Pampanga (Kapampangan: Lalauígan ning Pampángga; Filipino: Lalawigan ng Pampanga) is a

province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila
Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the
east, the Manila Bay to the central-south, Bataan to the southwest and Zambales to the west. Its
capital is the City of San Fernando. Angeles City, while geographically within Pampanga, is
classified as a first-class, highly urbanized city and is governed independently of the province.

The name La Pampanga was given by the Spaniards, who encountered natives living along the
banks (pampáng) of the Pampanga River. Its creation in 1571 makes it the first Spanish province
on Luzon Island (Cebu in Visayas is older as it was founded by the Spaniards in 1565). The town
of Villa de Bacolor in the province briefly served as the Spanish colonial capital when Great
Britain invaded Manila as part of the Seven Years' War. At the eve of the Philippine Revolution
of 1896, Pampanga was one of eight provinces placed under martial law for rebellion against the
Spanish Empire; it is thus represented on the Philippine national flag as one of the eight rays of
the sun.

Pampanga is served by Clark International Airport (formerly Diosdado Macapagal International

Airport), which is in Clark Freeport Zone, some 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) north of the provincial
capital. The province is home to two Philippine Air Force airbases: Basa Air Base in
Floridablanca and the former United States Clark Air Base in Angeles City. By 2015, the
province has 2,198,110 inhabitants,[2] while it has 1,079,532 registered voters.[3]

Contents
 1 History

 2 Geography

o 2.1 Climate

o 2.2 Administrative divisions

 3 Demographics

o 3.1 Population

o 3.2 Languages

o 3.3 Religion

o 3.4 Boat culture

 4 Economy

 5 Infrastructure

o 5.1 Telecommunication

o 5.2 Water and power

o 5.3 Transportation

 5.3.1 Road transport

 6 Schools

o 6.1 Colleges and universities

 7 Attractions

o 7.1 Festivals

o 7.2 Natural parks

 8 Government and politics

o 8.1 Provincial government

o 8.2 Court system

o 8.3 Governors

 9 Notable people from Pampanga

o 9.1 Politics

o 9.2 Artists and entertainers

o 9.3 Religious leaders

o 9.4 Sports

o 9.5 Others

 10 References

 11 External links
History
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Ancient Pampanga's Territorial area included portions of the modern provinces of Tarlac, Bataan,
Zambales, Nueva Ecija and Bulacan. Pampanga was re-organized as a province by the Spaniards
on December 11, 1571. For better administration and taxation purposes, the Spanish authorities
subdivided Pampanga into pueblos, which were further subdivided into districts (barrios) and in
some cases into royal and private estates (encomiendas).

Due to excessive abuses committed by some encomenderos, King Philip II of Spain in 1574
prohibited the further awarding of private estates, but this decree was not fully enforced until
1620. In a report of Philippine encomiendas on June 20, 1591, Governor-General Gómez Pérez
Dasmariñas reported to the Crown that La Pampanga's encomiendas were Bataan, Betis y Lubao,
Macabebe, Candaba, Apalit, Calumpit, Malolos, Binto, Guiguinto, Caluya, Bulacan and
Mecabayan. The encomiendas of La Pampanga at that time had eighteen thousand six hundred
and eighty whole tributes.

Pampanga, which is about 850 square miles (2,200 km2) in area and inhabited by more than 1.5
million people, had its present borders drawn in 1873. During the Spanish regime it was one of
the richest Philippine provinces. Manila and its surrounding region were then primarily
dependent on Kapampangan agricultural, fishery and forestry products as well as on the supply
of skilled workers. As other Luzon provinces were created due to increases in population, some
well-established Pampanga towns were lost to new emerging provinces in Central Luzon.

During the 17th century, The Dutch recruited men from Pampanga as mercenaries who served
the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, known as Papangers[4] part of the larger Mardijkers
community. Their legacy can be found in North Jakarta,[5] however, there are few traces of their
descendants, except for a small community in Kampung Tugu.

Pampanga, 1899

The historic province of Bataan which was founded in 1754 under the administration of Spanish
Governor-General Pedro Manuel Arandia, absorbed from the province of Pampanga the
municipalities of Abucay, Balanga (now a city), Dinalupihan, Llana Hermosa, Orani, Orion,
Pilar, and Samal.

During the British occupation of Manila (1762–1764), Bacolor became the provisional Spanish
colonial capital and military base.

The old Pampanga towns of Aliaga, Cabiao, Gapan, San Antonio and San Isidro were ceded to
the province of Nueva Ecija in 1848 during the term of Spanish Governor-General Narciso
Claveria y Zaldua. The municipality of San Miguel de Mayumo of Pampanga was yielded to the
province of Bulacan in the same provincial boundary configuration in 1848.

In 1860, the northern towns of Bamban, Capas, Concepcion, Victoria, Tarlac, Mabalacat,
Magalang, Porac and Floridablanca were separated from Pampanga and were placed under the
jurisdiction of a military command called Comandancia Militar de Tarlac. However, in 1873, the
four latter towns were returned to Pampanga and the other five became municipalities of the
newly created Province of Tarlac.

On December 8, 1941, Japanese planes bombed Clark Air Base marking the beginning of the
invasion of Pampanga. Between 1941 and 1942, occupying Japanese forces began entering
Pampanga.

During the counter-insurgencies under the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1944,
Kapampangan guerrilla fighters and the Hukbalahap Communist guerrillas fought side by side in
the province of Pampanga, attacking and retreating the Japanese Imperial forces for over three
years of fighting and invasion.

The establishment of the military general headquarters and military camp bases of the Philippine
Commonwealth Army was active from 1935 to 1946. The Philippine Constabulary was active
from 1935 to 1942 and 1944 to 1946 in the province of Pampanga. During the military
engagements of the anti-Japanese Imperial military operations in central Luzon from 1942 to
1945 in the province of Bataan, Bulacan, Northern Tayabas (now Aurora), Nueva Ecija,
Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales, the local guerrilla resistance fighters and Hukbalahap
Communist guerrillas, helped the U.S. military forces fight the Imperial Japanese armed forces.

In the 1945 liberation of Pampanga, Kapampangan guerrilla fighters and the Hukbalahap
Communist guerrillas supported combat forces from Filipino and American ground troops in
attacking Japanese Imperial forces during the Battle of Pampanga until the end of the Second
World War. Local military operations soldiers and officers of the Philippine Commonwealth
Army 2nd, 26th, 3rd, 32nd, 33rd, 35th, 36th and 37th Infantry Division and the Philippine
Constabulary 3rd Constabulary Regiment recaptured and liberated the province of Pampanga and
fought against the Japanese Imperial forces during the Battle of Pampanga.

After the Second World War, operations in the main province of Pampanga was downfall
insurgencies and conflicts between the Philippine Government forces and the Hukbalahap
Communist rebels on 1946 to 1954 during the Hukbalahap Rebellion.
During the Marcos dictatorship, thousands of Kapampangans were tortured and murdered
through various means such as rape, forced stripping, electric shocks, beatings, and genital
mutilations, among many others. Kapampangan religious leaders rose up against Marcos until
the People Power Revolution occurred, where a Kapampangan, Corazon Aquino, became
president.[6][7]

The June 15, 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo displaced a large number of people with the
submersion of whole towns and villages by massive lahar floods. This led to a large-scale
advancement in disaster preparation in government. In 2010, a Kapampangan, Noynoy Aquino,
was elected as president.

On April 22, 2019, the province suffered severe damage due to 6.1 magnitude earthquake which
originated from Zambales and was the most affected area by the earthquake due to province
sitting on soft sediment and alluvial soil.[8] Several structures in the province were damaged by
the quake, including a 4-story supermarket in Porac, the Bataan-Pampanga boundary arch and
the main terminal of Clark International Airport, as well as old churches in Lubao and Porac,
where the stone bell tower of the 19th-century Santa Catalina de Alejandria Church collapsed.[9]

Geography
Pampanga covers a total area of 2,002.20 square kilometres (773.05 sq mi)[10] occupying the
south-central section of the Central Luzon region. When Angeles City is included for
geographical purposes, the province's area is 2,062.47 square kilometres (796.32 sq mi).[10] The
province is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, the
Manila Bay to the central-south, Bataan to the southwest, and Zambales to the northwest.

Its terrain is relatively flat with one distinct mountain, Mount Arayat and the notable Pampanga
River. Among its municipalities, Porac has the largest area with 314 square kilometres
(121 sq mi); Candaba comes in second with 176 square kilometres (68 sq mi); followed by
Floridablanca with 175 square kilometres (68 sq mi). Santo Tomas, with an area of only 21
square kilometres (8.1 sq mi), is the smallest.[10]

Climate

The province of Pampanga has two distinct climates, rainy and dry. The rainy or wet season
normally begins in May and runs through October, while the rest of the year is the dry season.
The warmest period of the year occurs between March and April, while the coolest period is
from December through February. The wet season will be from June to October and also dry
season will be from November to April in the province of Pampanga.