Bataan: History
=== Aeta people ===
The first inhabitants of the Bataan peninsula are the Ayta Magbeken people. The next group of inhabitants were Kapampangans, who settled on eastern Bataan.
Later on, Tagalogs from southern Luzon, most specifically Cavite, migrated to parts of Bataan. The Ayta Magbeken migrated towards the mountain areas of Bataan by the end of the 16th century.
Several villages in the coastal plains of Bataan were already thriving communities when Spanish missionaries found them in 1570s. These coastal villages were inhabited by natives who were predominantly fishermen, farmers and craftsmen. Meanwhile, the hillsides were
peopled by Aeta tribes.
In 1647, Dutch naval forces landed in the country in an attempt to seize the islands from Spain. The Dutch massacred the people of Abucay in Bataan.
Historian Cornelio Bascara documents that the province of Bataan was established on 11 January 1757, by Governor-General Pedro Manuel Arandia out of towns (San Juan de Dinalupihan, Llana Hermosa, Orani,
Samal, Abucay, Balanga, Pilar and Orion/Udyong) belonging to Pampanga and the corregimiento of Mariveles which, at that time, included Morong, Bagac, and Maragondon across Manila Bay. Limay, initially a barrio of Orion/Udyong, is the twelfth town of Bataan created only in 1917. Tagalogs migrated to east Bataan, where Kapampangans assimilated to the Tagalogs. Kapampangans were displaced to the towns near Pampanga by that time, along with the Aetas. By the end of the 1700s, Bataan had 3,082 native families and 619 Spanish Filipino families. By year 1818, the population increased with the census recording 5,205 tributes or families of which, a fresh number of: 24 families were immigrant Christian Chinese-Filipinos, 3 were pagan Chinese-Filipinos, 65 were new Spanish-Filipino Mestizo families (as the older Spanish-Filipino mestizos assimilated), and 7 were new pure Spanish-settler families. The Spanish Filipino families were of these number and dispersed in the following locations: 1 at Orion, 3 at Mariveles, 1 at Llana-Hermosa, 24 at Orani, 4 at Samar 20 at Abucay, and 12 at Balanga …