Template:Wp-Cebu City

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Cebu City, officially known as the City of Cebu, is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines and capital of the Cebu Province. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 964,169 people, making it the sixth-most populated city in the nation and the most populous in the Visayas.

It is the regional center and primate city of Central Visayas and seat of government of the province of Cebu, but governed independently. The city and its metropolitan area exerts influence on commerce, trade, industry, education, culture, tourism & healthcare beyond the region, over the entire Visayas and partly over Mindanao. It is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies.

Cebu is bounded on the north by the town of Balamban and the city of Danao, on the west by the city of Toledo, on the east by the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue and the towns of Liloan, Consolacion and Compostela and on the south by the city of Talisay. Located at the center of the eastern seaboard of Cebu Island, it is the core city of Metro Cebu, the second largest metropolitan area in the Philippines by population & economy, which includes the cities of Carcar, Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Naga and Talisay and the municipalities (towns) of Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla and San Fernando. Metro Cebu had a total population of 2,849,213 as of 2015, making it the second-most populous metropolitan area of the nation, after Metro Manila in Luzon.

The current political boundaries of the city is an incorporation of the former municipalities of Cebu, San Nicolas, El Pardo, Mabolo, Talamban and Banilad in the Commonwealth period.

In the Precolonial period, the area of what is today Cebu was occupied by the Rajahnate of Cebu which was known to the Ming dynasty as the nation of Sokbu (束務). The capital of which was Singhapala (சிங்கப்பூர்) which is Tamil-Sanskrit for "Lion City", the same rootwords with the modern city-state of Singapore.

Cebu is considered as the Philippines' oldest city, being the first Spanish settlement and the first capital of the Philippines. It was granted city status on April 27, 1594, through a by Philip II of Spain, preceding all other Philippine cities except Manila, and is thus the second oldest by city status in the country. In 1889, the Real decreto sobre reorganización y régimen de Ayuntamientos de Filipinas (commonly known as the Law) granted the formation of municipalities (ayuntamientos) in the islands, enabling Cebu to establish its own in 1890. 343 years later, it was granted a new charter with an expanded territory by the National Assembly of the Philippines.^[1]

Owing to its economic importance and influence in modern times, Cebu City is popularly called Queen City of the South—a sobriquet adopted from Iloilo City after its economic decline in the mid-1900s.

The city is considered the birthplace of Christianity in the Far East. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu is currently the largest archdiocese in the Philippines and in Asia.

Cebu Island has entered the list of Condé Nast Traveler's World's Best Islands rankings thrice: 2016, 2017 and 2019. The city and its island-province are often marketed as a single tourist destination, combining natural countryside scenery with urban attractions including cultural-historical sites and developing infrastructure. Tourism is one of the most important industries in the city; it remains as one of the most visited in the country by both domestic and foreign visitors.

Cebu City was recognized by the British Council as the Creative Capital of the Philippines. In 2019, it joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Design.