Naga History, Philippines

Naga City, Philippines -The Great Hub of Camarines Sur

Naga, Philippines, popularly known as Naga City had acquired its beginnings from early local dwellers who started a prosperous community within the two rivers. Among the booming cities in the Philippines, the city boasts of a very rich history.

The city obtained the name Naga from the sturdy and stout narra trees which were plentiful around the area prior to the establishment of the city. The early native Filipino pioneers in the place founded and operated a trade village. During that time, the place was famous for its trade as well as the district’s highly developed artillery and technology in equipment and machinery.

Milestones towards a name

1. It was 1573 when Juan de Salcedo spearheaded an expedition to place called Naga City today. Salcedo as well as his Spanish troops upon arrival in the area were surprised to some extent when they found out such an affluent village using some technology. The tradition and culture of the people in the said village was very much different, a bit urbane and modern from the rest.

2. In 1575, nearly two years after the establishment of the new city in the same location. Pedro de Chaves, a Spanish Captain and commandant of a battalion baptized this new city Ciudad de Caceres. The city’s name was acquired to honor the existing governor general who hailed from Caceres City, Spain during that time. The place took the name Ciudad de Caceres for a long time. The name was mentioned during a papal bull in the year 1595.

3. As time went on, life also went by. The city as well as the town established by the locals proved to be a thriving community. By then, Nueva Caceres was used by the community as its new name in order to recognize the now combined community. Right after, it was declared a city by virtue of the law of the Spaniards. Because of that, Nueva Caceres, now Naga City turned out that it was one of the very few cities established by Spanish reign in the Philippine Island.

4. Finally in 1948, Naga City was formally and publicly confirmed as a city in Camarines Sur province.

During the year 1898 Felix Plazo and Elias Angeles piloted a victorious rebellion against the Spaniards which then made the Spanish armed forces withdraw to the province of Iloilo. However, this small triumph did not last for very long time. A couple of years later, the Americans occupied Camarines Sur. It was in 1900 that they penetrated Naga City. In the year 1901 the radical movements of the Philippines along the area of the city were enforced to capitulate because of sickness. Then in 1941, the city was assaulted by the Japanese Army, yet the Japanese did not occupy the city long enough. The Japanese troops occupying Naga City were beaten and over thrown by the rising American troops in collaboration with the native guerilla battalions in 1945.