|
Negros Oriental - History
The Negritos, Malays, and Chinese have long inhabited the island called Buglas before the 1565 expedition of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi.
Legaspi dropped anchor in Bohol and sent his men in a frigate to reconnoiter in the island. A strong current carried the frigate for several days around Buglas. The Spaniards reported seeing many dark-skinned inhabitants, and so they renamed the island “Negros.”
In 1571 Legaspi assigned encomiendas on Negros Island to 13 of his men. In the following year, Augustinian friars began the Christianization of the island. In 1734 Negros was made into a corregimento with its capital in Ilog, located on the western side. In 1795 the island became an alcaldia with Himamaylan as capital, also on the west. In 1856 Negros became a politico-military province with Don Emilio Saravia y Nuñez as the first Gobernador Politico-Militar, and Bacolod, again on the west, as capital.
Due to difficulties in administering the far-flung settlements of the island, the Recollect priests petitioned for the division of the island. Thirteen years later, in January, Governor General Valeriano Weyler executed a Royal Decree establishing two separate Negros political units, Negros Occidental on the western side and Negros Oriental on the southeast. Negros Oriental was assigned Dumaguete as capital.
|
