The Full Wiki



More info on Geography of the Philippines

Geography of the Philippines: Map
  
  
  

Wikipedia article:

Map showing all locations mentioned on Wikipedia article:


The Philippinesmarker is an archipelago comprising 7,107 islands with a total land area of 300,000 km2. The 11 largest islands contain 94% of the total land area. The largest of these islands is Luzonmarker at about 105,000 km2. The next largest island is Mindanaomarker at about 95,000 km2. The archipelago is around 800 km from the Asian mainland and is located between Taiwanmarker and Borneomarker.

The islands are divided into three groups: Luzonmarker, Visayasmarker, and Mindanaomarker. The Luzon islands include Luzon itself, Palawanmarker, Mindoromarker, Marinduquemarker, Masbate and Batanes Islands. The Visayas is the group of islands in the central Philippines, the largest of which are: Panaymarker, Negrosmarker, Cebumarker, Boholmarker, Leytemarker and Samarmarker. The Mindanao islands include Mindanao itself, plus the Sulu Archipelagomarker, composed primarily of Basilanmarker, Sulumarker, and Tawi-Tawimarker.

Physical setting

Physical map of the Philippines
The Philippine archipelago lies in Southeast Asia in a position that has led to its becoming a cultural crossroads, a place where Malays, Arabs, Chinese, Spaniards, Americans, Japanese and others have interacted to forge a unique cultural and racial blend. The archipelago numbers some 7,107 islands and the nation claims an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of from its shores. The Philippines occupies an area that stretches for 1,850 kilometers from about the fifth to the twentieth parallels north latitude. The total land area is slightly more than 300,000 square kilometers. Only approximately 1,000 of its islands are populated, and fewer than one-half of these are larger than 2.5 square kilometers. Eleven islands make up 95 percent of the Philippine landmass, and two of these — Luzon and Mindanao — measure 105,000 and 95,000 square kilometers, respectively. They, together with the cluster of the Visayan Islands that separate them, represent the three principal regions of the archipelago that are identified by the three stars on the Philippine flag. Topographically, the Philippines is broken up by the sea, which gives it one of the longest coastlines of any nation in the world. Most Filipinos live on or near the coast, where they can easily supplement their diet from approximately 2,000 species of fish.

Off the coast of eastern Mindanao is the Philippine Trough, which descends to a depth of 10,430 meters. The Philippines is part of a western Pacific arc system that is characterized by active volcanoes. Among the most notable peaks are Mount Mayonmarker near Legazpi Citymarker, Taal Volcanomarker south of Manilamarker, and Mount Apomarker on Mindanao. All of the Philippine islands are prone to earthquakes. The northern Luzon highlands, or Cordillera Central, rise to between 2,500 and 2,750 meters, and, together with the Sierra Madre in the northeastern portion of Luzon and the mountains of Mindanao, boast rain forests that provide refuge for numerous upland tribal groups. The rain forests also offer prime habitat for more than 500 species of birds, including the Philippine eagle (or monkey-eating eagle), some 800 species of orchids, and some 8,500 species of flowering plants.

The country's most extensive river systems are the Pulangi Rivermarker, which flows into the Mindanao River (Rio Grande de Mindanao); the Agusan, in Mindanao which flows north into the Mindanao Seamarker; the Cagayan in northern Luzon; and the Pampangamarker, which flows south from east Central Luzon into Manila Baymarker. Laguna de Baymarker, east of Manila Bay, is the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines. Several rivers have been harnessed for hydroelectric power.

To protect the country's biological resources, the government has taken a first step of preparing a Biodiversity Action Plan to address conservation of threatened species.

Political geography

The Philippines is divided into a hierarchy of local government units (LGUs) with the 81 provinces as the primary unit. Provinces are further subdivided into cities and municipalities, which are in turn composed of barangays. The barangay is the smallest local government unit.

The Philippines is divided into 17 regions with all provinces grouped into one of 16 regions for administrative convenience. The National Capital Regionmarker however, is divided into four special districts.

Most government offices establish regional offices to serve the constituent provinces. The regions themselves do not possess a separate local government, with the exception of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Regions





Provinces









List of Landlocked provinces in the Philippines

A landlocked province is one that has no coastline, meaning no access to sea or ocean. There are 16 landlocked provinces in the Philippines:

Similarly, Lagunamarker and Rizal Provincemarker of Calabarzonmarker (Region IV-A) have coastlines on Laguna de Bay. Since lakes do not allow access to seaborne trade, these provinces are still considered to be landlocked.

List of island provinces in the Philippines

An island province completely surrounded by water, is the opposite of a landlocked one. There are 15 island provinces in the Philippines:

Subnational enclaves and exclaves

In political geography, an enclave is a territory or part of a territory (usually a country) lying wholly within the boundaries of another, and an exclave is one which is politically attached to a larger piece but not actually contiguous with it. Many entities are both enclaves and exclaves, but the two are not synonymous.

List of subnational exclaves in the Philippines



Inaccessible districts
  • Some coastal barangays in Canaman, Camarines Sur do not have direct connection to barangays in poblacion. People from some coastal barangays in Canaman have to pass Camaliganmarker and Naga Citymarker via Bicol River before reaching poblacion.


Subnational quadripoint

A quadripoint is a point on the Earth that touches four distinct regions. Such points are often called "four corners", from the corners of the four regions meeting there.

More Than Four

Four distinct geographic divisions converging at a single point is not uncommon in the Philippines, and there are other points of convergence between five or more divisions that can be found.

Five


Six


Eight


Extraterritoriality

Plaza Rizal in Naga Citymarker is claimed by the province of Camarines Surmarker, its home province. The Plaza belonged to the city (formerly Nueva Caceres) when it was the capital of Ambos Camarines. A new capitol was constructed in Pili when Camarines Sur was created.

Geographic Center

The island of Romblonmarker lies exactly at the center of the Philippine archipelago.

Climate

Philippine Climate Map


The Philippines has a tropical wet climate dominated by a rainy season and a dry season. The summer monsoon brings heavy rains to most of the archipelago from May to October, whereas the winter monsoon brings cooler and drier air from December to February. Manila and most of the lowland areas are hot and dusty from March to May. Even at this time, however, temperatures rarely rise above 37 °C. Mean annual sea-level temperatures rarely fall below 27 °C. Annual rainfall measures as much as 5,000 millimeters in the mountainous east coast section of the country, but less than 1,000 millimeters in some of the sheltered valleys.

Monsoon rains, although hard and drenching, are not normally associated with high winds and waves. But the Philippines sit astride the typhoon belt, and it suffers an annual onslaught of dangerous storms from July through October. These are especially hazardous for northern and eastern Luzon and the Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions, but Manila gets devastated periodically as well.

In the last decade, the Philippines has been hit severely by natural disasters. In 2005 alone, Central Luzon was hit by both a drought, which sharply curtailed hydroelectric power, and by a typhoon that flooded practically all of low-lying Manila's streets. Still more damaging was the 1990 earthquake that devastated a wide area in Luzon, including Baguio and other northern areas. The city of Cebu and nearby areas were struck by a typhoon that killed more than a hundred people, sank vessels, destroyed part of the sugar crop, and cut off water and electricity for several days. The Philippines is prone to about 18-21 typhoons per year. Of course the 1991 Mount Pinatubomarker eruption also damaged much of Central Luzon, the lahar burying towns and farmland, and the ashes affecting global temperatures.

Building construction is undertaken with natural disasters in mind. Most rural housing has consisted of nipa huts that are easily damaged but are inexpensive and easy to replace. Most urban buildings are steel and concrete structures designed (not always successfully) to resist both typhoons and earthquakes. Damage is still significant, however, and many people are displaced each year by typhoons, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. In 1987 alone the Department of Social Welfare and Development helped 2.4 million victims of natural disasters.

Terrain

Map showing major volcanoes of the Philippines
The islands are volcanic in origin, being part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, and are mostly mountainous. The highest point in the country is the peak of Mount Apomarker in Mindanao, which is 2,954 m above sea level. The second highest point can be found on Luzon at Mount Pulogmarker, a peak 2,842 m above sea level.

The Philippine Archipelago is geologically part of the Philippine Mobile Belt located between the Philippine Sea Platemarker, the South China Sea Basin of the Eurasian Plate, and the Sunda Plate. The Philippine Trench (also called the Mindanao Trench) is a 1,320-kilometer-long submarine trench found directly east of the Philippine Mobile Belt and is the result of a collision of tectonic plates. The Philippine Sea Plate is subducting under the Philippine Mobile Belt at the rate of about 16 cm per year. Its deepest point, the Galathea Depth, has a depth of 10,540 meters (5,763 fathoms or 34,580 feet). The Philippine Fault System consists of a series of seismic faults that produce several earthquakes per year, most of which are not felt.

Many volcanoes in the country are active, the most recent eruption being that of Mount Pinatubomarker on Luzon in 1991. Mount Mayonmarker is another of the active volcanoes and has the world's most perfectly-shaped cone. Mayon has a violent history of 47 eruptions since 1616 and another violent eruption is currently feared. Taal Volcanomarker, also located on Luzon, is one of the Decade Volcanoes.

The islands typically have narrow coastal plains and numerous swift-running streams. Every island has sand beaches, but few open onto spacious lowlands. There are few large plains or navigable rivers. The longest river is the Cagayan River or Rio Grande de Cagayan in northern Luzon measuring 354 kilometers. In Mindanao, the longest river is the Mindanao River or Rio Grande de Mindanao which drains Maguindanaomarker and other parts in western-central Mindanao. Agusan River drains eastern Mindanao.

Most of the islands used to be covered by tropical rainforests. However, illegal logging has reduced forest cover to less than 10% of the total land area.

Luzon

Northern Philippines (Luzon)

The Batanes And Babuyan Islands

The Batanes and Babuyan Islandsmarker are found on the Luzon Strait north of the Philippines facing Taiwan. It contains the northernmost point of land, the islet of Y'Ami in the Batanes Islands, separated from Taiwan by the Bashi Channel (c.50 mi/80 km wide).

Western Luzon

Cagayan Valley or Lambak ng Cagayan

Cordilleras and Caraballos

The Cordilleras and Caraballos, together with the Sierra Madre Range, form the main mountain system in Northern Luzon.

The Cordilleras consists of 2, sometimes 3, mountain ranges that are found in northwestern central Luzon. The first, called Caraballo del Sur, forms the nucleus of the system and has its highest peaks in the border between the provinces of Abra, Ilocos Norte and Cagayan. The next, called Caraballo Occidentalles, is further divided into 2 ranges, the Cordillera Norte and Cordillera Central. They line the central portions of the Cordillera Administrative Region.

The Caraballos (Caraballo de Baler) start where the Sierra Madre and the Cordilleras meet. They are found south of Cagayan Valley, northeast of the Central Luzon Plains.

Sierra Madre Mountains

Sierra Madre Mountain is the longest mountain range in the Philippines that lies in the Northeastern part of Luzon Island. The range stretches from Quezon Province to Isabela. 80 percent of the mountain range is tropical rainforest, which is diminishing from rampant illegal logging activity. Only 5 percent of the mountain range is unexplored. The Sierra Madre Mountain Range serves as the eastern wall of Luzon Island that protects inhibitants from tropical cyclones usually coming from the Pacific Ocean. These storms an average of 26 per year will cause a lot of distress for the people living in the biggest island of the Philippines.

Central Luzon Plains

Manila-Calabarzon Plains

This region is where the capital of the Philippines is located. Large rivers from bays and mountain springs traverse the plain. In the Northern part of the region, that is, Manila and Rizal, most of the plain has been converted into cities, and are thus industrialized. The plain harbors the largest inland freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, the Laguna de Baymarker.

Mindoro island

Mindoro Coastal Plains
Mindoro Highlands
The Mindoro mountain range begins with Mount Halcon and is further divided into 3. The northwest ends at Calavite Point and is a landmark for ships. The east originates from Lake Naujan and the west follows Mindoro Strait.

Palawan

Kalayaan islands (Spratly Islands)
Located to the west of Palawan. "Kalayaan" is a Tagalog word meaning "freedom". see Spratly islandsmarker

Bicol Peninsula

This peninsula is connected to mainland Luzon by the isthmus of Tayabas. Provinces occupying Bicol Peninsula are the provinces Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon and some municipalities of Quezon Province.

Visayas

Panay-Negros-Cebu Area

Mindanao

Zamboanga Peninsula

Zamboanga Peninsula has a very mountainous terrain this chain of mountain ranges is called the Zamboanga Cordilleras. The highest mountain in this range is Mt. Dapia, which is 2,617 meters (8,586 ft) high.

Misamis Coastal Plains

Bukidnon-Lanao Plateaus

Agusan-Surigao-Davao Coastal Plains

Southern Pacific Cordillera

Compostela Valley

Sarangani-Cotabato Coastal Plains

Cotabato Valley

Statistics

Area

  • Total: 300,000 km2
    • Land: 298,170 km2
    • Water: 1,830 km2


Coastline

  • 36,289 km


Maritime claims

(measured from claimed archipelagic baselines)
  • Continental shelf: to depth of exploitation
  • Exclusive economic zone:
Territorial sea: irregular polygon extending up to 100 nautical miles (185 km) from coastline as defined by 1898 treaty; since late 1970s has also claimed polygonal-shaped area in South China Sea up to 285 nautical miles (528 km) in breadth.

Natural resources

  • Timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, salt, copper


Land use

  • Arable land: 19%
  • Permanent crops: 12%
  • Permanent pastures: 4%
  • Forests and woodland: 46%
  • Other: 19% (1993 est.)


Irrigated land

  • 15,800 km2 (1993 est.)


Natural hazards

The Philippines sit astride typhoon belt and are usually affected by 15 and struck by five to six cyclonic storms per year; landslides; active volcanoes; destructive earthquakes; tsunamis.

Environment - current issues

  • Uncontrolled deforestation in watershed areas; soil erosion; air and water pollution in Manila; increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps which are important fish breeding grounds.


Environment - international agreements

  • Party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
  • Signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification


Ten largest cities

The following is a list of the ten largest cities in the country in terms of population, with their population according to the 2007 census. Component cities and municipalities of Metro Manila and Metro Cebu are taken as one to show the extent of urbanization.
Rank City  Population in 2007 
1. Metro Manilamarker 11,553,427
2. Metro Cebumarker 2,314,897
3. Davao Citymarker 1,363,337
4. Zamboanga Citymarker 774,407
5. Antipolo Citymarker 633,971
6. Cagayan de Oro Citymarker 553,966
7. General Santos Citymarker 529,542
8. Bacolod Citymarker 499,497
9. Iloilo Citymarker 418,710
10. Iligan Citymarker 308,046


See also



References



External links




Embed code:






Got something to say? Make a comment.
Your name
Your email address
Message
Please enter the solution to case below
70+12=