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Leyte(la´te,
-ta), island (1990 pop. 1,689,756), 2,785 sq mi (7,213
sq km), one of the Visayan Islands, the Philippines,
between Luzon and Mindanao. A fertile agricultural land,
it is the nation's leading producer of sweet potatoes
and bananas and a major producer of corn and peanuts.
It has commercial coconut plantations and extensive
forest reserves; lumbering is an important industry.
In World War II, Leyte was occupied by the Japanese
in early 1942. It was the scene of the first main American
landing (Oct. 20, 1944) in the campaign to recover the
Philippines. That landing was followed by the battle
of Leyte Gulf, the greatest naval engagement of all
time, in which American naval forces destroyed the Japanese
fleet.
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