Magallanes, officially the Municipality of Magallanes, is a

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 ...

Sorsogon Sorsogon, officially the Province of Sorsogon ( Bikol: ''Probinsya kan Sorsogon''; Waray: ''Probinsya han Sorsogon''; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region. It is the southernmost province in the island of Luzon and ...

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 37,411 people. According to renowned historians and anthropologists such as Domingo Abella, Luis Camara Dery, Merito Espinas, F. Mallari, Norman Owen, Mariano Goyena del Prado, et al., Magallanes was the location of the ancient settlement of

Ibalong The Bicol Region, designated as Region V, is an administrative region of the Philippines. It comprises six provinces, four on the Bicol Peninsula (the southeastern end of Luzon): Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, and Sorsogon, and two off ...

History

In 1569, the Jimenez-Orta expedition landed at Barangay Ginangra near the village of Gibal-ong, the site where the first mass in the island of Luzon was said, the site of the first Christian settlement. Magallanes started as settlement called Parina, a name derived from the hardwood tree reputed to be so durable as to last for centuries that was known to abound in the place long before it became a barrio of Pueblo de Casiguran under the old province of Albay. The settlement was not spared from sporadic sorties launched by punitive bandits from the south. In 1854 one group of bandits ravaged ''Barangay Ginangra'' and hostaged a family from the village. As a countermeasure, the Spanish ''Comandancia of Parina'' constructed a watchtower in strategic areas as ''Barangay Telegrafo'' and Bagatao Island equipped with cannons. A cannon also was mounted in ''Barangay Binisitahan del Norte'' at the mouth of the Incarizan River. On July 16, 1860, the name Parina was changed to Magallanes in honor of the Portuguese who discovered the Philippines island in 1521

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...

. Magallanes was officially declared a pueblo with Don Manuel de Castro as its first appointed governadorcillo. In 1864 the Parish of our Lady of Mt. Carmel was canonically established with Rev. Fr. Higino de Castro as its first pastor. It was during this year that the first census was conducted resulting to a total count of 1400 inhabitants. Moreover, the town was split into six ''"cabeseras"'' (headships) each of which was entrusted with the administrative supervision of a ''"cebeja de barangay"'' (literally translated, "eyebrow" of the

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 ...

, but meaning the "overseer"). Pursuant to the decree of the Spanish Crown, new official with new corresponding titles were elected. Don Juan de Castro was chosen as the first Capitan Municipal in 1894. In 1901 the municipality elected its first set of official under the American. Don Inocencio M. Mella was elected Presidente Municipal under the Malolos Constitution.

Geography

Barangays

Magallanes is politically subdivided into 34

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 ...

. * Aguada Norte * Aguada Sur * Anibong * Bacalon * Bacolod * Banacud * Biga * Behia * Binisitahan del Norte * Binisitahan del Sur * Biton * Bulala * Busay * Caditaan * Cagbolo * Cagtalaba * Cawit Extension * Cawit Proper * Ginangra * Hubo * Incarizan * Lapinig * Magsaysay * Malbog * Pantalan * Pawik * Pili *

Poblacion ''Poblacion'' (from Spanish '' población'', meaning "population"), sometimes abbreviated as Pob., is a term used in the Philippines to refer to the administrative center, downtown, old town, or commercial area of a city or municipality. It ...

* Salvacion * Santa Elena * Siuton * Tagas * Tulatula Norte * Tulatula Sur

Climate

Demographics

Economy

Magallanes is primary considered a coastal town as 24 of its 34 barangays are situated along the coast with abundant marine resources, which the locals take to daily for food and livelihood. Marine and fishpond fishing are the town's prime industry despite large agricultural lands being engaged as well in crop and livestock production. Fish drying is a common practice among the locals after which the produce is sold to neighboring towns. For the fishpond culture, they are able to produce milkfish, tilapia, prawns and mud crab. The variety of ways the marine and inland fishing produce are processed include sardine in oil, bangus in oil, dried posit, dilis tuyo, daing and tinapa. Sardine and Bangus in Oil are OTOP products processed by the Magallanes Food Products while the dried and smoke fish are processed by the Bacolod Women's Cooperative and by the fish folks themselves. Crops production of rice, corn, coconut, fruit trees, vegetables and root cops make an abundant produce for the town. Of these crops, coconut accounts about 96.15% making it the dominant major product.DTI OTOP Province of Sorsogon Business Profile & Directory, 2009 page 21

References

External links

Magallanes Profile at PhilAtlas.com
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Philippine Standard Geographic Code The Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) is a systematic classification and coding for geographic areas in the Philippines. It classifies areas based on the country's four levels of administrative divisions: regions, provinces, municipalities ...

Philippine Census Information

Local Governance Performance Management System
{{Authority control Municipalities of Sorsogon