City of Manila

Lungsd ng Maynila

Manila (English: /mnl/; Tagalog: Maynila, [majnila]) is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities (along with the smaller municipality of Pateros) that comprise Metro Manila.

Manila is located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north; Quezon City to the northeast; San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east; Makati to the southeast, and Pasay to the south.

Manila has a total population of more than 1,652,171 according to the 2010 census.[3] Manila is the second most populous city in the Philippines, behind its neighbor, Quezon City. The populace inhabit an area of only 38.55 square kilometers, making Manila the most densely populated city in the world.[5]Metro Manila is the most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines and the 11th in the world with an estimated population of 16,300,000. The greater urban area is the fifth-most populous in the world and has an estimated metropolitan population of 20,654,307 people.[6]

The city is divided into six legislative districts and consists of sixteen geographical districts: Binondo, Ermita, Intramuros, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Port Area, Quiapo, Sampaloc, San Andres, San Miguel, San Nicolas, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, Santa Mesa and Tondo. Bustling commerce and some of the most historically and culturally significant iconic landmarks in the country, as well as the seat of the executive and judicial branches of the government are to be found in the city; and it is also home to many scientific and educational institutions, numerous sport facilities, a variety of other culturally and historically significant venues. As a primary transportation hub and with the larger capital region bearing its name, there is very little of a general nature to be found in cities anywhere that Manila is lacking.

The earliest written account of the city is the 10th-century Laguna Copperplate Inscription which describes a context of a Indianised kingdom maintaining diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Medang. The city was invaded by Brunei's Sultan Bolkiah and was already Islamized by the 15th century when the Spanish first arrived. Manila eventually became the center of Spanish activity in the Far East and one end of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade route inking Latin America and Asia. This caused it to be called the "Pearl of the Orient". Several Chinese insurrections, local revolts, a British Occupation and a Sepoy mutiny also occurred thereafter. Later, it saw the rise of the Philippine Revolution which was followed by the arrival of the Americans who made contributions to the city's urban planning and development only to have most of those improvements lost in the devastation of World War II. Since then the city has been rebuilt.

Manila was first known as Gint (gold) or Suvarnadvipa by neighbouring settlements, and was officially the Kingdom of Maynila. The Kingdom flourished during the latter half of the Ming Dynasty as a result of direct trade relations with China. Ancient Tondo was maintained as the traditional capital of the empire, with its rulers as sovereign kings and not mere chieftains, and were addressed variously as panginuan or panginoon ("lords"); anak banwa ("son of heaven"); or lakandula ("lord of the palace"). In the 13th century, the city consisted of a fortified settlement and trading quarter at the shores of the Pasig river, on top of previous older towns. There is also early evidence of Manila being invaded by the Indianized empire of Majapahit, due to the epic eulogy poem Nagarakretagama which inscribed its conquest by Maharaja Hayam Wuruk.[7] Saludong or Selurong which is a historical name for the city of Manila is listed in Canto 14 alongside Sulot, which is now Sulu, and Kalka.[7]

During the reign of Sultan Bolkiah in 1485 to 1521, the Sultanate of Brunei decided to break the Dynasty of Tondo's monopoly in the China trade by attacking it and establishing the state of Selurong (now Manila) as a Bruneian satellite-state.[8] A new dynasty under the Islamized Rajah Salalila. was also established to challenge the House of Lakandula in Tondo. Islam was further strengthened by the arrival to the Philippines of traders and proselytizers from Malaysia and Indonesia.[9] The multiple states that existed in the Philippines simplified Spanish colonization. Manila was temporarily threatened by the invasion of Chinese pirate-warlord Limahong before it became the seat of the colonial government of Spain.

In 1571 Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founded the Manila in what today is Intramuros. Manila was made the capital of the Philippine Islands, which Spain would control for over three centuries, from 1565 to 1898. The city was occupied by Great Britain for two years from 1762 to 1764 as part of the Seven Years' War.[10] The city remained the capital of the Philippines under the government of the provisional British governor, acting through the Mexican-born Archbishop of Manila, Manuel Rojo del Rio y Vieyra and the captive Real Audiencia.[11] However, armed resistance to the British persisted, centered in Pampanga, and was led by Oidor Don Simn de Anda y Salazar.[11]

Follow this link:

Islands to get IT-based healthcare