Philippines - Manila

Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the capital of the Philippines and one of the 16 cities that make up Metro Manila, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world with a population of 20 million people.

The earliest written accounts of the city date back to the Spanish era which describe a native settlement already existing in the area when the Spanish first arrived. Manila eventually became the center of Spanish activity in the Far East and one end of the Manila–Acapulco galleon trade route leading to it being called the "Pearl of the Orient". Later, it saw the arrival of the Americans who made contributions to the city's urban planning and development only to have most of those improvements lost in the devastation of World War II. Since then the city has been rebuilt.