Quezon City (UKˈkeɪzɒn, USˈkeɪsɒn,-sɔːn,-soʊn; Lungsod Quezon luŋˈsod ˈkɛson), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino as Kyusi), is the most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,960,048 people. It was founded on October 12, 1939, and was named after Manuel L. Quezon, the second president of the Philippines.
The city was intended to be the national capital of the Philippines that would replace Manila, as the latter was suffering from overcrowding, lack of housing, poor sanitation, and traffic congestion. To create Quezon City, several barrios were carved out from the towns of Caloocan, Marikina, San Juan and Pasig, in addition to the eight vast estates the Philippine government purchased for this purpose. It was officially proclaimed the national capital on October 12, 1949, and several government departments and institutions moved out of Manila and settled into the new capital city. This necessitated the expansion of the city northward, carving out Novaliches from Caloocan which divided it into two non-contiguous parts. Several barrios were also taken from San Mateo and parts of Montalban. However, on June 24, 1976, Presidential Decree 940 was enacted, which reverted national capital status to Manila while the whole of Metro Manila was designated as the seat of government. The city was also chosen as the regional center of Southern Tagalog, which was created in 1965, along with Quezon Province and Aurora, the birthplace of Manuel L. Quezon; however, its status of regional center became ineffective when the region was divided into Calabarzon and Mimaropa, through the effect of Executive Order No. 103 in May 2002 under the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Aurora was transferred to the authority of Central Luzon, with Southern Tagalog limited to being a cultural-geographic region.
Quezon City is known for its culture, entertainment industry and media, and is aptly called the "City of Stars".