History and Origin

History of Negros and its Capital City, Dumaguete City

Once upon a time, in a boot-shaped island called Buglas, there lived a group of natives with bronze skin and coiled hair, Situated at the island’s toe, the natives called their town Danaguet, a small settlement at the mouth of the Banica River Danaguet become Dumaguete, which originally came from the root word “danguet,” meaning “to match or kidnap”. The name sprang from the history of the frequent Moro attack from the south, with instances of captured natives, to be sold as slaves to the neighboring Borneo
In 1565, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi anchored his ship in nearby Bohol Island and decided to dispatch of grigate to reconnoiter Buglas. Upon seeing the aborigines of the island, the Spaniards decided to call the place Negros. They settled, and the population of Dumaguet increased, and was eventually made into an independent parish in 1620.
Negros was, at that time, undivided, with Bacolod serving as capital. With separation into Occidental and Oriental in 1st of January 1890, Dumaguete become the capital of the eastern part of the island. It was then a small town with out a pier, a small bamboo houses and coconut trees lined up its dirt roads. The only significant landmark was the old Bell Tower, which was built in 1811 to serve as a belfry and as a watchtower against piratical Moro raids.
With the revolution in 1896, Dumaguete remained placid, not yet an active participant in the uprising. But by 24th of November 1896, Gen Diego de la Vina entered and “liberated” Dumaguete from Spanish rule. On 1 May 1901, the Philippine Commission, headed by William H. Taft, decided to establish a civil provincial government marking the place’s American Periods. The famous boulevard was built in 1916, the pier 1919, and the small landing field in 1940. With the Japanese came a period of relative terror, Dumaguete, however, became one of Japan’s training centers for its war pilots. By 22nd of Spetember 1945, the Japanes surrendered to the Americans at Guisaon Bridge in Zamboanguita. The war’s aftermath left the town bare, neglected, dirty, and gloomy.
The last town liberated in the province, Dumaguete suffered the worst economic despairs, and the slowest rehabilitation. Food shortage was acute, and may die in starvation. The town was divided into eight districts to supervise the distribution of food to the needy. Through the help of the Philippine Civil Affairs unit and the Unites States copra shipment, Dumaguete again struck it out on its own. On 24th of November 1948, the bill creating the municipality into a city became Republic Act 327. This sounded the birth of the City of the Gentle People.