The Philippines is an archipelago composed of about 7,640 islands and islets lying about 500 miles (800 km) off the coast of Vietnam. Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao are the three main geographical division of the philippines, it is group of islands not an island. 

​

This division of the country is so important that they put three stars into the Philippine flag to represent the three regions. 

​

The Philippine flag. The three stars represent the three major Philippine regions: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The flag was adopted as the Philippine flag in 1898. The eight rays of the sun represent eight regions which revolted first in the Philippine revolution against the Spanish government in 1896. The white colour represents liberty, equality, and fraternity, while the white, blue and red colours were chosen to honour and commemorate the help from the U.S.A. against Spain during the Philippine revolution (although later there was a war between the Philippine freedom movement and American troops when the U.S.A. only replaced Spain as the colonial power in the Philippines in 1900).