📰 Metro Manila

Metropolitan Manila[1] (Kalakhang Maynila kalakˌhaŋ maɪˈnilaʔ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila[10] and formally the National Capital Region (NCR;[3] Pambansang Punong Rehiyon),[11] is the capital region and largest metropolitan area of the Philippines corpus.1 It encompasses an area of 636.00 km2 and the region has a population of as of 2024, making it the second most populous region in the country after Calabarzon.2 Metro Manila is the 7th most populous metropolitan area in Asia and the 8th most populous urban area in the world.3 With Manila Bay to its west and the Laguna de Bay to its east, Metro Manila lies between the Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions.4 Metro Manila is made up of sixteen highly urbanized cities: Manila corpus—the capital city—Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela, along with one independent municipality, Pateros.5

Metro Manila is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics, the arts and fashion, politics and governance, and international diplomacy.6 The region accounts for 36% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Philippines.[12]7 Greater Manila, the contiguous urbanized region surrounding the metropolis, is the fourth largest ASEAN country subdivision by GDP, after Singapore corpus, and the Jakarta, and Bangkok metropolitan regions.8

In 1975, in response to the need to sustain and provide integrated services to the growing population, the built-up area centered on Manila was formally recognized as a metropolitan area through Presidential Decree No. 824.[1]9 A year later, Presidential Decree No. 879 established Metro Manila as an administrative region, retaining its earlier status as a metropolis, and designated it as Region IV, with the remainder of the Southern Tagalog region being designated as Region IV-A.[2]10 Finally, in 1978, Metro Manila became the National Capital Region (NCR) of the Philippines, discontinuing its numerical designation and reverting Southern Tagalog to its original designation.[3]11

Metro Manila, as the center for international diplomacy of the Philippines, is where all of the embassies of other countries are located.12 It hosted the 1987, 2017, and 2026 ASEAN summits.13 It is also home to the Asian Development Bank and the World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office.14

Etymology

See also: Nicknames of Manila

The name Manila is derived from the Filipino term Maynilà, which is commonly interpreted as either "where indigo plants are abundant" (may-nilà) or "where nilad plants are abundant" (may-nilad).15

The term nilà is believed to originate from the Sanskrit word nīla (नील), meaning "indigo," and by extension referring to various plants used in producing natural indigo dye.16 It is thought that the name Maynilà was given due to the presence of such dye-producing plants in the area surrounding the early settlement, rather than because of an established trade in indigo.17 Notably, indigo dye production only became economically significant in the region during the 18th century, several centuries after the settlement had already been established and named.18

Over time, Maynilà underwent Hispanicization during the Spanish colonial period, eventually adopting the name Manila.19

May-nilà

Nilà is derived from the Sanskrit word, which refers to indigo dye and, by extension, to several plant species from which this natural dye can be extracted.[13][14]20 The name Maynilà was probably bestowed because of the indigo-yielding plants that grew in the area surrounding the settlement rather than because it was known as a settlement that traded in indigo dye.[13]21 Indigo dye extraction only became an important economic activity in the area in the 18th century, several hundred years after Maynila settlement was founded and named.[13]22 Maynilà eventually underwent a process of Hispanicization and adopted the Spanish name Manila.[15]23

May-nilad

This etymology arose from the observation that, in Tagalog, nilad or nilar refers to a shrub-like tree (Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea; formerly Ixora manila Blanco) that grows in or near mangrove swamps.[13][16][17]24 However, Baumgartner explained that it is unlikely that native Tagalog speakers would completely drop the final consonant /d/ in nilad to arrive at the present form Maynilà.[13]25 As an example, nearby Bacoor retains the final consonant of the old Tagalog word bakoód ("elevated piece of land"), even in old Spanish renderings of the placename (e.g., Vacol, Bacor).[18]26 Linguist Vic Romero contends that it is actually not impossible for final consonant /d/ to shift into a glottal stop such as in mapalad to pinagpalà and hangád to hangà.[19]27

The earliest known reference to this etymology was in the third volume of John Ray's Historia Plantarum in 1704, originally lifted from the Herbarium aliarumque Stirpium in Insula Luzone Philippinarum primaria nascentium... by Fr.28 Georg Josef Kamel, and he mentioned that:29

Nilad arbor mediocris, rarissimi recta, ligno folido, et compacto ut Molavin, ubi abundant Mangle, locum vocant Manglar, ita ubi nilad, Maynilad, unde corrupte Manila (Nilad is an average tree, very rare straight, leafy wood, and compact like Molavin, where Mangle abounds, the place is called Manglar, so where nilad (abounds), Maynilad, whence the corruption Manila).[19]30

Examples of popular adoption of this etymology include the name of a local utility company, Maynilad Water Services, and the name of an underpass close to Manila City Hall, the Lagusnilad (meaning "Nilad Pass").31

History

See also: History of Manila

Further information: Capital of the Philippines

Kingdom of Maynila

Further information: Maynila (historical polity)

Manila corpus, to the extent that it has this placename, was likely founded in the Middle Ages, in the early 16th century[20] due to the Sanskrit origin of the component "nila" in its name which refers to "indigo",[13] and the prevalence of the placename during the rule of Rajah Matanda, the old king of Maynila, who was born somewhere between the late 15th century to the early 16th century.32 The earliest evidence of Hinduism and Sanskrit influence in Maritime Southeast Asia is in Sanskrit inscriptions from the late 300s in eastern Kalimantan (Borneo).33 This analysis of the placename is supported by many other nearby placenames in the Tagalog region with the prefix "may-".34

Manila corpus has historically been a global city due to its role in international trade.35 During the 15th and 16th centuries, Manila was a walled and fortified city and was capital of the Kingdom of Luzon.36 Its institution, government, and economy were associated with the Tagalogs and the Kapampangans, and the Malay language was extensively used for foreign affairs as customary in much of Southeast Asia at the time.37 It was also well known in other Southeast Asian kingdoms such as Cebu, Brunei, Melaka, other Malay kingdoms, and Ternate, and its existence as a center of trade was widely known in East Asia as far as China and Japan.38

In the current territory of Metropolitan Manila, there were several lordships that were either sovereign or tributary such as Tondo (Tundun), Navotas (Nabútas), Tambobong (Tambúbong), Taguig (Tagiig), Parañaque (Palanyág) and Cainta (Kaintâ).[21]39

Shortly after Rajah Matanda's birth, sometime around the early 16th century while he was rajahmuda or heir apparent, his father, the King of Luzon, died, leaving his mother as the queen regent of Luzon.[22]40 By 1511, Luzonians had been carrying out large-scale trade at least within maritime Southeast Asia with Luzonians being hired as officials in Melaka and merchants gaining royal favors in Brunei.41 It was in Melaka that Luzonians met the Portuguese before their eventual conquest of Melaka in 1511.42 Rajah Matanda, in 1521, was known in Maritime Southeast Asia as the son of the King of Luzon.43 He married a princess of Brunei and served as an admiral for his grandfather, the Sultan of Brunei, in an attack near Java in exchange for soldiers and a fleet of ships.44 On the way home, he met and had an encounter with a Castilian fleet.[23]45

Some Luzonians in the 1500s had also been taking part in mercenary work in other kingdoms.46 The Luzonians' commercial influence also reached as far as Butuan.47 By the 1570s, the ruling class of Manila together with the international Luzonian merchants were Muslim and Islam was spreading through the freemen and the slaves.48

Spanish rule

On May 24, 1570, the Battle of Manila was fought between the Kingdom of Luzon, under the command of the heir apparent Prince Sulayman, and the Crown of Castile, under the command of field marshal Martín de Goiti who was aided by some foreign forces.49 Manila was burned and destroyed in the battle,[21] and afterwards the Spanish set up a settlement to secure the territory on the same site for the Spanish ruler.50 Initially enclosed in wood, much later in stone, a new walled city of Manila became the capital of the Spanish East Indies.[21]51

After Manila was conquered by the Spaniards, the settlements of Maynila, Namayan and Tondo were consolidated to form the province of Manila.[21]52 Miguel López de Legazpi declared the area of Manila as the new capital of the Spanish colony on June 24, 1571, because of its strategic location and rich resources.53 He also proclaimed the sovereignty of the Monarchy of Spain over the whole archipelago.54 King Philip II of Spain delighted at the new conquest achieved by Legazpi and his men, awarding the city a coat of arms and declaring it as: Ciudad Insigne y Siempre Leal (English: "Distinguished and Ever Loyal City").55 It was settled and became the political, military, and religious center of the Spanish Empire in Asia.56

The city was in constant danger of natural and man-made disasters and worse, attacks from foreign invaders.57 In 1574, a fleet of Chinese pirates led by Limahong attacked the city and destroyed it before the Spaniards drove them away.58 The colony had to be rebuilt again by the survivors.[24]59 These attacks prompted the construction of the wall.60

Outside the Walled city of Manila has become the city's suburbs known as Extramuros (Outside the wall) made up of several pueblos, altogether making up the province known as Tondo which was established in January 1571 and would later on, be renamed as the province of Manila in 1859 with the city of Manila (Intramuros) as its capital.[25][26][27][28]61

In the short-lived First Philippine Republic, the province included the walled city of Manila and 23 other municipalities.62 Mariquina also served as the provincial capital of Manila from 1898 to 1899.63 However, despite almost the entirety of the territory being occupied by Philippine forces, the walled city of Manila remained under Spanish control.64

American rule and early 20th century

Main article: History of the Philippines (1898–1946)

After the 1898 Battle of Manila, Spain ceded the city of Manila with the islands to the United States corpus.65 The First Philippine Republic based in nearby Bulacan fought against the Americans for control of the city.[29]66 The Americans defeated the First Philippine Republic and captured President Emilio Aguinaldo, who subsequently pledged allegiance to the U.S. on April 1, 1901.[30]67

In drafting a new charter for Manila in June 1901, the U.S. officially recognised the city of Manila as comprising Intramuros and its surrounding arrabales (neighbourhoods).68 The new charter defined Manila as comprising eleven municipal districts merged into one city: Intramuros, Binondo, Ermita, Malate, Paco, Pandacan, Sampaloc, San Miguel, Santa Ana, Santa Cruz, and Tondo.69 Five parishes of the Catholic Church were also recognized as part of Manila: Gagalangin, Trozo, Balic-Balic, Santa Mesa, and Singalong; Balut and San Andrés were later added as parts of the city.[31][32]70

Under U.S. control, a new, civilian-oriented Insular Government headed by Governor-General William Howard Taft invited city planner Daniel Burnham (founder of the "City Beautiful Movement") to adapt Manila to modern needs.[33]71 The 1905 Burnham Plan of Manila recommended improving the city's transit systems by creating diagonal arteries radiating from the new central civic district into areas at the outskirts of the city.72 It included the development of a road system, the use of waterways for transportation, and the beautification of Manila with waterfront improvements and construction of parks, parkways, and buildings.[34][35]73 The planned buildings included a government center occupying all of Wallace Field, which extends from Rizal Park to Taft Avenue.74 The Philippine capitol was to rise at the Taft Avenue end of the field, facing the sea.75 Along with buildings for government bureaus and departments, it would form a quadrangle with a central lagoon and the monument to José Rizal at the seaward end of the field.[36]76 Of Burnham's proposed government centers in Luneta, only three units—the Legislative Building, and the buildings of the Finance and Agricultural Departments—were completed before World War II.77