The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Situated in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of about 7,641 islands that are broadly categorized under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao. Negritos, some of the archipelago’s earliest inhabitants, were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples.
The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for Spain, marked the beginning of Spanish colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. Spanish settlement, beginning in 1565, led to the Philippines becoming part of the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years under the Captaincy General of the Philippines.
In 1896 the Philippine Revolution began, which then became entwined with the 1898 Spanish–American War. Spain ceded the territory to the United States, while Filipino rebels declared the First Philippine Republic. The ensuing Philippine–American War ended with the United States establishing control over the territory.
From 1935 to 1938, under the United States control, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was the administrative body that governed the Philippines aside from a period of exile in the Second World War from 1942 to 1945 when it was subjected to Japanese occupation. During this period, the Second Philippine Republic, under Jose P. Laurel, was established as a puppet state.
Following liberation, the Philippines became independent in 1946. Since then, the unitary sovereign state has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a dictatorship by the People Power Revolution.
Articles
Blogs
- Big Blue 1840-1940: Classical Stamps of the Philippines
- Darth Philatelist – Still Stampin’
- Glowes’ Stamps: Format International Security Printers Ltd Archive
- Julian Collects
- Phillipine President’s Collection
- Philippine Republic Stamps
- Philippine Stamps and Topical Collecting
- Phil-Philately
- RP Stamps & Postal History
- Stamp Forgeries: Forged Stamps of the Philippines
- Topical Philippines
Dealers
- Cebu Stamp Club (Official)
- Filipinas Stamp Collectors’ Club
- Philippine Philatelists and Collectibles
- Philippine Philately Exchange
- Philippine Stamp Collectors
- Philippine Stamp Collectors’ Society Family Fun Jam
- Philippine Stamp Collectors’ Society (PSCS)
- Philippine Stamps
- Philippine Stamps Discussion Group
- Philippine Stamps Market Place
- Philippine Stamps, Postcards Collecting and Trading Group
- Phil-Philately
- PHLPost
- Pilipinas Philately
- Pilipinas Philately Group
- Poppe Stamps Philippines, Inc.
- RP Stamps & Postal History
- Stamps On Wheels
- Stamps-Philatelic of the Philippines and other Countries, Entities and Terr
- @phlpostofficial
- @Stampstolife – stamps and their real counterpart
- Julian Collects – @julian_collects
- PHLPost OFFICIAL – @Ppostofficial
Websites
- Cebu Stamp Club
- International Philippine Philatelic Society
- PhlPost
- Quezon Philatelic Club
- United States Possessions Philatelic Society
YouTube
- Cebu Stamp Club (Richard Allan Uy)
- Julian Collects
- PHLPosts
- Philatelic Society of Lancaster County: U.S. Semi-Postal Stamps and Semi-Postals of the Philippine Islands