Discover Negros Island

Negros Island

Geography

Politically and culturally, Negros is divided into two provinces: Negros Oriental in the Central Visayas region and Negros Occidental, part of the Western Visayas region. This division of the island, which roughly follows the mountain range in the center of the island, corresponds to the two ethnoliguistic groups in this part of the country. The western part (Occidental) is where the Ilonggo- or Hiligaynon-speaking Negrenses are located, and the eastern portion (Oriental) is home to the Cebuano-speaking population.

The chief cities on the island are Bacolod City in Negros Occidental and Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental.

Negros is noted for being the country’s prime producer of sugar. Sugar cane plantations abound in the agricultural areas of the island.

Kanlaon Volcano in the northern part of the island is one of the most active volcanoes in the Philippines, and overlooks Bacolod City. It is the highest peak on the island as well as of all the Visayas region. Other notable peaks on the island are Mt Silay and Mt Mandalagan in Negros Occidental, and Cuernos de Negros in Negros Oriental.

The volcanic activity in Negros is harvested into electricity through two geothermal power plants in the island. One is located in Palinpinon, Negros Oriental, and the other, to open in 2007, is in Mailum, Negros Occidental.

History

Negros Island was originally called Buglas – an old native word thought to mean “cut off.” It is believed that Negros was once part of a greater mass of land, but was cut off either by what geologists call continental drift or by rising waters during the Ice age. Among its earliest inhabitants were dark-skinned natives belonging to the Negrito ethnic group, who had a unique culture.

Historically, Negros Oriental has a rich history of the bourgeois and the elite. The landed hacenderos of the island, which includes Negros Occidental, often keep track of each other, attend each other’s parties, and intermarry. They may have different “kingdoms”—the Bais-Tanjay-Dumaguete-Pamplona families, the Victorias-Cadiz-Sagay families, the Bayawan-Santa Catalina-Basay-Sipalay families, the Kabankalan-Ilog-Himamaylan families, the Canlaon-Guihulngan-Vallehermoso-San Carlos families, the Bacolod-La Carlota-Silay-Talisay families—but most are sugar barons welded together by common crop, a shared fortune, as well as accidents of history. People in Manila may not recognize that the “true-blue high society” they know there actually spring from four very interconnected points of the Visayas—Iloilo, Bacolod, Bais, and Cebu.