Cebu City, city, Cebu Island, south-central Philippines.

Located on Cebu Island’s eastern coast,

it is protected by offshore Mactan Island and by the inland Cordillera Central. It is one of the
country’s largest cities and is a bustling port. Its harbour is provided by the sheltered strait
between Mactan Island and the coast. The country’s oldest settlement, it is also one of its most
historic and retains much of the flavour of its long Spanish heritage. A thriving port occupied the
site when Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese navigator and explorer, landed there on April 7,
1521. He sealed a blood compact with Humabon, the chief of Cebu, but was killed later by Chief
Lapulapu of nearby Mactan Island. On April 27, 1565, Miguel López de Legazpi and the friar
Andrés de Urdaneta arrived on Cebu and founded the first Spanish settlement and Catholic
mission in the Philippine archipelago. For six years, until Legazpi’s removal to Manila, Cebu
was the Spanish colonial capital. It remained the primary Spanish bastion in the southern part of
the Philippines.

The cultural and commercial core of the central Visayan region, Cebu was opened to foreign
trade in 1860. It was chartered as a city in 1936. Although it imports few foreign goods, it is the
main collection centre for such interisland commodities as copra, abaca, sugar, timber, and fish.
Cebu is a major point of passenger traffic by air and sea and is served by an international airport
across the harbour on Mactan Island.

Many Manila-based industrial and commercial firms maintain branches in Cebu City.
Warehousing and assembly plants for wholesale trade are important to the economy. Textiles,
footwear, processed foods, vegetable oil, furniture, and chemicals are leading products. Other
manufactures include cosmetics, candles, pearl and aquamarine jewelry, and sistas (guitars and
ukuleles), the latter primarily made on Mactan Island. The city is easily accessible from all
points on Cebu Island. A coastal railway reaches from Cebu City north to Danao and south to
Carcar, and highways cross the nearby Cordillera Central. During World War II, the city was
almost destroyed by the Japanese in May 1942, but the port was left intact. The city was
subsequently rebuilt and enlarged. Its layout follows the configuration of the shoreline, with the
main business district adjoining the port area. Urban residents are concentrated nearby, and
population influx has contributed to a housing shortage. Suburbs are located to the north and
south along the coastal plain.

Cebu City is a Roman Catholic archbishopric and is a centre of education. It is the site of five major
universities: the University of San Carlos (1595), Cebu Institute of Technology (1946), Southwestern
University (1946), University of the Southern Philippines (1927), and University of the Visayas (1919).
The ruins of the Spanish Fort San Pedro are near the harbour. Pop. (2010) 866,171; (2015) 922,611.

Cebu, island, central Philippines. It is the centre of Visayan-Cebuano culture and has preserved a strong
Spanish tradition in its cultural life. Attracted by the island’s focal position, the Portuguese navigator
Ferdinand Magellan landed there and converted the ruler and chiefs to Christianity. He later was killed
on nearby Mactan Island. There are numerous relics of the event in Cebu City.

The island of Cebu is 122 miles (196 km) long; nowhere does it exceed 20 miles (32 km) in
width. The surrounding waters are the Visayan Sea (north), Tanon Strait (west), Bohol Strait
(southeast), and Camotes Sea (east). Bisected by a range of low volcanic hills, the island has
very little level land except for the Bogo Plain in the far north, which is mainly a commercial
sugarcane area. There are few harbours, and the settlement pattern is one of numerous small
agricultural villages that grow corn (maize), coconuts, yams, agave, and tobacco. Cebu suffers
from both overpopulation and soil depletion. There was extensive timber cutting for the building
of Spanish galleons on the historic sea route between Manila and Acapulco (Mexico), and the
land was further impaired by the erosive powers of the island’s short, rapid rivers and by poor
agricultural methods. Central Cebu National Park (1937), encompassing a triangular area (38,049
acres [15,394 hectares]) between Balamban, Toledo, and Cebu City, constitutes the only
remaining forest on the island. The island also has a game and bird sanctuary.

Cebu was probably the first Philippine island to cultivate corn on a widespread basis after that
plant’s introduction by the Spaniards. Coarse-ground corn remains the staple food, though grain
is imported from Mindanao, for Cebu is not agriculturally self-sufficient. Cebu’s manufacturing
industries are limited primarily to food processing. Coal, copper, limestone, gold, and silver are
mined in the central hill country of the island. In addition to Cebu City, the major settlements on
Cebu are Danao, Lapu-Lapu (formerly Opon), Toledo, and Mandaue. Numerous locations in
northern Cebu were severely damaged by Super Typhoon Haiyan, a powerful tropical cyclone
that swept through the central Philippines in early November 2013. Area 1,707 square miles
(4,422 square km). Pop. (2000) Cebu and smaller adjacent islands, 3,356,137; (2010) 4,167,320.