Pampanga History
Pampanga was already the site of thriving settlements along riverbanks or “pampang” before the Spaniards came. The inhabitants were referred to as “Kapampangans” or “the people by the river bank.”
Upon exploration by Martin de Goiti, Pampanga was established in 1571. In 1754, a strip from Dinalupihan to Orion was ceded to Bataan. In 1848, the province lost five towns to Nueva Ecija, and San Miguel to Bulacan. By 1860, its northern district was made into a separate comandancia. This district was made a part of Pangasinan in 1874, and the towns of Mabalacat, Magalang, Porac, and Floridablanca were returned to Pampanga.
Since the early 20th century, the province has been a hotbed of agrarian troubles mainly because many of its estates were under powerful landlords. During World War II, Pampanga was the base for a guerilla unit known as “Hukbalahap” which resisted the Japanese. The Huks later formed the nucleus of local communist insurgency after the war but it was suppressed in the early 1950s. These communist insurgents resurfaced as the New People’s Army in the 1960s.
Pampanga was the home province of Diosdado Macapagal, ninth President of the Philippine republic, and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, incumbent and 14th President.
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