Basilan

American  

[buh-see-lahn] / bəˈsi lɑn /

noun

1. an island in the Philippines, southwest of Mindanao. 495 sq. mi. (1,282 sq. km).

2. Formerly Isabela.  a city on this island.

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Basilan British  

/ bæˈsiːlæn, bəˈsiːlɑːn /

noun

1. a group of islands in the Philippines, SW of Mindanao

2. the main island of this group, separated from Mindanao by the Basilan Strait . Area: 1282 sq km (495 sq miles)

3. a city on Basilan Island. Pop: 381 000 (2005 est)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Basilan

"We're near Basilan, but it took them more than three hours to respond to us," he said.

From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026

Rescuers have been overwhelmed by the influx of survivors, Basilan emergency responder Ronalyn Perez told AFP.

From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2026

Amid the military campaign, the gunmen fled to a Basilan village called Ulitan, where they were protected by Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas, he said.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 9, 2022

In 2019, on the island of Basilan in the southern Philippines, Catholic teachers terrified by years of deadly insurgent activity joined in a seafood feast with a local Muslim leader.

From New York Times ● Jan. 2, 2021

They administer 37 missions, with 265 visitas or reductions, in Mindanao, Basilan, and Joló.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 28 of 55 1637-38 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century by Emma Helen Blair