Philippines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Philippines - Essay Example It has a land area of 114, 672 square miles and stretches almost 1, 150 miles. Its capital is Manila which is located on Luzon. According to Steinberg † The Philippines is one of the most disaster-struck countries in the world† (12). This country is located on the Ring of Fire and is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Steinberg stated that â€Å"It is averages about five earthquakes a day of all grades and intensities up to 7.9 on the Richter Scale† (12). Its climate is tropical. The monsoons mark the rainy and the dry seasons. In Manila the rain starts from June to November. The cool dry season comes from December to February while the hot dry season is from March to May. It lies in the path of several tropical storms and suffers several strong typhoons between July and October. The Philippines has a long history of exporting agricultural products. Rice is the symbol of life (Steinberg, 2000: 15). It is the most important crop grown in the country. The farmers rely on the monsoons to give the plant the necessary water. Bad crops can affect the peasants. The tropical rain forests are one of the key sources of export income. However, tree cutting and milling are changing the landscape and causing disasters. There are major extractive mining industries as the country has large deposits of chromite and gold. Of the 49. 4 million acres of mineral land, only 34. 6 million have been geologically surveyed. (Steinberg, 2000: 29). The Philippine territorial waters offer 2,000 local species of fish, giving the people a new source of protein. In the past few decades, prawn farming has become the major industry throughout the archipelago, offering the promise of a new export product. The Philippines is a democratic country. The population of the Philippines was approximately 84.2 million in 2004 (Abinales & Amoroso, 2005: 16). Filipinos are distinguished by ethno linguistic groups originally corresponding to geographical