Luzon is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as well as Quezon City, the country's most populous city. With a population of 64 million as of 2021, it contains 52.5% of the country's total population and is the 4th most populous island in the world. It is the 15th largest island in the world by land area.
Luzon satellite image captured by Sentinel-2 in 2016
Bangkang pinawa, an ancient Philippine mortar and pestle
Detail of an illustration from Jean Mallat's Les Philippines (1846), showing "a Tagalog couple pounding rice." The mortar depicted is known as a "lusong", which was also the Old Tagalog name of the Pasig River delta.
Luzon island (吕宋国) delegates in Beijing, China, in 1761. 万国来朝图
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. In the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of 7,641 islands, with a total area of 300,000 square kilometers, which are broadly categorized in three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. 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. 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. It is the world's twelfth-most-populous country, with diverse ethnicities and cultures. Manila is the country's capital, and its most populated city is Quezon City. Both are within Metro Manila.
Ilustrados in Madrid around 1890
Filipino General Gregorio del Pilar and his troops in Pampanga around 1898, during the Philippine-American War
The Inauguration of Manuel L. Quezon as President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines on Nov 15, 1935
General Douglas MacArthur and Sergio Osmeña (left) coming ashore during the Battle of Leyte on October 20, 1944