Manila (Manee'la; often spelt Manilla), chief town of the Philippine Islands, stands on a wide bay on the south-west coast of Luzon, 650 miles SE. of Hong-kong, with which city it has been connected by telegraph since 1881. On the south bank of the little Pasig River stands the sleepy old town (founded in 1571), with the archbishop's palace, churches and monasteries, the cathedral, university, Jesuit observatory, arsenal, and barracks. On the north bank are the modern suburbs, Binondo, etc, the commercial and native quarters, with the palace of the governor-general, etc. There was a great fire in May 1893, and the city is specially liable to visitations of earthquakes, typhoons, and thunder-storms. The heat is great, the mean for the year being 82° F. The total pop. is estimated at nearly 300,000, including some 70,000 Chinese and 7000 Spaniards. Cigars and tobacco, sugar, the so-called Manilla hemp or abaca, and coffee are the chief exports, and cotton goods, rice, wine, silk, and flour the imports. In Manila Bay in 1898 Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet, and since the American occupation of the Philippine Islands, the city, still the capital, has been cleansed and paved, electric light has been introduced, and harbour improvements carried out.