Manila, capital and chief city of the Philippines.

The city is the centre of the

countrys economic, political, social, and cultural activity. It is located on the island
of Luzon and spreads along the eastern shore of Manila Bay at the mouth of the Pasig
River. The citys name, originally Maynilad, is derived from that of the nilad plant, a
flowering shrub adapted to marshy conditions, which once grew profusely along the
banks of the river; the name was shortened first to Maynila and then to its present
form. In 1975, by presidential decree, Manila and its contiguous cities and
municipalities were integrated to function as a single administrative region, known
as Metropolitan Manila (also called the National Capital Region); the Manila city
proper encompasses only a small proportion of that area.

Manila, looking across Roxas Boulevard.

Paul A. Souders/Corbis
 Manila.
ibarra_svd/Bar Fabella

Manila has been the principal city of the Philippines for four centuries and is the
centre of its industrial development as well as the international port of entry. It is
situated on one of the finest sheltered harbours of the Pacific region, about 700 miles
(1,100 km) southeast of Hong Kong. The city has undergone rapid economic
development since its destruction in World War II and its subsequent rebuilding; it is
now plagued with the familiar urban problems of pollution, traffic congestion,
and overpopulation. Measures have been taken, however, to ameliorate those
problems. Area city, 15 square miles (38 square km); National Capital Region, 244
square miles (633 square km). Pop. (2000) city, 1,581,082; National Capital Region,
9,932,560; (2010) city, 1,652,171; National Capital Region, 11,855,975.

Manila, Philippines.
Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.

Landscape
City site
Manila occupies the low, narrow deltaic plain of the Pasig River, which flows
northwestward to Manila Bay. The swampy delta of the southward-flowing Pampanga
River lies to the north of the city. Immediately to the northeast and east of the urban
region lies a stretch of lowlands, beyond which rise the peaks of the southern range of
the Sierra Madre. Laguna de Bay, the large lake from which the Pasig River flows,
flanks Metropolitan Manila to the southeast. Enclosing Manila Bay to the west is the
 mountainous Bataan Peninsula. Although the citys area is constricted, it is an
excellent port site because of its sheltered harbour, its access to inland agricultural
areas by way of the river, and its relative proximity to the Asian mainland.

Manila.
Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.

Climate
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The city is protected from extreme weather conditions by the hills of the Sierra Madre
and the mountains of the Bataan Peninsula. The tropical climate is characterized by a
wet season that lasts from June to November and by a dry season lasting
from December to May. The wettest months are July, August, and September, when
thunderstorms are especially common. The average annual rainfall totals about 80
inches (about 2,000 mm). There is little monthly variation from the mean annual
temperature, which is in the low 80s F (about 27 C).

Plant and animal life

The city is dotted with palms, banyans, acacias, and other tropical trees,
and bamboo grows in many public parks. Domestic mammalssuch as water buffalo,
horses, dogs, pigs, and goatsare common, while wild birdlife includes shrikes,
doves, and pigeons. Manila Bay abounds
with sardines, anchovies, mackerel, tuna, snappers, and barracuda. The citys natural
beauty is marred, however, by air and water pollution caused by the expansion
of industryand the growing number of motor vehicles.

City layout
The city is bisected by the Pasig River. It is divided into six administrative divisions
that comprise 17 districts. Most of the districts developed from the original fortress
city of Intramuros (Within Walls) and the 13 villages located outside its walls.
About two-thirds of the districts lie to the north of the river and the remaining third
lies to the south. The two sections of the city are connected by several bridges.
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 Although business areas are widespread, the districts to the north of the river
especially along the bay and in the citys west-central region constitute the chief
centres of trade and commerce. The district of San Miguel is the site of Malacaang
Palace, the presidential residence; and several universities are located in Sampaloc, on
the northeastern edge of the city. Adjacent to the heavily populated districts on the
northern shore is Manila North Harbor; Manila South Harbor, the main international
port, is on the southern shore. Intramuros is renowned for its 16th-century San
Agustin church as well as for the ruins of its old walls and of Fort Santiago. On the
south shore, Ermita and Malate are choice residential districts and the sites of hotels
and embassies. The districts to the southeast are generally middle-income residential
areas.

Manila.
Photos.com/Jupiterimages
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Olympic History

Metropolitan Manila includes the cities of Manila, Caloocan City to the north, Quezon
City to the northeast, and Pasay City (located near the shore of Manila Bay) to the
south and 13 municipalities. The municipalities include Makati, Mandaluyong, San
Juan, Las Pias, Malabon, Navotas, Pasig, Pateros, Paraaque, Marikina, Muntinlupa,
Taguig, and Valenzuela. Metropolitan Manila was created in order to provide
integrated services such as water supply, police and fire protection, and transport and
to permit central planning for simultaneous and unified development.
Housing
The city has a chronic housing shortage, and tenement housing projects have been
constructed by the government to help house the poor. A landmarkif ultimately
unsuccessfulproject undertaken from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s was the
Bagong Lipunan Improvement of Sites and Services (BLISS), initiated by the
governor of Metropolitan Manila. To provide homes for squatters, the government
also developed resettlement projects in and around Manila that are easily accessible
by land motor transportation.

Residential buildings include the single-family dwelling; the duplex for two
independent households; the accessoria, whose dwelling units have individual
entrances from the outside; the apartment building with common entrance; and
the barong-barong, a makeshift shack built of salvaged materials (flattened tin cans,
scrap lumber, cartons, or billboards) that is common in the poor areas.

Architecture
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Architectural styles reflect American, Spanish, Chinese, and Malay influences. Rizal
Park and a number of government buildings were designed by U.S. architect and city
planner Daniel H. Burnham. Modern buildingsincluding multistoried commercial
houses and public and private buildingsare commonly made of reinforced
 concrete and hollow cement blocks. Houses of modern designespecially low,
sprawling ranch houses with spacious lawnsare common in the districts of Ermita
and Malate. Spanish-style houses, with tiled roofs, barred windows, and thick walls,
were common before World War II and have remained popular. The churches of the
city are American, Spanish, or European in character. The Manila cathedral was
rebuilt in the 1950s and is an important landmark. It succeeds five earlier cathedrals
the first dating from the mid-16th centurythat were destroyed either by earthquakes
or during wartime.

Manila Cathedral.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock

People
Metropolitan Manila is densely populated and contains a significant proportion of the
population of the country. This concentration of people has been brought about by a
constant rural-urban migration. The strain on municipal services has had an adverse
effect on the quality of life in the urban area. Consequently, various government
policies and resettlement projects have been implemented in an effort to address the
problem of population density.
Almost all the residents of Manila are Filipinos. The largest single
foreign community, representing less than one-tenth of the population, is made up of
Chinese. The population of the city is predominantly Roman Catholic, although there
are some Protestants, Muslims, and Buddhists. The two national churchesthe Iglesia
ni Kristo and the Philippine Independent, or Aglipayan, Churchhave small
congregations.

Economy
Manufacturing
The diverse manufacturing activities of Manila include textile production, publishing
and printing, food and tobacco processing, and chemical processing. Manila also
produces lumber and wood items, rope and cordage, soap, and other goods. Factories
generally are small and are located mostly in the congested districts of Tondo (which
also has the railroad and truck terminals), Binondo, and Santa Cruz. Heavy industries
are located in the districts of Paco, Pandacan, and Santa Ana.

Finance and other services

Manila is the centre of trade and finance in the Philippines. Trade flourishes within
the metropolitan area and between the city and the provinces and other countries.
Most of the Philippines imports and exports pass through the port of Manila.
Financial institutions headquartered in Manila include such establishments as the
Development Bank of the Philippines, the Philippine National Bank, the Philippine
Veterans Bank, the Government Service Insurance System, the Social Security
System, and many private commercial and developmental banks. Private insurance
companies and the Philippine Stock Exchange also contribute to the mobilization of
savings for investment.

Transportation
 CONNECT WITH BRITANNICA

Within the area of Metropolitan Manila, public transportation is provided principally

by buses, jeepneys (small buses built on the chassis of jeeps), and taxis. Traffic
congestion is serious, especially at the bridges during the morning and evening rush
hours. Adjacent towns serve as dormitory suburbs, and many people commute to the
city, adding to the traffic problem. Bus services operate routes to northern and
southern Luzon.
Railroad services operated by the Philippine National Railways also connect the city
with northern and southeastern Luzon. An elevated rail line, linking Caloocan City
and the city of Baclaran (to the south of Pasay City), was completed in 1984. It was
 the first phase of a transit system, called the Light Rail Transit, that by the early 21st
century had lines extending throughout much of the metropolitan area.

Interisland and international transportation is provided by domestic and foreign

airlines and by shipping. Manila South Harbor, with its enclosed customhouse,
warehouses, and sheds, is sheltered by a low breakwater. There are no railway lines
within the port area, and cargo is transported from the piers by trucks or barges. The
piers and warehouses of Manila North Harbor are busy with heavy traffic from all
ports in the Philippines. In the 1980s additional port facilities for international
shipping were built, partially on reclaimed land, in the area between the two harbours.

Administration And Society

Government
Metropolitan Manila is administered by the Metropolitan Manila Development
Authority (MMDA). Within the MMDA is an administrative council consisting of the
mayors of each of the constituent cities and municipalities as well as a number of
other officials. The Sangguniang Bayan (Municipal Assembly) of each city or
municipality helps in administration and legislation. It is composed of the mayor, vice
mayor, councillors, captains of barangays(neighbourhoods), and representatives from
other sectors who are appointed by the president upon recommendation of the local
unit.

Municipal services
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Potable water comes from a supply network managed by the Metropolitan
Waterworks and Sewerage System. Satisfactory sanitation conditions are maintained
by constant surveillance of markets, restaurants, movie theatres, recreation halls, and
slaughterhouses. Insecticides are sprayed regularly on open sewers, uncollected
garbage, and standing water; garbage is collected by a fleet of trucks that operate
night and day. Moreover, workers maintain cleanliness in the metropolitan area and
are also responsible for the beautification of the city as directed by the governor of
Metropolitan Manila.

Health and security

Health facilities in Manila are among the best in the region. The city government
maintains numerous health centres as well as San Lazaro Hospital, where patients are
treated free of charge, and subsidizes a number of government hospitals. There are
also many missionary and private hospitals in the city.

Police and fire services are well organized and well supplied, and personnel are
comparatively well trained and well paid. The Police Community Relations Group
helps to combat local crime, as do barangay brigades and barangay tanods (guards)
throughout Metropolitan Manila. Members of those groups are volunteers and
selected leaders of the barangays who aim to maintain peace and order in
their communities.

Education
Nearly all citizens over age 10 are literate. More than 100 free public schools are
maintained, in addition to the night vocational and secondary schools and the Manila
branch of the University of the Philippines. Educational opportunities are also
provided for children with disabilities, orphans of school age, and adults.

As the education centre of the Philippines, Metropolitan Manila houses many of the
major institutions of higher education of the country, including the University of the
Philippines (with its main campus in Quezon City), the Philippine Normal College,
and the Technological University of the Philippines. There are several universities
sponsored by religious bodies, including the University of Santo Tomas (founded in
1611) and the Ateneo de Manila, as well as nonsectarian institutions such as the
University of the East and the Far Eastern University.

Cultural Life
The centre of the performing arts in the country is the Philippine Cultural Center.
There is also the Folk Arts Theater, facing Manila Bay, the renovated historic
Metropolitan Theatre, and an open-air theatre in Rizal Park. The many libraries and
museums include the National Library and the National Museum, known for its
anthropological and archaeological exhibits; the National Institute of Science and
Technology, with a scientific reference library and large collections of plants and
animals; the geological museum of the Bureau of Mines and Geosciences; the
Planetarium; Fort Santiago, which houses original works of the Philippine patriot Jos
Rizal; and the Kamaynilaan (Manila City) Library and Museum, which contains
valuable carvings, paintings, and archives.

The foremost outdoor recreational area is Rizal Park, with a Japanese garden, a
Chinese garden, an open-air theatre, a playground, a grandstand, and a long
promenade adjacent to Manila Bay. Other areas include the Manila Zoological and
Botanical Gardens, the Mehan Garden, and Paco Park. Athletic facilities include the
Rizal Memorial Stadium and the Jai-Alai Fronton, both located in Manila, and the
Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. Annual festivals and carnivals are held in the
sunken garden fronting the City Hall of Manila.

History
In the late 16th century Manila was a walled Muslim settlement whose ruler levied
customs duties on all commerce passing up the Pasig River. Spanish conquistadors
under the leadership of Miguel Lpez de Legazpifirst Spanish governor-general of
the Philippinesentered the mouth of the river in 1571. They destroyed the
settlement and founded the fortress city of Intramuros in its place. Manila became the
capital of the new colony. Outside the city walls stood some scattered villages, each
ruled by a local chieftain and each centred on a marketplace. As Spanish colonial rule
became established, churches were built near the marketplaces, where the
concentration of population was greatest. Manila spread beyond its walls, expanding
north, east, and south, linking together the marketchurch complexes as it did so.
The propagation of Roman Catholicism began with the Augustinian friar Andrs de
Urdaneta, who accompanied the expedition of 1571. He was followed by Franciscan,
Dominican, Jesuit, and other Augustinian priests, who founded churches, convents,
and schools. In 1574 Manila was baptized under the authorization of Spain and the
Vatican as the Distinguished and Ever Loyal City and became the centre of
Catholicism as well as of the Philippines.
At various periods Manila was seriously threatened, and sometimes occupied, by
foreign powers. It was invaded by the Chinese in 1574 and raided by the Dutch in the
mid-17th century. In 1762, during the Seven Years War, the city was captured and
held by the British, but the Treaty of Paris (1763) resulted in its restoration to Spain. It
was opened to foreign tradein 1832, and commerce was further stimulated by the
opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.
The Manila area became the centre of anti-Spanish sentiment in the 1890s, and the
execution of Filipino patriot Jos Rizal in the city in December 1896 sparked a year-
long insurrection. During the Spanish-American War the Spanish fleet was defeated at
 Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, and on August 13 the city surrendered to U.S. forces. It
subsequently became the headquarters for the U.S. administration of the Philippines.

Battle of Manila Bay, undated print.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: cph 3b52211)

The U.S. period was one of general social and economic improvement for the city.
U.S. policy encouraged gradual Filipino political autonomy, and to help achieve this
goal public schools were established in Manila and throughout the archipelago. The
University of the Philippines, founded in 1908, became the apex of the educational
system. The city developed into a major trading and tourist centre.
Upon the outbreak of World War II, Manila was declared an open city and was
occupied by the Japanese in January 1942. The city suffered little damage during the
Japanese invasion but was leveled to the ground during the fight for its recapture by
U.S. forces in 1945.

Manila, Philippines, in the aftermath of its recapture by Allied forces in early 1945.
U.S. Navy

Manila was in shambles when in 1946 it became the capital of the newly independent
Republic of the Philippines. The city was rapidly rebuilt, however, with U.S. aid. A
significant change in its appearance was brought about by industrialization. In 1948
suburban Quezon City was chosen as the site of a new national capital, but in 1976
Manila again became the capital and the permanent seat of the national government.
Metropolitan Manila experienced rapid growth in the late 20th century, which helped
establish it as a major economic centre in the Pacific region. The expansion, however,
also brought pollution, traffic congestion, and overcrowding. The government took
numerous measures to alleviate the problems, but they persisted into the 21st century.
Another mounting concern was the rise in terrorism. Once largely confined to
outlying regions, terrorist activities perpetrated primarily by militant Islamist and
communist groups also have increased.