Ilocos Sur: History
=== Early history ===
Before the arrival of the Spanish, the coastal plains in northwest Luzón from Bangui in the north to Namacpacan in the south were part of a region called the Ylokos. It lies between the South China Sea in the west and the Northern Cordilleras in the east. On the western side, the land is sandy; while on the eastern side (near the mountains that separate the region from the Mountain Province) the land is rocky. This left a narrow strip of plains for cultivation. The mountains come so close to the sea that the highway is carved into them. The pressure of an increasing population and the need for land made the people thrifty, and they built their villages near small bays and coves called looc in the local dialect. These coastal inhabitants were known as Ylocos, which means "from the lowlands". The region was then called by the ancient name Samtoy, from sao mi ditoy ("our language" in Ilocano).
The Ilocos region was a thriving and fairly advanced cluster of towns and settlements familiar to Chinese, Japanese, and Malay traders when the Spanish explorer Juan de Salcedo arrived in Vigan on June 13, 1572. The Spanish made Cabigbigaan their headquarters, which Salcedo called Villa Fernandina. It also became known as the Intramuros de Ilocandia. Salcedo declared all of Northern Luzón an encomienda (land grant). He was the encomendero of Vigan and lieutenant governor of Ylokos until his death in July 1574.
Augustinian missionaries evangelized the region, establishing parishes and building churches that still stand. Three centuries later, Vigan became the seat of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia.
The coast of Samtoy was known to the Spanish colonizers in 1572, when Juan de Salcedo traveled along it. Sent by Miguel López de Legazpi to explore the island of Luzón, Salcedo founded Ciudad Fernandina in 1574 in Bigan, in present-day Ilocos Sur. It became the center of Spanish rule and influence, including the evangelization and pacification movements. Due to Salcedo's efforts, the settlements in Tagurín, Santa Lucía, Nalbacán, Bantay, Candón and Sinayt were pacified and paid tribute to the King of Spain.
According to the Spanish chronicler Pigafetta, "The Ilocos are all Christians and are the humblest and most tractable". The Augustinians established parishes in Santa in 1576, Tagurín in 1586, Santa Lucía in 1586, Nalbacán in 1587, Candón in 1591, and Bantay in 1590. They built a church in Bigan in 1641 which later became the Cathedral of the Episcopal See of Nueva Segovia after 117 years.
Ylokos consisted of the present-day provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra and part of Mountain Province. A royal decree of February 2, 1818 separated Ilocos Norte from Ilocos Sur, the latter including northern La Union (as far as Namacpacan, present-day Luna) and present-day Abra. The sub-provinces of Lepanto and Amburayan in Mountain Province were annexed by Ilocos Sur.
At the same year as 1818, the census declared that there were 61,897 tributaries-families, and of which, 530 tribute-families were Spanish-Filipinos and 14 were newly Christianised Chinese-Filipinos Of which, the number of Spanish-Families and their residences are as follows: 86 (Santo Domingo), 10 (San Vicente Ferrer) and 421 (Vigan).
The passage of Act No. 2683 by the Philippine Legislature in March 1917 defined the province's current geographical boundaries. …