Welcome! You just entered the blog series of Davao City by yours truly, Jings’ Journeys 🙂 It is our pleasure to give you the right, updated and accurate information you need about this incredible province.
The vlog shown above were being recorded and edited by Jings’ Journeys.
As we all know, the province of Davao or even the Davao city itself is a highly urbanized city in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines; and it is also the largest city in the Philippines in terms of land area, and the most populous city in the country outside Metro Manila.
Aside from being the home of the Mt. Apo, which is the highest mountain of the Philippines, it also serves as the main trade, commerce, and industry hub of Mindanao and the regional center of Davao Region.
One of the things that the province of Davao is very proud of, are: durians, the flowers of waling waling or vanda sanderiana, the purple mangosteen and the fact that it is also described as one of the world’s safest city.
Now let’s talk about its history… the beginnings of Davao as a distinct geopolitical entity started during the last fifty years of Spanish rule in the country. While Spanish sovereignty had been established along the northeastern coasts of Mindanao down to Bislig as early as 1620, it was not until the conquest of Davao Gulf area in 1848 that Spanish sway in these parts became de facto, and Davao’s history began to be recorded.
That year, Don Jose Cruz de Oyanguren, a native of Vergara, Guipuzcoa, Spain, having received a special grant from Don Narciso Claveria, Governor- General of the Archipelago, “to conquer and subdue the entire gulf district, expel or pacify the Moros there, and establish the Christian religion….” arrived in Davao as head of a colonizing expedition comprising 70 men and women.
During the early years of American rule which began in late December 1898 the town began to mark its role as a new growth center of the Philippines. The American settlers, mostly retired soldiers and investor friends from Zamboanga,Cebu, Manila and the U.S. mainland immediately recognized Davao’s rich potential for agricultural investment. Primeval forest lands were available everywhere. They staked their claim generally in hundreds of hectares and began planting rubber, abaca and coconuts in addition to different varieties of tropical plants imported from Ceylon, India, Hawaii, Java and Malaysia. In the process of developing large-scale plantations, they were faced with the problem of lack of laborers.
Thus, they contracted workers from Luzon and the Visayas, including the Japanese, many of whom were former laborers in the Baguio, Benguet road construction. Most of these Japanese later became land-owners themselves as they acquired lands thru lease from the government or bought out some of the earlier American plantations. It became a regular port of call by inter-island shipping and began direct commercial linkages abroad – US, Japan, Australia, etc. Some 40 American and 80 Japanese plantations proliferated throughout the province in addition to numerous stores and business establishments. Davao saw a rapid rise in its population and its economic progress gave considerable importance to the country’s economy and foreign trade.
It should also be noted that most of the Bagobos who originally possessed the lands surrounding Davao Poblacion and the coasts to Digos have intermarried with the Spaniards, the Americans and later the Japanese, thereby creating the mestizo breed of Spanish-Bagobos, America-Bagobos and Japanese-Bagobos.
The Lumads from Malita down to Sarangani have mainly intermarried with the American pioneer planters in that territory and have produced the American – B’laan mestizos. The eastern gulf of Davao from Sigaboy down to cape San Agustin and up to Mati and Cateel, Davao Oriental, the main lumad group, the Mandayas had primarily came in contact with early Spanish explorers and settlers and thus we have among them the preponderant Spanish-Mandaya mestizos/mestizas.
It is therefore no wonder that Davao may rightly claim the honor as the place of beautiful people, for reasons that the inhabitants here have been exposed to a more varied racial stock for over three centuries!
Jings’ Journeys would like to give credit to the following:
- http://www.davaocity.gov.ph
- Wikipedia
- Willchin photo
- Baby I – Ariana Grande
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