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Philippines
Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer and his successful expeditions for Spain put the Philippine archipelago on the map of the world, when he landed in Homonhon island of Cebu on 17 March 1521. Pleased with his discovery, Magellan continued to take over neighbouring isles but was later killed in Mactan island in a clash with native warriors led by a chieftain named Datu Lapu-Lapu.
The archipelago, named Filipinas in honour of Spain's King Philip II, is composed of 7,107 islands and islets spanning 1854 kilometres from north to south. The northernmost tip of the country, Y'ami of the Batanes Island Group, is 241 kilometres south of Taiwan while the southernmost tip, Sibutu of the Tawi-Tawi group of islands, is just 14.4 kilometres north of Borneo.
There are three major geographical groups in the country; Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The northern portion of the archipelago is composed of the largest island, Luzon. The Visayan region consist of 6,000 islands including Panay, Leyte, Samar, Cebu, and Bohol. Whereas, Mindanao is the second largest island and encompasses about 400 smaller islands.
Spanish colonisers succeeded in introducing Christianity in Luzon and Visayas but were unsuccessful in Mindanao. Some 83% of the population is Catholic, about 15% is Muslim and the rest of the population is made up mostly of smaller Christian denominations and Buddhist sect.
Links
BBC
Centre
for Filipinos UK
Commission on Filipinos
Overseas
Ctrl+P Journal of Contemporary Art
Cultural
Centre of the Philippines
National Commission
for Culture and the Arts
Philippine Embassy
UK
Westminster Arts
Wikipedia
Wow Philippines
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© 2007. LK Dance Company, London, UK