17th March, 1521the Philippines were discovered

On the 17th of March, 1521 Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippine Islands. Thanks to diaries and maps of the expedition it is known that on 17th of March sailors went on a desert island Homonhon to replenish water. Since that this date is considered to be the opening day of the Philippines.

Originally Magellan named the newly discovered archipelago in honor of St. Lazarus - San Lazaro, but later it was renamed. In 1542 the island was decided to name in honor of King Philip II. And up to now, in all the maps of the world they are marked as Filipino.

Looking at the map of South-East Asia, we can see that now the area of ​​299,700 sq. km of the island is occupied by the Republic of the Philippines. The length of the Philippine archipelago from east to west is 900 km, from south to north - 2000 km, the length of the coastline - 36,300 km.