URBAN GEOGRAPHY

HISTORY

Welcome to this vibrant and bustling city located in the province of Albay,
Legazpi City! It is a city that is well-known for its rich history, natural wonders, delicious
cuisines, and warm and hospitable people. Legazpi City, being the centre of a bustling
urban area in Albay, has a rich and diverse history that dates back to pre-colonial times,
with several important events that have shaped its culture and identity.

A little look back on its history shows that Legazpi City began as a small
barangay or settlement called Sawangan, now known as the Legazpi Port. Just like the
learnings we had in world history, where Tigris and Euphrates played a big role in the
Mesopotamian civilization, likewise to the Sawangan settlement, Legazpi was born
between the Tibu and Makabalo rivers, wherein it rose as a humble fishing village and
pockets of settlements called Sawangan. And for your information, Sawangan is
connotated with the word "sawang," which means anchorage, and delta, "from the word
sabang or sabangan," later corrupted to "Sawangan."

Before the pre-colonial period, the area of Sawangan was said to have been
populated by fishermen, farmers, and producers of handicrafts such as woven fabrics
and shells. But with the arrival of Spanish explorers in the Bicol Region in 1569, the
fishing village transformed into an organised pueblo and provincia. Sawangan and its
neighbouring settlements along the shorelines of the Albay Gulf were entered into the
Spanish Imperial Chart in 1574 as "baybayo/baybay" and later frequently referred to as
"al Baybay," then shortened to Albay.

According to some chroniclers or historians, the edges of Cagsawa and the

coastal villages from Poro up to Tiwi were called Partido de Albay as a reconstituted
Spanish pueblo in 1696. On February 1, 1814, the Mayon Volcano erupted, causing
people to migrate, leading to the division of the pueblo, into two districts, Albay Viejo
and Albay Nuevo. Albay Viejo, which is known today as the Legazpi Port Districts, is
home to the city’s port and commercial districts. In fact, the very first settlements of
Binanuahan, Lamba, Rawis, and Bigaa were once lumped together as Albay Viejo.
Whereas Albay Nuevo is known as the Old Albay District, where the city hall, a
cathedral, and the provincial capitol are located.

The fishing settlement of Sawangan officially became Legazpi City in 1856. Don
Ramon Montero of the Gobierno Superior de las Islas Filipinas gave the name Legazpi
to the ancient village of Sawangan to perpetuate the memory of the Adelantado Don
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the first Spanish governor of the Philippines who never set
foot in Albay and was the grandfather of Captain Juan de Salcedo, the conquistador or
conqueror who raided the Bicol region in 1572. The pueblo was inaugurated on October
22, 1856, which is now recognised as Legazpi’s foundation day.
RELIGION

Aside from its historic development as a town influenced by the Spaniards, one
of the major and dominant influences that can be observed in the city is the practice of
religion. Legazpi City, Albay, is predominantly Roman Catholic, with approximately 90%
of the population identifying as Catholic. There are also a number of other religious
denominations present in the city, including Protestant denominations such as the
United Evangelical Church of Legazpi in Evangelical Street, Legazpi Port District, the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that can be found in Ilawod, Old Albay
District, Legazpi City, the Iglesia Ni Cristo in Taysan and Cabangan, Legazpi City, and
the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There are also smaller populations of Muslims,
particularly at the Oro Site Community Muslim Mosque in the Legazpi Port District.

Focusing on the dominant religion in Legazpi, which is Roman Catholicism,

Spaniards introduced this religion to the people of Legazpi. It was in the year 1587
when Franciscan friars of the Doctrina de Cagsawa began to convert the area's
population to Christianity. With that religious influence on the inhabitants of Sawangan,
a parish friar, Fray Francisco de Santa Ana, built a wooden chapel with Gregory the
Great as a patron. Sawangan then became an independent parish and was called
Misión de San Gregorio Magno de Sawangan.

However, it was on February 1, 1814, when the catastrophic eruption of Mayon

Volcano partly ruined the village of Sawangan. The parish priest of Sawangan asked
the residents to evacuate to higher and safer grounds, which are in Makalaya, now
known as Taysan, and in Taytay, which is present-day Barangay Bagumbayan, in which
this small town is called Albay Nuevo. After the incident, some of the survivors decided
to return to the old settlement of Sawangan, around the area of what we now know as
Binanuahan or Banuang Gurang, which is under the district of Albay Viejo.

In 1839, the settlers in Taytay or Bagumbayan started to erect a stone church

designed by Gobernadorcillo Don Jose Ma. de Penaranda, an architect, in consultation
with Fray Jose Yagres, OFM, which we can now see in the Old Albay District, the
Cathedral Parish of Saint Gregory the Great, also known as Legazpi Cathedral and
locally as Albay Cathedral. It was also in this cathedral that Holiness Pope John II
visited and celebrated a mass under a cabana facing the devotees who filled
Penaranda Park and the streets around the cathedral on February 21, 1981.

Meanwhile, those who returned to the fishing village of Sawangan established

an ermita, or chapel, dedicated to the Archangel Raphael, whom they adopted as their
patron saint and considered the patron saint of fishermen. This became the present
church of St. Raphael the Archangel in the Legazpi Port district.