Luzon [lu s ɔ n, Spanish lu.theta ɔ n], largest, most populous and most economically important island in the Philippines. With 104 688 km 2, Luzon comprises 35% of the Philippine land area and with around 57.5 million residents, more than half of the total population.
National nature: From northwest to southeast Luzon extends over 800 km; the width changes between 13 and more than 200 km. The wider northern part is divided into four longitudinal zones: The mostly narrow western coastal plain, core area of the Ilokano, is bordered in the east by the central cordillera with Mount Pulog as the highest mountain in Luzon (2,928 m above sea level). This is followed by the elongated Cagayan Basin through which the Cagayan flows. On the Pacific side, another mountain range, reaching as far as Lucena in the south, runs through the wooded Sierra Madre (up to 2,000 m above sea level), which has been affected by increasing (often illegal) logging, the so far only partially developed northeast of Luzon. The central lowland, which adjoins the Central Cordillera and the Caraballo Mountains in the south, is a basin filled with powerful young sediments and tuffs, from which the volcanic cone Mount Arayat (1,030 m above sea level) rises. The fertile rice-growing areas (including sugar cane, vegetables, tobacco, bananas, etc.) of the central lowlands between the Lingayengolf in the north and the Bay of Manila in the south represent the demographic (over 25% of the country’s population) and economic core region of the entire country the central lowlands are separated by the Zambales Mountains, which run in a northerly direction, with the volcano Mount, which erupted again in 1991 after several hundred years of rest Pinatubo this from the often steep west coast with its outstanding natural harbor Subic Bay. The mountains of Batangas, south of Manila, with the still active Taal volcano, with its fertile volcanic soils, as well as the plain south of the Laguna de Bay to the east, contribute to the supply of the capital region. In the southeast of Luzon, on the 13 km wide isthmus of Tayabas, the Bicol peninsula closeson; geologically and morphologically it is part of the (convex to the Pacific) Bicol-Mindanao mountain range, for which numerous partly active volcanoes are characteristic (e.g. Mount Mayon near Legazpi City). – In terms of climate, Luzon has a share in all four monsoon regions that are significant for the Philippines; it is the most typhoon-prone island in the country.
According to directoryaah, the population is in the agricultural favorable areas, v. a. but concentrated in and around Manila. Luzon is also the main retreat area for ethnic minorities called Igorot (e.g. Ifugao, Kalinga). a. pushed back into the Central Cordillera, cultivate wet rice (terraces), while the Aeta, which are far fewer in number, live scattered in the peripheral mountain regions (especially the Zambales Mountains).
Preferred cultivation regions are the lowland and coastal areas, v. a. the partly irrigated central lowlands, the country’s “rice bowl” (around 25% of production, two harvests a year); next to it are v. a. Cultivated sugar cane and vegetables. Tobacco (for the Manila-based tobacco industry) and corn are grown in the Cagayan Valley, rice and tobacco on the northwest coast, and garlic and eggplant. The southeast of Luzon is the main area of extensive coconut palm plantations as well as the fiber banana (manila fiber). The cool highland climate also favors intensive vegetable crops in the area around Baguio. Luzon has rich mineral resources (copper, nickel, chrome, gold, silver, iron, manganese), v. a. in the hinterland of Baguio.
