Catanduanes (; ), officially the Province of Catanduanes, is an island
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
located in the
Bicol Region
Bicol, known formally as the Bicol Region or colloquially as Bicolandia ( bcl, Rehiyon kan Bikol; Rinconada Bikol: ''Rehiyon ka Bikol''; Waray Sorsogon, Masbateño: ''Rehiyon san Bikol''; tl, Rehiyon ng Bikol), is an administrative region of ...
of
Luzon
Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...
in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
Camarines Sur
Camarines Sur ( bcl, Habagatan na Camarines; tl, Timog Camarines), officially the Province of Camarines Sur, is a province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region on Luzon. Its capital is Pili and the province borders Camarines Norte an ...
, across Maqueda Channel. Its capital is Virac. It had a population of 271,879 people as of the 2020 census.
The province comprises Catanduanes Island (also called ''Virac Island''),
Panay Island
Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City ...
, Lete Island, the Palumbanes group of islands (Porongpong, Tignob and Calabagio), and a few other small, surrounding islets and rocks. The province is also home to various mollusk fossil sites, notably the second-oldest ammonite site in the Philippines. These sites have certain species of ammonites that are found nowhere else in Southeast Asia. Because of the province's importance and rich geologic history, various scholars have suggested that, if the province would take the initiative to put its name forward in nomination, it would stand a good chance of being declared a
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Geopark Reserve.
In the early 1900s, Catanduanes was a sub-province of
Ambos Camarines
Ambos Camarines ( es, ambos, meaning "both"; commonly known as Camarines), officially the Province of Ambos Camarines, was a historical province in the Philippines found on the northern end of the Bicol Peninsula. It now exists as two separat ...