Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 • Cebu, Philippines

The beautiful island

By Cebu Network
Published May 2nd, 2006

Cebu is an island province in the central Philippines composed of six cities and 46 municipalities. It is ringed by over a hundred smaller islands that include popular tourist destinations Mactan, Olango, Bantayan, Camotes, Daanbantayan, and Malapascua.

The province, a narrow strip of land that is 200 kilometers long and 41 kilometers wide, is 588 kilometers away or an hour’s flight from the Philippine capital Manila. Click here for a map of Cebu province.

The capital city–also named Cebu and dubbed the “Queen City of the South”–is the oldest city in the country. In Cebu City is Colon, the oldest street in the country built by the Spaniards during the time of Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legaspi.

Legaspi came some 40 years after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed on the shores of Cebu in 1521 and became friends with then Rajah Humabon of Sugbo (Cebu) and his wife. Magellan converted Humabon, his wife, and some 500 natives and they were baptized into the Roman Catholic religion on April 14, 1521.

To emphasize the significance of the event, Magellan planted a huge cross in Cebu. It is now encased in tindalo wood to preserve it and displayed in a kiosk near the Cebu City Hall.

Magellan met his death in nearby Mactan island, which is also part of the province, in a battle with native chieftain Lapu-Lapu. A marker was erected in 1866 on the spot where Magellan died. Also nearby is a statue of Lapu-Lapu holding a bolo in one hand and a pestle in the other, reportedly the weapons he used when he fought Magellan.

The people in Cebu are Cebuanos and their language is also called Cebuano.