Philippines Philippines The Philippines ( ; or ' ), officially the Republic of the Philippines (), is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. Bounded by the South China Sea on the west, the Philippine Sea on the east and the Celebes Sea on the southwest, the Philippines shares maritime borders with
Ecoregions in the Philippines Ecoregions in the Philippines The Philippine archipelago is one of the world's great reservoirs of biodiversity and endemism. The archipelago includes over 7000 islands, and a total land area of 300,780 km². The Philippines was never connected to mainland Asia via land bridges, so the flora and fauna of the islands had to cross ocean straits to reach the Philippines. The Philippines is part of the Indomalaya ecozone, and its flora and fauna is mostly derived from tropical Asia. Botanically, the Philippines are part of Malesia, a floristic province that includes the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, and New Guinea. Most of