Nueva Vizcaya: History
=== Spanish colonial era ===
The areas of present-day Nueva Vizcaya used to be part of the vast Provincia de Cagayan. Organized religion in Nueva Vizcaya dates back to the year 1607, when the Dominican Order arrived in the province. It was not until 1609, however, that the first settlement of a religious order was established in the southern half of the province. In 1702, a convent was erected in Burubur at the foot of the Caraballo Mountains in Santa Clara, which is now a barangay in the town of Aritao. It was on this site that the first mass in Nueva Vizcaya was celebrated and the first baptism of a Christian convert was held.
Spanish conquest of Nueva Vizcaya was slow and difficult, and expeditions had to be sent recurrently due to the natives' refusal to accept Spanish sovereignty. In some of these expeditions, services of some local chieftains were used, the most famous of which was that commanded by Mariano Oscariz, in 1847–1848, which carried him clear through the province across to Palanan on the eastern coast of Luzon.
In 1818, Nueva Ecija annexed the towns of Palanan from Isabela, as well as Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Baler, Casiguran, Infanta (formerly called Binangonan de Lampon) and Polillo Islands from Tayabas, and part of Rizal. Bagabag when it was once part of Cagayan was also home to 10,808 native families and 25 Spanish-Filipino Mestizo families, before the province was transferred to the province of Nueva Vizcaya.
In 1839, upon the advice of the alcalde mayor of Cagayan, Luis Lardizabal, then-Governor General of the Philippines created the politico-military province of Nueva Vizcaya. The order was approved by a Royal Decree on April 10, 1841. The name Nueva Vizcaya was named after Biscay, Spain, the hometown of Lardizabal. The original province covered the areas of present-day Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Ifugao, Apayao, Kalinga, and Benguet, Batanes, a large portion of Isabela, as well as north Aurora. After Nueva Vizcaya was created, it included the present area occupied by the province plus present-day Mountain Province, much of Isabela, Quirino, & north Aurora.
Civil government was established in the province by the Philippine Commission in 1902 during the American Colonial Period of the Philippines.
The territories of Nueva Vizcaya were greatly reduced when Nueva Vizcaya ceded a big portion of its north-eastern territory, including Camarag, its first capital, now Echague, to form the province of Isabela in May 1856. …