Officially, the City of Zamboanga (Spanish/Chavacano: Ciudad de Zamboanga; Cebuano: Dakbayan sa Zamboanga; Filipino: Lungsod ng Zamboanga; Bahasa Sug: Daira Sambuwangan; Sinama and Banguingui: Lahat Sambowangan) is a first class, highly-urbanized city on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. It is one of the first chartered cities and the sixth largest in the country.Philippine Commonwealth Act No. 39 of 1936 signed by President Manuel L. Quezon on October 12, 1936 in Malacañang Palace created and established Zamboanga as a chartered city. It has been known as "El Orgullo de Mindanao" (The Pride of Mindanao), nicknamed the "City of Flowers", and affectionately called by Zamboangueños as "Zamboanga Hermosa" - Spanish for "Beautiful Zamboanga". Today, the city is commercially branded for tourism by the city government as "Asia's Latin City".
Zamboanga City's birthday as a chartered city coincides with the day when the popular Fiesta del Pilar is celebrated in honor of the city's patron saint, Our Lady of the Pillar, whose statue is prominently embossed above the façade on the eastern wall of the meter-thick walled fort called El Real Fuerza de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza (also called El Real Fuerza de San José in its early days). This Spanish military fort was built on June 23, 1635 by the Spanish Jesuit priest Fr. Melchor de Vera in defense against pirates and slave raiders. Zamboanga City is one of the oldest cities in the country and the most hispanicized. It is also one of the largest cities in the world in terms of area, with over 1,480 km², including its 28 surrounding islands. Its recorded population in 2000 was 601,794.
Zamboanga City has been the center of commerce, trade, health services, and education for the entire Zamboanga Peninsula (Region IX). It is the seat of the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (popularly known as Zamboecozone). The people of Zamboanga speak a unique creole language called Chavacano - a blend of Spanish and other local dialects but mostly Cebuano as its substrate language.
Zamboanga is home to three universities: Ateneo de Zamboanga University, Western Mindanao State University, and the newly-elevated Universidad de Zamboanga. The city is also home of the first Catholic diocese in Mindanao, today's Archdiocese of Zamboanga which was created in 1910 and elevated to an archbishopric in 1958.