Philippines: The Pearl of the Orient Seas

I chose the Philippines, a fairly small country (at around 300,000 sq. km) despite being the 13th most populous country in the world (with about 111,000,000 people), according to the CIA World Factbook. The archipelagic country of 7,640 islands (National Geographic) has a marine tropical climate, experiencing two distinct monsoon seasons throughout the year—one from the northeast and another from the southwest (CIA World Factbook).

Of those islands, however, only 2,000 are inhabited by some of the nation’s hundreds of ethnic groups (National Geographic)–which include Tagalog (24.4% of the population), Bisaya/Binisaya (11.4%), and Cebuano (9.9%)—according to the CIA World Factbook. Despite the more than 150 languages spoken in the country (most of which are named after the ethnic group that uses them), Filipino (a language based on the Tagalog dialect) is seen as the lingua franca among people of the Philippines (National Geographic).

Likewise, among younger people, there are more males than there are females (18,060,976 male/17,331,781 female in the 0-14 years age group). The numbers decline to (2,155,840 male/3,154,166 female) for the group of 65 years and above—indicating a higher life expectancy among women and a more gentle slope on its population pyramid (CIA World Factbook).

Something I would like a friend to know is that parts of pre-colonial Philippines have interacted a lot with Chinese, Arabic, and Indian traders (Association for Asian Studies). Despite the archipelago being home to more than 150 ethnic groups, each with their own culture, almost the entire archipelago was brought under single rule by Spanish colonizers for 333 years (Association for Asian Studies). The Philippines briefly (for two years) became part of the British empire (Association for Asian Studies). Eventually, the islands were ceded to the United States, which took control for more than 40 years (Association for Asian Studies). The archipelago was then occupied by Japanese forces during the Second World War (Association for Asian Studies). Hence, four powers—the Spanish Empire, the British Empire, the United States, and the Empire of Japan, took control of the Philippines in a span of about 400 years.

One of major hindrances to Philippine economic development includes natural disasters. Situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire and on a typhoon belt, the archipelago experiences a multitude of disasters each year—typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. One typhoon in particular, Super Typhoon Haiyan, caused an estimated $13 billion in damage in 2013, with that figure being approximately 4.7% of the country’s GDP in the same year (The World Bank). Thus, viewing the Philippines’ economic development through an environmental lens allows one to gain an insight of some of the challenges the country is facing.

WORKS CITED

Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/philippines/.

Herrera, Dana. “The Philippines: An Overview of the Colonial Era.” Association for Asian Studies, 28 May 2020, www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/the-philippines-an-overview-of-the-colonial-era/.

“Know before You Go: the Philippines.” Travel, National Geographic, 4 May 2021, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/partner-content-know-before-you-go-the-philippines.

“The Philippines: Transferring the Cost of Severe Natural Disasters to Capital Markets.” World Bank, World Bank, 13 Apr. 2020, www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2020/04/09/the-philippines-transferring-the-cost-of-severe-natural-disasters-to-capital-markets.

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