The
provinces of the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
are mainly named after geographic features like rivers and islands, after abundant flora and fauna, after ethnic groups or individuals, or bear a name of older local origin.
Directions in Spanish
Some provinces are prefixed/suffixed with a
Spanish word denoting one of the four
cardinal direction
The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are at ...
s. These are:
* es, Norte, lit=North
** es, del Norte, lit=of the North
* es, Sur, lit=South
** es, del Sur, lit=of the South
* es, Oriental, lit=East
* es, Occidental, lit=West
Provincial names
Abra
*''abra'', es, abra, lit=gap; opening. Originally the area called in es, El Abra de Vigan, lit=The Gap of Vigan,
only referred to the narrow but conspicuous gap along the Malayan (Ilocos) mountain range
through which the
Tineg River
The Abra River, also called Lagben River, is the seventh largest river system in the Philippines in terms of watershed size. It has an estimated drainage area of and a length of from its source in the vicinity of Mount Data in Benguet provinc ...
has cut an exit. This topographic feature, now called the Banaoang Gap,
is situated southeast of the city of
Vigan
Vigan, officially the City of Vigan ( ilo, Siudad ti Vigan; fil, Lungsod ng Vigan), is a 4th class component city and capital of the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 53,935 people.
Loc ...
, where the
Quirino Bridge is now located; it serves as the natural entrance to the fertile Tineg River basin. Over time the phrase was shortened, and the area which ''Abra'' referred to expanded to include most of the upland territory drained by the Tineg River between the Malayan Range and the
Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands.
Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges:
* Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America
** ...
, and inhabited by the
Itneg.
Agusan (
del Norte and
del Sur
Del, or nabla, is an Operator (mathematics), operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector (geometry), vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function (mathema ...
)
*''agusan'',
Manobo
The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous people in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (Literally: "indigenous people"), the autonym officially adopte ...
for "where the water flows," referring to the
river that now bears this name.
*''akean'',
Akeanon for "where there is boiling or frothing,"
describing the water flow of the
Aklan River
The Aklan River is the longest river in the province of Aklan, Philippines, and third-longest river on Panay island (after the Panay River in Capiz and Jalaur River in Iloilo). Its drainage basin is the third largest in Panay. The river source is ...
at shallow areas near its mouth, where
Kalibo is located, especially during the dry season. ''Aclán'' was the original name of Kalibo,
and the river was known in early Spanish accounts as es, El Río de Aclán, lit=
The River of Aklan.
The Spanish-era territory that covered the river valley was also called ''Aclán'' but following subsequent divisions was renamed ''
Calivo''.
Upon the separation of the
Akeanon-speaking part of
Capiz in 1956, ''Aclán'' (spelled in
Filipino orthography as ''Aklan'') was resurrected as the name for the new province, and
Kalibo was named its capital.