Overseas trade with neighbors such as the late Tang or Song empire brought Sinitic-speaking merchants to the archipelago, which would gradually settle and intermix as well in later centuries.

The adoption of Animism, Hinduism with Buddhist influence, and Islam established island-kingdoms ruled by datus, rajas, and sultans. Negritos, the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, were followed by waves of Austronesian peoples.

Manila is the country's capital, and its most populated city is Quezon City both are within Metro Manila. It is the world's twelfth-most-populous country, with diverse ethnicities and cultures. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest. The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the south. In the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of 7,641 islands, with a total area of 321,918 square kilometres, which are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Philippines ( / ˈ f ɪ l ɪ p iː n z/ ⓘ Filipino: Pilipinas), officially the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas), is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia.

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