San Nicolas, officially the Municipality of San Nicolas (), 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 ...

Batangas Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( ), is a first class province of the Philippines located in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Calabarzon region. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2,908,494 people, making ...

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 23,908 people. San Nicolas is derived from

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, the town's

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

. Before 1955, San Nicolas was part of Taal. However, in 1955, with the enactment of Republic Act No. 1229, the municipality, as well as the barrios of San Nicolas - Gipit, Bangin, Pansipit, Calangay, Sinturisan, Talang, Abilo, Balete, Bancora, Saimsim, Maabud, Mulawin, Tambo, Calumala, Alasas, Calawit and Pulang-bato - were created after it split from Taal. The effect entered into force on June 1, 1955.

History

San Nicolas traces its roots to barrio Wawa, which was once part of the municipality of Taal. The barrio also covered areas of what is now Alitagtag, Agoncillo, Lemery, and San Luis, according to old locals. It was first inhabited by Malays from

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. It was the site of Taal's second municipal center from its establishment in 1572 to 1754, during the peak of Moro piracy. Taal was designated as the provincial capital of

from 1732 to 1754. The 1754

Taal Volcano Taal Volcano (; ) is a large caldera filled by Taal Lake in the Philippines. Located in the province of Batangas about south of Manila, the volcano is the second most List of active volcanoes in the Philippines, active volcano in the country ...

eruption, which lasted for months, greatly destroyed the area, making Taal move its municipal center to its present location near Balayan Bay. After which, Wawa was renamed to San Nicolas. In 1955, the barrios of San Nicolas, Abelo, Alas-as, Balete, Bancoro, Bangin, Calangay, Calawit, Calumala, Hipit, Maabud, Munlawin, Pansipit, Pulang-Bato, Saimsim, Sinturisan, Talang, and Tambo were separated from Taal and constituted into a new and separate municipality known as San Nicolas. In 1957, the following sitios were converted into independent barrios: Burol from Tambo, Tagudtod from Munlawin, Kalawit and Pulang-Bato from Alas-as, and Baluk-Baluk from Hipit. In 1961, the barrios of Calumala, Tambo, Saimsim and Bucal were separated from San Nicolas to form parts of the new municipality of Santa Teresita.

Geography

According to the

Philippine Statistics Authority The Philippine Statistics Authority (; PSA) is the central statistical authority of the Philippine government that collects, compiles, analyzes, and publishes statistical information on economic, social, demographic, political affairs, and gene ...

, the municipality has a land area of constituting of the total area of Batangas. The municipality also occupies the southern half of

, shared by the municipality of Talisay in the northern half.

Barangays

San Nicolas is politically subdivided into 18

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, as shown in the matrix below. 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 ...

Climate

Demographics

In the 2020 census, San Nicolas had a population of 23,908.

Economy

Politics

Lester De Sagun has been the mayor of San Nicolas since 2019.

Sister city

Tagaytay Tagaytay (), officially the City of Tagaytay (), is a component city in the province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 85,330 people. It is one of the country's most popular destinations for domestic ...

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...

, Philippines

References

External links

* Philippine Standard Geographic Code {{DEFAULTSORT:San Nicolas, Batangas Municipalities of Batangas Populated places on Taal Lake