1.
Taguig
–
Taguig is a highly urbanized city located in south-eastern portion of Metro Manila in the Philippines. From a thriving fishing community along the shores of Laguna de Bay, according to the 2015 census, Taguig is the 7th most populous city in the Philippines after Zamboanga City, it has a population of 804,915. The local government of Taguig currently administers Bonifacio Global City, which is considered as one of Metro Manilas central business districts alongside Makati CBD and Ortigas Center. Taguig River, a tributary of the Pasig River cuts through the half of the municipality and Napindan River. The original 800-some farmer-fishermen of the area were good at threshing rice after harvest, hence they were referred to as mga taga-giik, and the settlement as pook ng mga taga-giik. Spanish friar Fray Alonso de Alvarado, together with conquistador Ruy López de Villalobos who crossed Pasig River to reach the present site in 1571 found taga-giik difficult to pronounce. Tagui-ig was later shortened to its current form Taguig, before the Spaniards came, Taguig was a part of the Kingdom of Tondo ruled by Rajah Sulayman. This was believed to have originated from Chinas Ming dynasty, Taguig was one of the earliest known territories to have been Christianized when the Spaniards succeeded in subjugating mainland Luzon through the Legazpi expedition in 1571. Between the years 1582 and 1583, Taguig was part of the encomienda of Tondo headed by an alcalde mayor and it was in 1587 when Taguig was established as a separate pueblo of the then province of Manila. Captain Juan Basi was its Kapitan from 1587 to 1588, according to records, Taguig had nine barrios then namely, Bagumbayan, Bambang, Hagonoy, Palingon, Sta. Ana, Tipas, Tuktukan, Ususan, and Wawa, records show that Tipas had once petitioned to become an independent town but was denied by the Spanish government. During that time, Taguig was accessible via the Pasig River, the population then was estimated to be 800 tributes. The town produced more than enough rice for consumption but had less sugar cane to mill, the men lived through fishing while women wove cotton cloth and sawali from bamboo strips. The people of Taguig were known to have resisted both Spanish and American colonial rule, during that early period of Spanish colonization. Don Juan Basi, Kapitan of Taguig from 1587 to 1588, took part in the Tondo Conspiracy, Basi was exiled for two years as punishment. When the Katipunan was on its years, many from Taguig became followers. The people of Taguig also joined the government of General Emilio Aguinaldo on August 6,1898. During the American occupation, they struggled against the forces of General Wheaton under the command of General Pio del Pilar
2.
Philippines
–
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila. The Philippines has an area of 300,000 square kilometers, and it is the eighth-most populated country in Asia and the 12th most populated country in the world. As of 2013, approximately 10 million additional Filipinos lived overseas, multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelagos earliest inhabitants and they were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Exchanges with Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Islamic nations occurred, then, various competing maritime states were established under the rule of Datus, Rajahs, Sultans or Lakans. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in Homonhon, Eastern Samar in 1521 marked the beginning of Hispanic colonization, in 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. With the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi from Mexico City, in 1565, the Philippines became part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. This resulted in Roman Catholicism becoming the dominant religion, during this time, Manila became the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade connecting Asia with Acapulco in the Americas using Manila galleons. Aside from the period of Japanese occupation, the United States retained sovereignty over the islands until after World War II, since then, the Philippines has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by a non-violent revolution. It is a member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. It also hosts the headquarters of the Asian Development Bank, the Philippines was named in honor of King Philip II of Spain. Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte, eventually the name Las Islas Filipinas would be used to cover all the islands of the archipelago. Before that became commonplace, other such as Islas del Poniente. The official name of the Philippines has changed several times in the course of its history, during the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the República Filipina or the Philippine Republic. From the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the name Philippines began to appear, since the end of World War II, the official name of the country has been the Republic of the Philippines. The metatarsal of the Callao Man, reliably dated by uranium-series dating to 67,000 years ago is the oldest human remnant found in the archipelago to date and this distinction previously belonged to the Tabon Man of Palawan, carbon-dated to around 26,500 years ago. Negritos were also among the archipelagos earliest inhabitants, but their first settlement in the Philippines has not been reliably dated, there are several opposing theories regarding the origins of ancient Filipinos
3.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Ninoy Aquino International Airport
–
The Ninoy Aquino International Airport or NAIA /ˈnaɪ. ə/, also known as Manila International Airport, is the airport serving Manila and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is managed by the Manila International Airport Authority, a branch of the Department of Transportation, officially, NAIA is the only airport serving the Manila area. In the recent past there have been calls for Clark to replace NAIA eventually as the airport of the Philippines. The airport is named after the late Senator Benigno Ninoy Aquino, Jr. who was assassinated at the airport in 1983. In 2015, all terminals at NAIA handled a record breaking annual passenger traffic of 36,681,601, domestic passengers totaled 19,513,514 compared to international travelers, totaling 17,168,087. The original airport that served Manila, Grace Park Airfield, also known as Manila North, was opened in 1935 in Grace Park and it was the citys first commercial airport, and was used by Philippine Aerial Taxi Company for its first domestic routes. In July 1937, Manila International Air Terminal located in the 42 hectares Nielson Airport was inaugurated and had served as the gateway to Manila and its runways of which now form Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas in Makati. The original structure was built on what is now the site of Terminal 2, in 1954 the airports international runway and associated taxiway were built, and in 1956, construction was started on a control tower and a terminal building for international passengers. The new terminal was inaugurated on September 22,1961, on January 22,1972, a fire caused substantial damage to the original terminal building, and a slightly smaller terminal was rebuilt in its place the following year. This second terminal would become the international terminal until 1981 when a new, higher-capacity terminal. The old international terminal would serve as Manilas domestic airport until another fire damaged it in May 1985, the present Terminal 1, originally named Manila International Airport, was given its present name on August 17,1987 by virtue of Republic Act No. Plans for a new terminal were conceived in 1989, when the Department of Transportation, the recommendation was to build two new terminals, and in 1998 Terminal 2 was completed. Terminal 2 was nicknamed the Centennial Terminal as its completion coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain, in 1997 the government approved the construction of Terminal 3, which was originally scheduled to be completed in 2002. After many delays caused by technical and legal issues, the terminal became operational in mid-2008. The government aims to return services from many of the airlines which cancelled services to Manila as a result of Terminal 1s problems, the original proposal for the construction of a third terminal was proposed by Asias Emerging Dragon Corporation. AEDP eventually lost the bid to PairCargo and its partner Fraport AG of Germany, on August 1997, President Fidel V. Ramos led the groundbreaking ceremony of Terminal 3. The structure was completed several years ago and was originally scheduled to open in 2002. The ultra-modern US$640 million,189, 000-square-metre facility was designed by Skidmore, Owings, however, before the terminal could be fully completed, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, called the contract onerous and therefore formed a committee to evaluate the agreement to buy out Fraport AG
5.
New Guinea
–
New Guinea is a large Island in the South West Pacific region. It is the worlds second-largest island, after Greenland, covering an area of 785,753 km2. The island is divided between two countries, Papua New Guinea to the east, and Indonesia to the west, the island has been known by various names. The name Papua was used to refer to parts of the island before contact with the West and its etymology is unclear, one theory states that it is from Tidore, the language used by the Sultanate of Tidore, which controlled parts of the islands coastal region. The name came from papo and ua, which means not united or, ploeg reports that the word papua is often said to derive from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning frizzly-haired, referring to the highly curly hair of the inhabitants of these areas. When the Portuguese and Spanish explorers arrived in the island via the Spice Islands, when the Dutch colonized it as part of Netherlands East Indies, they called it Nieuw Guinea. The name Irian was used in the Indonesian language to refer the island and Indonesian province, the name was promoted in 1945 by Marcus Kaisiepo, brother of the future governor Frans Kaisiepo. It is taken from the Biak language of Biak Island, and means to rise and this name of Irian is the name used in the Biak language and other languages such as Serui, Merauke and Waropen. The name was used until 2001, when the name Papua was again used for the island, the name Irian, which was originally favored by natives, is now considered to be a name imposed by the authority of Jakarta. New Guinea is an island to the north of Australia, and it is isolated by the Arafura Sea to the west and the Torres Strait and Coral Sea to the east. A spine of east–west mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, dominates the geography of New Guinea, stretching over 1,600 km from the head to the tail of the island. The western half of the island of New Guinea contains the highest mountains in Oceania, rising up to 4,884 m high, the tree line is around 4,000 m elevation and the tallest peaks contain permanent equatorial glaciers—which have been retreating since at least 1936. Various other smaller mountain ranges occur both north and west of the central ranges, except in high elevations, most areas possess a warm humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variation associated with the northeast monsoon season. At 4,884 metres, Puncak Jaya makes New Guinea the worlds fourth highest landmass, Puncak Mandala, located in Papua, is the second highest peak on the island at 4,760 metres. Puncak Trikora, also in Papua, is 4,750 metres, mount Wilhelm is the highest peak on the PNG side of the border at 4,509 metres. Its granite peak is the highest point of the Bismarck Range, mount Giluwe 4,368 metres is the second highest summit in PNG. It is also the highest volcanic peak in Oceania, another major habitat feature is the vast southern and northern lowlands. Stretching for hundreds of kilometres, these include lowland rainforests, extensive wetlands, savanna grasslands, the southern lowlands are the site of Lorentz National Park, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site
