The Sierra Madre mountain range stretches along Luzon's eastern coast, providing a natural barrier against typhoons from the Pacific Ocean. The northern part of Luzon features a rugged topography dominated by the Cordillera Central mountain range, including Mount Pulag, the second highest peak in the country. Luzon, the largest and most populous island in the Philippines, rests in the northern part of the country. The geographical profile of the Philippines is broadly divisible into three regions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The archipelago encompasses a total area of approximately 300,000 km 2 (about 115,830 mi 2). It shares maritime borders with Vietnam to the west, Taiwan to the north, Palau to the east, and Malaysia and Indonesia to the south. The Philippines, an archipelago in Southeast Asia, situates itself in the western Pacific Ocean.
