Bohol (island)

Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bohol; tl, Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran. With a land area of and a coastline long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines.The Island-Province of Bohol
Retrieved November 15, 2006.

The province of Bohol is a first-class province divided into 3 congressional districts, comprising 1 component city and 47 municipalities. It has 1,109 barangays.

The province is a popular tourist destination with its beaches and resorts. The Chocolate Hills, numerous mounds of brown-colored limestone formations, are the most popular attraction. The formations can be seen by land (climbing the highest point) or by air via ultralight air tours. Panglao Island, located just southwest of Tagbilaran, is famous for its diving locations and is routinely listed as one of the top ten diving locations in the world. Numerous tourist resorts and dive centers dot the southern beaches. The Philippine tarsier, among the world's smallest primates, is indigenous to the island.

It was the home province of Carlos P. Garcia, the eighth president of the Republic of the Philippines (1957–1961) who was born in Talibon, Bohol.

On October 15, 2013, Bohol was devastated by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was south of Sagbayan. The earthquake, which also hit southern Cebu, claimed 222 lives altogether and injured 374 people. It also destroyed or damaged a number of Bohol's heritage churches.

In 2017, the provincial government began initiating the nomination of the entire province to the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network.

Etymology

Bohol is ultimately derived from ''bo-ol'', a kind of tree that flourished on the island. Similar to Nahuatl, the ''h'' in the middle was used to transcribe a glottal stop which is a common phoneme in the languages of the Philippines. The original name is survived through Bool, a town in Tagbilaran where Miguel Lopez de Legazpi supposedly landed.

History

Early history

In 1667, Father Francisco Combes, in his ''Historia de Mindanao'', mentioned that at one time in their history, the people of the island of Panglao invaded mainland Bohol and subsequently imposing their economic and political dominance in the area. They considered the previous inhabitants of the islands as their slaves by reason of war, as witnessed for example by how Datu Pagbuaya, one of the rulers of Panglao, considered Datu Sikatuna as his vassal and relative. The invasion of mainland Bohol by the people of Panglao ushered the birth of the so-called Bohol "kingdom", also known as the " Dapitan Kingdom of Bohol". The Bohol "kingdom" prospered under the reign of the two brother rulers of Panglao - Datu Dailisan and Datu Pagbuaya, with trade links established with neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, particularly with the Sultanate of Ternate. The flourishing of trade in the Bohol "kingdom" is owed to its strategic location along the busy trading channels of Cebu and Butuan. For other countries such as Ternate to gain access to the busy trade ports of the Visayas, they need to first forge diplomatic ties with the Bohol "kingdom".

Relations between the Sultanate of Ternate and the province of Bohol soured when the Ternatan sultan learned the sad fate of his emissary and his men who were executed by the two ruling chieftains of Bohol as punishment for abusing one of the concubines. Thus, in 1563, the Ternatans attacked Bohol. Twenty ''joangas'' deceitfully posing as traders were sent by the sultan of Ternate to attack Bohol. Caught unaware, the inhabitants of Bohol could not defend themselves against the Ternatan raiders who were also equipped with sophisticated firearms like muskets and arquebuses, which the Boholanos saw for the first time. Such new weaponry were the result of the aid of the Portuguese to the Ternatan raid of Bohol. Many Boholanos lost their lives in this conflict, including that of Pagbuaya's brother Datu Dailisan. After the retaliatory Ternatan raid against Bohol, Datu Pagbuaya, who was left as the sole reigning chief of the island, decided to abandon mainland Bohol together with the rest of the freemen as they considered Bohol island unfortunate and accursed. They settled in the northern coast of the island of Mindanao, where they established the Dapitan settlement.

Bohol is derived from the word Bo-ho or Bo-ol. The island was the seat of the first international treaty of peace and unity between the native king Datu Sikatuna and Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi on March 16, 1565, through a blood compact alliance known today by many Filipinos as the Sandugo.

Spanish colonial period

The earliest significant contact of the island with Spain occurred in 1565. On March 25 (March 16 in the Julian calendar), a Spanish explorer named Miguel López de Legazpi arrived in Bohol seeking spices and gold. After convincing the native chieftains that they were not Portuguese (who raided the islands of Mactan in 1521), Legazpi made a peace pact with Datu Sikatuna. This pact was signified with a blood compact between the two men. This event, called the ''Sandugo'' ("one blood"), is celebrated in Bohol every year during the Sandugo Festival. The ''Sandugo'' or blood compact is also depicted on Bohol's provincial flag and the Bohol provincial seal.
Two significant revolts occurred in Bohol during the Spanish Era. One was the Tamblot Uprising in 1621, led by Tamblot, a ''babaylan'' or native priest. The other was the famous Dagohoy Rebellion, considered the longest in Philippine history. This rebellion was led by Francisco Dagohoy, also known as Francisco Sendrijas, from 1744 to 1829.

Politically, Bohol was administered as part of ''Cebu Province''. It was separated from Cebu on July 22, 1854, together with Siquijor. A census in 1879 found Bohol with a population of 253,103 distributed among 34 municipalities.

The culture of the Boholanos was influenced by Spain and Mexico during colonization. Many traditional dances, music, dishes and other aspects of the culture have considerable Hispanic influence.

U.S. intervention and occupation

After the United States defeated Spain in the Spanish–American War, the U.S. bought the entire Philippine islands. However, under the newly proclaimed independent government established by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, which was not recognized by the U.S., Bohol was governed as a ''Gobierno de Canton''.

During the resulting Philippine–American War, American troops peacefully took over the island in March 1899. However, in January 1901, Pedro Sanson led 2,000 in rebellion, due to the harsh treatment imparted by these troops and the destruction they caused. General Hughes led a campaign of repression in October 1901, destroying a number of towns, and threatening in December 1901 to burn Tagbilaran if the rebels did not surrender. Pantaleon E. del Rosario then negotiated the rebel to surrender.

On March 10, 1917, the Americans made Bohol a separate province under Act No. 2711 (which also established most of the other Philippine provinces).

Japanese occupation and liberation

Japanese troops landed in Tagbilaran on May 17, 1942. Boholanos struggled in a guerrilla resistance against the Japanese forces. Bohol was later liberated by the local guerrillas and the Filipino and American troops who landed on April 11, 1945.

A plaque placed on the port of Tagbilaran commemorating the liberation reads:

The convoy taking the Filipino and American liberation forces to Bohol consisted of a flotilla of six landing ships (medium), six landing crafts (infantry), two landing crafts (support), and one . Upon arrival, the reinforced battalion combat team advanced rapidly to the east and northeast with the mission of destroying all hostile forces in Bohol. Motor patrols were immediately dispatched by Col. Considine, Task Force Commander, and combed the area to the north and east, approximately halfway across the island, but no enemies were found during the reconnaissance. Finally, an enemy group of undetermined strength was located to the north of Ginopolan in Valencia, near the Sierra-Bullones boundary.

By April 17 the Task Force was poised to strike in Ginopolan. The bulk of the Japanese force was destroyed and beaten in the ten days of action. Bohol was officially declared liberated on May 25, 1945, by Major General William H. Arnold, Commander of the American Division. About this time, most officers and men of the Bohol Area Command had been processed by units of the Eighth United States Army

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