Pangasinan (Province of Pangasinan)
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Pangasinan is the name of the province, the people and the spoken language. Indigenous Pangasinan speakers are estimated to number at least 2 million. The Pangasinan language, which is official in the province, is one of the officially recognized regional languages in the Philippines. In Pangasinan there were several ethnic groups that enriched the cultural fabric of the province. Almost all of the people are Pangasinans and the rest are descendants of Bolinao and Ilocano that settled the eastern and western parts of the province. Pangasinan is spoken as a second-language by many of the ethnic minorities in Pangasinan. The secondary ethnic groups are the Bolinao-speaking Zambals, and Ilocanos.
The name Pangasinan means "place of salt" or "place of salt-making"; it is derived from the prefix pang, meaning "for", the root word asin, meaning "salt”, and suffix an, signifying "location". The Spanish form of the province's name, Pangasinán, remains predominant, albeit without diacritics and so does its pronunciation: . The province is a major producer of salt in the Philippines. Its major products include bagoong ("salted-krill") and alamang ("shrimp-paste").
Pangasinan was founded by Austronesian peoples who called themselves Anakbanwa circa 2500 BCE. A kingdom called Luyag na Caboloan which expanded to incorporate much of northwestern Luzon existed in Pangasinan before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. The Kingdom of Luyag na Kaboloan was known as the Wangdom of Pangasinan in Chinese records. The ancient Pangasinan people were skilled navigators and the maritime trade network that once flourished in ancient Luzon connected Pangasinan with other peoples of Southeast Asia, India, China, Japan and the rest of the Pacific. The ancient kingdom of Luyag na Caboloan was in fact mentioned in Chinese and Indian records as being an important kingdom on ancient trade routes.
Popular tourist attractions in Pangasinan include the Hundred Islands National Park in Alaminos the white-sand beaches of Bolinao and Dasol. Dagupan City is known for its Bangus Festival ("Milkfish Festival"). Pangasinan is also known for its mangoes and ceramic oven-baked Calasiao puto ("native rice cake"). Pangasinan occupies a strategic geo-political position in the central plain of Luzon. Pangasinan has been described as the gateway to northern Luzon.
Map - Pangasinan (Province of Pangasinan)
Map
Country - Philippines
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Negritos, some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Adoption of animism, Hinduism and Islam established island-kingdoms called Kedatuan, Rajahnates, and Sultanates. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for Spain, marked the beginning of Spanish colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. Spanish settlement through Mexico, beginning in 1565, led to the Philippines becoming ruled by the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. During this time, Catholicism became the dominant religion, and Manila became the western hub of trans-Pacific trade. In 1896, the Philippine Revolution began, which then became entwined with the 1898 Spanish–American War. Spain ceded the territory to the United States, while Filipino revolutionaries declared the First Philippine Republic. The ensuing Philippine–American War ended with the United States establishing control over the territory, which they maintained until the Japanese invasion of the islands during World War II. Following liberation, the Philippines became independent in 1946. Since then, the unitary sovereign state has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a decades-long dictatorship by a nonviolent revolution.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
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| PHP | Philippine peso | ₱ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| EN | English language |
| TL | Tagalog language |
