Philippines

 
Pronunciation: /ˈfɪlɪpiːnz/
  • a country in SE Asia consisting of an archipelago of over 7,000 islands separated from the Asian mainland by the South China Sea; population 97,976,600 (est. 2009); official languages, Filipino and English; capital, Manila.

The main islands of the Philippines are Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Leyte, Samar, Negros, and Panay. Conquered by Spain in 1565, the islands were ceded to the US following the Spanish-American War in 1898. The Philippines achieved full independence as a republic in 1946. From 1965 the country was under the increasingly dictatorial rule of President Ferdinand Marcos (1917–89); he was driven from power in 1986 and replaced by Corazón Aquino (1933–2009), President 1986–92