Limasawa, officially the Municipality of Limasawa ( Cebuano: ''Lungsod sa Limasawa''; Filipino: ''Bayan ng Limasawa''), is an island

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Southern Leyte Southern Leyte (; Kabalian: ''Habagatan nga Leyte''; ; ), officially the Province of Southern Leyte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Maasin. Southern Leyte comprised the ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 6,191 people, making it the least populated town in the province.

History

Limasawa was the second island (after

Suluan Suluan is an island barangay in the Philippines, in the municipality of Guiuan, Eastern Samar. It lies east of Leyte Gulf and west of Emden Deep. The inhabitants of the island were the first Filipinos to trade and interact with Ferdinand Mage ...

) of the Philippines that the

Magellan Expedition The Magellan expedition, sometimes termed the MagellanElcano expedition, was a 16th-century Spanish Empire, Spanish expedition planned and led by Portuguese Empire, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. One of the most important voyages in th ...

landed on.

Antonio Pigafetta Antonio Pigafetta (; – c. 1531) was a Venetian scholar and explorer. In 1519, he joined the Spanish expedition to the Spice Islands led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the world's first Magellan's circumnavigation, circumnavigation, ...

documented the island as "Mazaua". He described it as being inhabited with cultivated fields. In March 28, 1521 the Magellan Expedition met with two rulers, Rajah Colambu and Rahah Siaui, of the

Rajahnate of Butuan Butuan, sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Butuan (; Butuanon: ; ; ), was a precolonial Bisaya Hindu polity (''lungsod'') centered around northeastern Mindanao island in present-day Butuan, Philippines. It was known for its gold mining, ...

and "Calagan" (

Caraga Caraga, officially the Caraga Administrative Region (or simply known as Caraga region) and designated as Region XIII, is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines occupying the northeastern section of Mindanao. Th ...

), which Pigafetta misidentified as islands. The rulers were on a hunting expedition on Limasawa (which were under their domain) with two ''

balangay A balangay, or barangay, is a type of lashed-lug boat built by joining planks edge-to-edge using pins, dowels, and fiber lashings. They are found throughout the Philippines and were used largely as trading ships up until the colonial era. The ...

'' ships. The rulers entertained Magellan's crew with feasting for a few days. Afterwards, Father Pedro de Valderrama performed the first mass in the Philippines on

Easter Sunday Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek language, Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, de ...

(March 31, 1521). Magellan also climbed the highest elevation in Limasawa and erected a cross before leaving for "Zubu" (

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

). At the request of the residents of the island of Limasawa, the six

barangays The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the precolonial polities of the same name, modern barangays are political subdivisio ...

that comprise that island were detached and separated from the municipality of Padre Burgos through Presidential Decree No. 1549, signed by then President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

on June 11, 1978,with the effort of the Late Guillermo trigo Urag, and constituted as the Municipality of Limasawa. Limasawa completely became a municipality on August 27, 1989, after then President

Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...

ordered the plebiscite which its residents voted in favor of the creation. The island, also known as Limasawa Island, is located south of

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

, in the Mindanao or Bohol Sea. It is about long from north to south and is the smallest municipality in the province, in both area and population.

Geography

Barangays

Limasawa is politically subdivided into 6

barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...

s. Each barangay consists of

purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...

s and some have

sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own bar ...

. *Cabulihan *Lugsongan *Magallanes (Poblacion) *San Agustin (Tawid) *San Bernardo (Tigib) *Trianas

Climate

Demographics

Economy

References

External links

Limasawa Profile at PhilAtlas.comELGU Website of Limasawa
* Philippine Standard Geographic Codebr>Philippine Census InformationLocal Governance Performance Management SystemLimasawa Island Information
{{Authority control Municipalities of Southern Leyte Islands of Southern Leyte Island municipalities in the Philippines Establishments by Philippine presidential decree