Siquijor: History
=== Early history ===
According to legend, Siquijor was formed from the sea by a storm and an earthquake in the Visayan region. In modern times, highland farmers have found giant seashells underneath their farm plots to support this legend.
Prior to colonization, Siquijor was once called Katugasan, named after the tugas, the molave trees which abounded the island. The native dwellers of the island used these trees to build posts (haligi) for their houses because of their strength and durability that could withstand strong typhoons and monsoons. Most of the patriarchs of the island used the tugas to make a wooden plow (tukod) to cultivate the rocky soil for farming using mainly male cattle (toro) to pull it through the sticky and hard rocky soil. However, before the discovery of using tugas as the foundations of their houses, the island natives dwelt in caves as shown by the pottery and old tools like stone grinder excavated from the three caves of Sam-ang.
During this time, the people were already in contact with Chinese traders, as seen through archaeological evidence including Chinese ceramics and other objects. The art of traditional healing and traditional witchcraft belief systems also developed within this period. During the arrival of the Spanish, the monarch of the island was Datu Kihod, as recorded in Legazpi's chronicles.
The island was first sighted by the Spaniards in 1565 during Miguel López de Legazpi's expedition. The Spaniards called the island Isla del Fuego ("Island of Fire"), because the island gave off an eerie glow, from the great swarms of fireflies that lived in the numerous molave trees on the island. Esteban Rodríguez of the Legazpi expedition led the first Spaniards to discover the island. He was captain of a small party that left Legazpi's camp in Bohol to explore the nearby islands which are now called Pamilacan, Siquijor, and Negros.
The island, along with the rest of the archipelago, was subsequently annexed to the Spanish Empire. Founded in 1783 under the administration of secular clergymen, Siquijor became the first municipality as well as the first parish to be established on the island. Siquijor was, from the beginning, administered by the Diocese of Cebu. As for civil administration, Siquijor was under Bohol since the province had its own governor. The first Augustinian Recollect priest arrived in Siquijor in 1794. The 1818 census yielded the counting of 2,450 native families and 16 Spanish-Filipino families. Several years later, a priest of the same order founded the parishes of Larena (initially called Can‑oan), Lazi (formerly Tigbawan), San Juan (Makalipay), and Maria (Cang‑meniao). With the exception of Enrique Villanueva, the other five municipalities were established as parishes in 1877. From 1854 to 1892, Siquijor was administered by the politico-military province of Bohol. Later in 1892, it was transferred to Negros Oriental and became its sub-province in 1901. …