Cebu

Fuente Osmeña, an impressive circular park in the heart of Cebu city, on the island of Cebu. The park is named after Sergio Osmeña Sr, the second president of the Philippine Commonwealth and a native of Cebu. Situated in the Visayas region, Cebu is a major port and the second city of the Philippines, after Manila.

Chief city and port of the island of Cebu in the Philippines; population (2000 est) 718,800; area of the island 5,086 sq km/1,964 sq mi. The first Spanish settlement in the Philippines, Cebu was founded as San Miguel in 1565 and became the capital of the Spanish Philippines. Industries include food processing and textiles, and there is a considerable trade in copra and tobacco.

The Basilica Minor del Santo Niño (1565) and the Spanish fort of San Pedro (1738) are notable local buildings. There are four universities, founded in 1595, 1919, 1946, and 1949.

Cebu

Island and province of the Philippines, situated in the Visayan Sea between the islands of Negros and Bohol; area 5,090 sq km/1,965 sq mi; population (2000) 718,800 (city); 2,377,600 (island). The capital is Cebu. The island is crossed by mountain ranges. The chief products are sugar, copra, tobacco, and hemp, in all of which there is a flourishing export trade. Shell and coral jewellery and rattan furniture are also produced. Coal, copper, iron ore, gold, and silver are mined. The food-processing industry is important to the island's economy, as is tourism.

Cebu as a whole suffers from overpopulation and soil erosion; 15,394 ha/38,040 acres of national park contain the remaining forest of a once well-forested island.

Ferdinand Magellan introduced Christianity to the Philippines on Cebu in 1521.