Cebu (city, Philippines)

Cebu (city, Philippines), also Cebu City, chartered city of the central Philippines, on Cebu Island. The city, founded in 1565, is the capital of Cebu Province. In addition to Cebu proper, the Cebu metropolitan area, known as Metro Cebu, includes the municipalities of Talisay and Consolacion, and the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu (on nearby Mactan Island). Metro Cebu is the second largest metropolitan area in the Philippines after metropolitan Manila. Roads connect Cebu with other points on the island, and the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge links the city with Mactan Island and Lapu-Lapu. Cebu has an excellent harbor. Mactan International Airport is in Metro Cebu, on Mactan Island.

Shipping is a chief industry in Cebu and consists mainly of trade with other Philippine ports. Cebu is also a world center for the production of rattan furniture. The Mactan Export Processing Zone, an industrial tax-free zone that includes foreign- and Philippine-owned ventures, is located on Mactan Island. Tourists are drawn to nearby beaches and coral reefs. The city has a cathedral dating from 1565 and several universities, including the University of San Carlos (1595) and a branch campus of the University of the Philippines.

Cebu is one of the oldest Spanish settlements in the Philippines. The Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan became the first European to visit the area when he arrived in 1521. Spanish conquerors founded the city in 1565 and made it their capital until 1571. Population (2000) 662,000.