.
Over the course of the previous two million years, the planet has been through a total of twenty glacial cycles, sometimes known as ice ages. During this time period, glaciers amass ice on land, which, in turn, causes the levels of the world’s oceans to plummet! In point of fact, during the height of the most recent ice age, the water level of the ocean in the region around the Philippine islands was about fifty metres lower than it is now.
Around 18,000 years ago, the climate of the world started to warm up and become more temperate. After then, some 8,000 years ago, the seas eventually began to reclaim the typical, high quantities of water that they had previously had. One further fascinating aspect of the Philippines is that no pre-hominid or hominid species, such as Australopithecus or Homo erectus, have ever been discovered there. According to the findings of researchers, people did not settle in the Philippines until around 40,000 years ago, which is roughly the same period that they settled in New Guinea and Australia.
In the same way as these two other nations, the islands of the Philippines were never joined to the mainland of southeast Asia, despite the fact that the water barrier between the two was significantly reduced when the tide was out and the ocean levels were low. Around 22,000 years before now, archaeologists discovered the earliest human bones on the island of Palawan. On the other hand, there was evidence of tool use, although the earliest dating for these artefacts was probably about 30,000 B.P.
Ancestors of the people who lived in the Philippine islands were either Aeta or Negrito at one point in time. They were known as Australo-Melanesians and had dark complexion and brown hair that was curled extremely tightly into tight coils. Their stature was diminutive, and they were short in height. It was thought that the Aeta or Negritos quickly adapted to the tropical forests in which they resided, similar to how the Pygmies in Africa adapted to their environment. These people were renowned for their exceptional hunting abilities, and they would often obtain food by banding together in tight-knit family units. These organisations were highly organised yet their leadership was more loosely structured.
The Aeta and the Negritos used to be widespread across the Philippines; but, in modern times, you can only find them in the most isolated parts of the country’s mountainous regions, particularly on the islands of Luzon, Mindanao, Negros, Palawan, and Panay.
The Spanish and the Americans both exerted their own distinct kind of colonial rule over the Philippines throughout their respective periods of time in charge of the archipelago. As a result of this, a common saying about the Philippines is that it spent “400 years in a convent and 50 years in Hollywood.” It’s interesting to note that each period began with naval engagements, the first of which took place in 1521.
During this time period, Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan was enjoying a trip around the globe when he made the discovery that led to the establishment of the Philippines. Unfortunately for Magellan, he quickly became entangled in the politics of the area, which led to his assassination by Lapu Lapu, a tribal leader who is now celebrated as the first Filipino to oppose being controlled by someone from a foreign power. Lapu Lapu was responsible for Magellan’s death.
After the Spanish fleet was defeated in Manila Bay in 1898 under the leadership of Admiral George Dewey, the Philippines became the United States’ only official overseas colony. Prior to that year, the islands of the Philippines were governed by Spain. In 1898, the Philippines became the United States’ only overseas colony. Then, after the conclusion of the Spanish–American Conflict, a war between the United States and the Philippines broke out. The United States of America did not win this war until they kidnapped the leader of the Philippines, Emilio Aguinaldo, while he was in talks. Even yet, Aguinaldo did extract a guarantee made in 1946 for independence. This particular pledge was kept despite the fact that there was an occupation and a war in the ensuing years.
The election of Ferdinand Marco as President of the Philippines in 1965 and his subsequent re-election in 1969 is widely regarded as the beginning of one of the most famous periods in Philippine history. As a result of the fact that the existing constitution did not allow him to run for a third term, the country went into a state of martial rule and rewrote the constitution in 1972. During the fifteen years that followed, the administration that Marcos led was widely regarded as one of the most corrupt in the history of the whole globe. It is believed that Marcos stole around $10 billion US from the Philippine treasury while at the same time the people living in this region of Asia were living at the greatest degree of poverty.
In 1986, in response to the growing discontent of the populace, Marcos unexpectedly called for a general election to be held. Even though he had put forth a lot of effort to win everyone over and get all of their votes, it was to no use. After being defeated, Marcos departed the nation, and just a few short years after that, he passed away. Even though the subsequent presidents were successful in pulling the nation out of such terrible disarray, it was once again confronted with the problem of corruption in 2001 when President Joseph Estrada was accused of stealing millions of dollars from the government.
After being removed from power, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took over and vowed to see to it that Estrada was brought to trial, despite facing violent resistance from his followers. She was successful in doing so. Macapagal-Arroyo also had another item on her agenda, which was to deal with the Islamic terrorists who had been operating in the southern Philippines islands. This was an issue that was on Macapagal-agenda. Arroyo’s These terrorists had already abducted a large number of individuals, including, tragically, some unknowing tourists.
Even in modern times, the islands retain their spectacular beauty, and the locals are always kind and welcoming. Even though just a tiny percentage of the islands are inhabited, modern technology has helped the islands improve their economies and move ahead in the same way that it has benefited many other areas across the world. You should check to see if there are any travel advisories before you go to the Philippines, despite the fact that many people choose to have their vacations in the Philippines because of the fantastic weather, the clean beaches, and the general tropical ambiance.