METRO MANILA - is the Philippine Capital city and located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on Luzon , the country's largest island. Manila is the hub of a thriving metropolitan area home to over 10 million people. The Metro Manila area also known as the National Capital Region (NCR), of which the City of Manila is a part, is a much bigger metropolis consisting of 17 cities and municipalities. Manila got its name from may nilad, Tagalog for "there is nilad," in reference to the flowering mangrove plant that grew on the marshy shores of the bay. In the 16th century, Manila (then Maynilad) grew from an Islamic settlement on the banks of the Pasig River into the seat of the colonial government of Spain when it controlled the Philippine Islands for over three centuries from 1565 to 1898.