Negros was an administrative division of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, existing as a military district from 1734 to 1865, and a politico-military province from 1865 to 1890.

History

Upon the arrival of Spaniards,

Miguel López de Legazpi Miguel López de Legazpi (12 June 1502 – 20 August 1572), also known as ''Adelantado, El Adelantado'' and ''El Viejo'' (The Elder), was a Spanish conquistador who financed and led an expedition to conquer the Philippines, Philippine islan ...

placed the island of Negros and its nearby islands and islets under the jurisdiction of the governor of

Oton Oton, officially the Municipality of Oton (; , , ), is a municipality in the province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 98,509 people making it as the most populous town in the province and the entire ...

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and 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 of Il ...

in the 1600s. The islands then became a Spanish

military district Military districts (also called military regions) are formations of a state's armed forces (often of the Army) which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters ...

in 1734 and the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Ilog ILOG S.A. was an international software company purchased and incorporated into IBM announced in January, 2009. It created enterprise software products for supply chain, business rule management, visualization and optimization. The main product ...

served as its first capital. The seat of government was later transferred to

Himamaylan Himamaylan (), officially the City of Himamaylan (; ), is a component city in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 116,240 people. Due to its coastal location, it is a rich sou ...

in 1795 until

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; ; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Negros Island Region in the Philippines. With a total of 600,783 inhabitants as of the 2020 census, it is th ...

became the capital in 1849. In 1865, it was raised into a politico-military province. The province was composed of 2 geographical divisions: the ''Occidental Negros'' (the

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

and de facto seat of the government) and ''Oriental Negros''. All three towns which were designated as capitals, including those during its military district status prior to being a province, are part of Occidental Negros.

Official divisions

On January 1, 1890, the island was officially partitioned, turning Occidental Negros and Oriental Negros into separate regular provinces through a royal decree executed by Governor General

Valeriano Weyler Captain General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí, 1st Marquess of Tenerife (17September 183820October 1930) was a Spanish Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the Governor-General of the Philippines and the Gover ...

. Occidental Negros retained

as its capital, while Oriental Negros made

Dumaguete Dumaguete, officially the City of Dumaguete (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it h ...

as its capital. After the

Negros Revolution The Negros Revolution (; ; ), commemorated and popularly known as the Fifth of November () or Negros Day (; ; ), was a political movement that in 1898 created a government on Negros Island in the Philippines, ending Spanish control of the isla ...

, the two provinces were briefly united as an independent

Republic of Negros The Republic of Negros (; ; ) was a short-lived Revolutionary government in the Philippines, revolutionary entity which had existed on the Negros Island, island of Negros first as a Canton (country subdivision), canton of the First Philippine Rep ...

in November 5 of 1898, until May 1 of 1901, when Occidental Negros and Oriental Negros were annexed under the

Insular Government The Philippine Insular GovernmentThis form of the name appeared in the titles of US Supreme Court cases, but was otherwise rarely used. See Costas v. Government of the Philippine Islands, 221 U.S. 623, 1911. The Administrative Code of the Phil ...

of the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

through Acts No. 119 and 120 respectively which was enacted on April 20, 1901, as with the rest of the country, and later under the Government of the

Commonwealth of the Philippines The Commonwealth of the Philippines (; ) was an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territory and Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States that existed from 1935 to 1946. It was established following the ...

. The island of

Siquijor Siquijor ( , ), officially the Province of Siquijor (; ), is a Philippines, Philippine Provinces of the Philippines, island province (List of islands of the Philippines, the third smallest in the country, in terms of population and land area) ...

was then made a "sub-province" of Oriental Negros on October 8, 1907, through Act No. 1753. On March 10, 1917, both Occidental Negros and Oriental Negros became provinces under the American civil government through Act 2711. After years of liberation from foreign forces, Siquijor was separated from Oriental Negros and became a regular province on November 11, 1971, by

Republic Act This article contains a partial list of Philippine laws. Sources of Philippine laws ;Notes : *Customs may be considered as supplementary source of law, however, customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy shall not ...

No. 6398 which was approved on September 17, 1971. Later on, both Negros provinces, ''Occidental Negros'' and ''Oriental Negros'' were then renamed into their present names of ''

Negros Occidental Negros Occidental (; ), officially the Province of Negros Occidental (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Negros, Negros Island. Its capital is the city of Bacolod, of which it is geographically s ...

'' and ''

Negros Oriental Negros Oriental (; ), officially the Province of Negros Oriental (; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Negros Island. Its capital is the city of Dumaguete, one of the two regional centers of Negros Island Region, with the other b ...

''.

History

Official divisions

References

See also