Geography of the Philippines essay Essay

geographyGeography and mode gather in always had very po ext make on refining. Geography, or the study of relationships between community and attitudes on Earth, very often shapes the way people live and interact with each another(prenominal)(a). Climate, or the regular weather patterns eitherplace time of a vicinity, also has drastic effects on society and cultures, and these statements argon especially true in the southwest due east Asian body politic of the Filipinos.The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago, or chain of is vote outs, set off the south-eastern coast of Asia. Consisting of oer 7,000 volcanic is discharges with a total land area of nearly 300,000 square kilometers (approximately the size of Arizona), islands of the Philippines are predominantly rough except for densely populated coastal plains on larger islands. The state of matter is located over the Philippine Trench, a plate tectonic shut outrier which forms part of the Ring of Fir e (see mathematical function 2).The Ring of Fire, a region closely associated with volcanic and earthquake activity, lends a heavy influence to volcanic activity on the islands of the Philippines (one such example is Mount Pinatubo, a very active volcano on the island of Luzon. See Map 1 for location of Luzon). The geography endures for whatsoever ethnic diffusion, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity all reached the islands by the mid 117th vitamin C although there are still places that are extremely isolated to the betoken of having no electricity7 at all and primitive methods of life.The climate of the Republic of the Philippines is a warm and moist one. Affected by a northeast monsoon from November to April and a southwest monsoon from May to October, warm winds and mode ordain rainfall dominate the climate patterns of the nation. Approximately nineteen pct of Filipino land is arable, the second nearly in the region of southmost East Asia. As shown in the cultivatable Land chart, the only soil near the Philippines with more farmland is Thailand with over thirty percent arable land. The warm weather and moist monsoons allow for emergence of the nations main crops sugar, and rice. Although only 19% of the land is farmable there is plenty forest and permanent crop space for merchandise cash crops and lumber, as is shown inPhilippine Land Usage pie chart. cardinal percent of the archipelago is covered with forests for loggers to cut and sell at reasonable rank to give the preservation a boost.Social IssuesThe Philippines have seen a soaked increase in community over the last 40 years. Since 1960, when the commonwealth was over 27 million (see Philippines Population Over Time bar line chart), the nation has seen a steady increase of about 10 million citizens per year. In 2001, the population rose to over 82.8 million, an increase of over 20 million people in just over ten years, probably because of an increase in the abundance of jobs in the area of poke and services. Since compass costs were cut in 1992 due to a waterlogged economy the population skyrocketed because people could now find jobs in factories and markets because of a opposed interest in hiring cheap laborers.Over 95% of the Filipino population are of Malay decent, while the other five percent is in the first place people of Chinese ethnicity, as is shown in the Ethnic demographic pie chart. The dominant religion is Roman Catholicism, followed by Protestant and Islam (see Religious demographic chart). either of the popular philosophies in the Philippines came as a result of cultural diffusion from other areas, there is a very small nonage that practice native beliefs to the region.The Philippines have a steadfast educational system, with complete schooling for children ages 7-12 years and one of the highest literacy rates of all the nations in South East Asia. According to the chart titled Literacy, the Philippines have a rate of literacy (94.6% among p eople over 15 years of age) challenged only by those of Thailand and Vietnam. educate is also mandatory for all children who are citizens of the Philippines.Medical technology is other strongpoint in the Philippine society. Aids deaths are the lowest among neighbouring countries shown in the Aids Deaths chart, with under 2000 aids deaths to date. This shows advancements in medicine and modernized facilities for people to be treated. There is one hospital bed available for every 860 people, and a physician for every 849 people. These ratios are very good for the region, neighboring countries are no where near that equipped for the care of ill people. governmental IssuesThe Republic of the Philippines is, as stated, a republic. The Head of State is an elected president. The country is divided into 73 provinces under one Union, as illustrated in Map 3, though only the 55 largest provinces are shown since the others are not visible to the maps scale. The national capital is Manila o n the island of Luzon. There are approximately 150,000 active defense troops stationed in the country for various purposes. The only government-recognized official languages are Filipino and English. A universal law of suffrage grants anyone 18 years of age or older the right to vote on elected officials and any other deeds requiring a majority vote from the public. The government is stable and true(p) to citizens, with a sturdy court system found on Spanish and American concepts and an executive branch that enforces laws efficiently.EconomyThe Filipino economy is based strongly on services and labor, as is shown in the chart for Philippine GDP Sector Composition. The sectors for agriculture and industry are some(prenominal) less than the services sector, showing that the economy relies heavily on services. apprehend in the country is cheap , and rates are low for foreign businesses wishing to hire out production of goods.The agricultural division of the economy has a strong inf luence, also. The chief cash crops are rice and sugar, both of which are grown on coastal plains on most of the islands in the archipelago. Farmland is restricted to the deep coastal plains because of the generally mountainous terrain the islands have from their volcanic origins. Two warm and wet monsoons fertilize soil and friend crops grow in the fertile flatlands near the coast. Main minerals mined in the region are cobalt, copper, and iron ore, all ofwhich are exported at somewhat rates.Industry is doing well in the Philippines, the main industry for the country is textiles and since labor is cheap and there is a good mineral supply, machinery is not scarce. A great deal of pharmaceuticals are also produced in the Philippines. conveyation is boom in the Philippines. The Republic of the Philippines has more Airports than any neighboring nation, as is shown in Number of Airports graph. With almost 300 national airports, they have more than doubled the amount of any neighboring South East Asian country. Transport by air and sea is heavily relied upon, since the country has so some water borders. With over 36,289 km of coastline among its 7,000 islands, the archipelago of the Philippines heavily relies on boats and planes to move about, domestically or when migrating to other countries.Summary of StatusThe Republic of the Philippines is a stable country built on a solid government and fair economy. Faith in the governing body is high, and the system of law enforcement and regulations are sturdily based on American and Spanish systems. Geography allows for growth of crops and an evenly dispersed population. Aside from extemporaneous volcanic activity and some tsunami action because of its location on the Ring of Fire, climatic conditions are just to most because of the positive effects on farming and fertilizing soil. Socially, the differences in culture between regions and islands can be great, but for the most part the nation is made up of people with C hristian Malay heritage, though many a(prenominal) other ethnic groups exist in the nation. Medical and educational systems are both very stable and advanced, with low death-at-birth- rates and abundant hospital space, along with a mandatory and free school system for children.All things considered, the Philippines are doing better than most South East Asian nations that neighbor the archipelago. With a well-balanced scale of politics, economy, and society, capped off with a mainly beneficial geographic setting, the Republic of the Philippines is doing better than most South East Asiannations in transportation technology, medical practice, arable and farmed land, forestry, and countless other areas of the countrys array of economic and social areas. With good population growth and even better projected growth, the Philippines should endure years of find out prosperity in the future based on everything mentioned above.