1. Advantages and Disadvantages of Philippine Geography?

Advantages: The major natural mineral resources include coal, cobalt, copper, chromite, gold, gypsum, iron, natural gas, nickel, petroleum, salt, silver, and sulfur. There are lesser deposits of bauxite, lead, mercury, molybdenum, and zinc. Other important resources are geothermal and hydroelectric power, fish, and timber. Disadvantages: The Philippines is prone to natural disasters, particularly typhoons, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis, lying as it does astride the typhoon belt, in the active volcanic region known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, and in the geologically unstable region between the Pacific and Eurasian tectonic plates. The Philippines also suffers major human-caused environmental degradation aggravated by a high annual population growth rate, including loss of agricultural lands, deforestation, soil erosion, air and water pollution, improper disposal of solid and toxic wastes, loss of coral reefs, mismanagement and abuse of coastal resources, and overfishing.

2. Spanish Influences Language: The Spanish spoken in the Philippines today has a great affinity with Mexican Spanish. Filipino Spanish contains many Mexican Spanish loanwords of Nahuatl origin which were first incorporated into Mexican Spanish, and which do not exist in European Spanish. Examples include nanay (nantl), tatay (tatle), bayabas [from guayaba(s), guava], abokado (avocado), papaya, sayote, zapote, and palengke. Various Filipino languages have significantly assimilated aspects of the Spanish language, and contain thousands of loanwords. Numerous words, and some grammatical concepts of the Spanish vocabulary, are used in Chavacano, Cebuano, Tagalog, Bicolano, and Ilocano.

Name of the Philippines: The name of the Philippines comes from the king of Spain Philip II. It was given by the Spanish explorer Ruy Lpez de Villalobos who named the islands of Samar and Leyte "Las Islas Felipinas" (The Philippine Islands), during his expedition in 1543. Throughout the colonial period, the name Felipinas (Philippines) was used, and became the official name of the Philippines. There are many provinces in the Philippines with Spanish names, such as Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Isabela, Quirino, Aurora, La Union, Marinduque, Antique, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Valle de Compostela.

Religion: The Philippines is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being East Timor. About 90% of the population are Catholics. About 5% are Muslim, and about 5% practiced other religion, and those with no religion. Festivities: All major Roman Catholic holy days are observed as official national holidays in the Philippines. SpanishMexican culture and Christianity has influenced the customs and traditions of the Philippines. Arts, Literature and Music: Hispanic influence is based on Indigenous, and European tradition. Folk dance, music, and literature have remained intact in the 21st century. These were introduced from Spain, and Mexico in the 16th century, and can be regarded as largely Hispanic in constitution, which have remained in the Philippines for centuries.

3. What were the aims of Spanish Colonization of the Philippines? Which of the three was most achieve and Why?

God: Spanish colonizers actually went to the Philippines to fulfill the deathwish of Isabel I, who said that "she would donate all her wealth for the conversion of the Indies". This was fulfilled by Felipe I. During the early 1600s, Spain considered abandoning the Philippines, but was reminded by a Spanish friar of Isabel I's wish - so instead of abandoing it, Spain sent notices to all provinces of Spain and Mexico for stevedores and workmen to enlist as priest and undergo training. After they finished training, they were all sent to the Philippines under different orders to serve as religious priests. So now, 85% of the Philippine population is Roman Catholic (......and 35% are partly of Spanish descent). Gold: It was the dream of then king of Spain, Charles I, to obtain the Philippines in order to increase his personal fortunes and treasury. In fact, after ordering the soldiers to ransack several Latin American territories for gold, they were sent to the Philippines to discover such too, although efforts were futile - gold was never found by the Spanish in the Philippines because of the hostile mountain tribes. Gold was later discovered by Americans during their occupation of the Philippines. Actually, the Philippines was thought of a colony to be abandoned (as mentioned above) because it was "a drain to Spain's treasury". Glory: Ultimately, it was not just Isabel's wish which helped the Philippines to be retained by Spain. It was the glory - they would not abandon the Philippines to either British or Portuguese because this would bring shame to Spain. Instead, a Felipe III boasted that the sun never sets on Spanish soil (because of the Philippines). When Spain acquired the Philippines, it astonished European nations, such as Sicily and Netherlands, who then surrendered without a fight because of what they thought was the superior forces of Spain. Eventually though, the Spanish were ousted out of the islands by Americans on 1898. This caused the Spanis civil war eventually because of shame for its loss of colonies and paved the way for the eventual downfall of Spanish economy during the 1930s.