Philippines

Photo: Philippine island

Life revolves around the sea on many of the 7,100-plus islands of the Philippines.

Photograph by Paul Chesley/Getty Images

The more than 7,000 islands in this vast archipelago east of Vietnam between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea offer a stunning range of natural gifts and splendors. • A former colony of Spain ceded to the United States after the Spanish-American War, the islands were occupied by the Japanese during World War II, but democracy thrives today. • Sitting astride a global typhoon belt, the islands typically endure as many as a half dozen cyclonic storms a year. • Poverty and deforestation mar the islands' many charms.

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