Bohol Locator Map 2

Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol (; ), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. It is home to Boholano people. Its capital is Tagbilaran, the largest city of the province. 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 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 2023, Bohol Island was designated as a UNESCO Global Geopark, the first in the Philippines.

Bohol is also the province with the most towns in the Philippines, totalling 47 towns, and 1 component city, Tagbilaran City.

Etymology

Bohol is accordingly derived from the local word ''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 survives as ''Bool'', a barangay or village in Tagbilaran City where Miguel Lopez de Legazpi supposedly landed.

History

Early history

Late Metal Age to Protohistoric Period (3,000 B.C.)

The region of Southeastern Bohol, particularly Cogtong Bay in Candijay and the Anda Peninsula are known as the "cradle of civilization of Bohol" from archaeological findings of pre-colonial petroglyphs, and ancient bodies from burial sites which were housed in boat-shaped wooden-coffins. Boat coffin burial has been found prevalent in Mindanao, Palawan, Negros, Panay, Maranduque, and Masbate as well as throughout Southeast Asia in Borneo and Vietnam. Today, local healers and shaman still practice pagdiwata rituals, or offerings to the spirits for good fortune, located in Lamanok Point in Anda. The wooden boat coffins are estimated to date back 6,000 years ago from the Metal Age to the Protohistoric Period. The National Museum of the Philippines has excavated and recorded 9 local caves for preservation. Human remains found in Southeastern Bohol also contained artificially modified crania or a form of head-binding, practiced by ancient communities throughout history.

Unfortunately, theft and extraction of sacred burial sites of human remains by U.S. universities occurred during the American colonial area, particularly conducted by the University of Michigan and Bucknell University in the 1920s. The University of Michigan has up to 22 human remains taken from Carmen and Mabini, Bohol.

12th to 16th century

In the early 17th century, Father Ignacio Alcina, recorded that a certain Datung Sumanga of Leyte wooed the princess, Bugbung Humasanum, of Bohol, and married her after raiding Imperial China and aftwards were the precursors of the people there. In 1667, Father Francisco Combes, in his ''Historia de Mindanao'', mentioned that at one time in their history, the people of the Panglao invaded Bohol and subsequently imposed 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 Bohol by the people of Panglao ushered Bo-ol. Bo-ol 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 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 Bo-ol soured when the Ternatan sultan learned the sad fate of his emissary and his men who were executed by the two ruling chieftains of Bo-ol 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 provided by the Portuguese, still unknown to Boholanos. Thousands of Boholanos lost their lives in this conflict, including Pagbuaya's brother Datu Dailisan. After the raid, Datu Pagbuaya, who was left as the sole reigning chief of the island, decided to abandon 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 16 March 1565, through a blood compact alliance known today by many Filipinos as the Sandugo.

Spanish colonial era (1500s to 1890s)

The earliest significant contact of the island with Spain occurred in 1565. On 16 March 1565, 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 ''sandugo'' (blood compact) between the two men. This event, simply 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''. This revolt met with reprisals from the Spanish forces in Cebu, who on 6 January 1635; under orders by Juan de Alcarazo the Alcalde-Mayor of Cebu, a force of 50 Spanish and 1,000 Visayan troops, battled the rebels and settled in Bohol.

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 22 July 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.

Philippine-American War (1899-1902)

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 September 1900, Colonel Pedro Samson led 2,000 in rebellion, due to the harsh treatment imparted by these troops and the destruction they caused. In response to the Samson uprising, the U.S. forces pursued a "Scorched-Earth" policy and burned down 20 out of the 35 towns of Bohol, especially Southeastern area of towns such as Duero, Jagna and Candijay where whole barangay villages were burned down in search of freedom fighters resisting U.S. invasion to the newly independent Philippines. In Jagna, Philippine guerrillas led by Captain Gregorio "Guyo" Casenas planned to overtake an American garrison, unfortunately the local mayor had disclosed their plans to U.S. troops and this resulted in the Lonoy Massacre or Battle of Lonoy which U.S. troops ambushed and killed 406 Filipino soldiers while 3 Americans were killed. 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. At about the same period, on 20 October 1901, Bohol was organized as a province under the provisions of the Provincial Government Act of the Philippine Commission. Two years later, some of its towns were consolidated reducing its 35 municipalities to 32.

World War II: Japanese occupation (1942-1945)

Japanese troops landed in Tagbilaran on 17 May 1942. Boholanos struggled in a guerrilla resistance against the Japanese forces. Bohol was later liberated by local guerrillas and the Filipino and American troops who landed on 11 April 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)-(LSM), six Landing Craft (Infantry)-(LCI), two Landing Craft,(Medium)-(LCM), and one Landing Ship, Medium (Rocket)- SM(R) 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 25 May 1945, by Major General William H. Arnold, Commander of the Americal Division. About this time, most officers and men of the Bohol Area Command had been processed by units of the Eighth United States Army

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases