The Philippines are a chain of 7,100 islands in the Southwestern Pacific, most of them less than a square mile in size, running roughly north and south. They cover 115,600 square miles, about the area of Italy. The principal islands: Luzon (40,420 square miles) and Mindanao (36,537 square miles). Biggest city: Manila (pop. 1,024,557).
People: The first settlers, who, some theorize, may have come by land bridges from the Asiatic mainland, were aboriginal Negrito pygmies. Then, 6,000 years ago, came Indonesians in boats, to push the Negritos into the interior; the Indonesians in turn...
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