|
Davao City
Historical Background
Local historians
claim that the word Davao came from the phonetic blending of the
word of three Bagobo subgroups when referring to Davao River, an
essential waterway which empties itself into Davao Gulf near the
city.
The aboriginal
Obos who inhabit the hinterlands of the region called the river , Davoh; the Clatta or Guiangans called it Duhwow, or Davau, and the
Tagabawa Bagobos, Dabu. To the Obos, the word davoh also means a
place "beyond the high grounds", alluding to the settlements located
at the mouth of Davao River which were surrounded by high rolling
hills. When asked where they were going, the usual reply is davoh,
while pointing towards the direction of the town. Duhwow also refers
to a trading settlement where they barter their forest goods in
exchange for salt or other commodities.
Spanish influence
was hardly felt in the Davao until 1847, when an expedition led by
Don Jose Oyanguren came to establish a Christian settlement in an
area of mangrove swamps that is now Bolton Riverside. Davao was then
ruled by a Moro chieftain, Datu Bago, who held his settlement at the
banks of Davao River (once called Tagloc River by the Bagobos).
After Oyanguren defeated Datu Bago, he renamed the region Nueva
Guipozcoa, in honor of his home in Spain, and became its first
governor. Oyanguren's efforts to develop the area, however, did not
prosper.
A few years after
the American forces landed in 1900, private farm ownership grew and
transportation and communication facilities were improved, thus
paving the way for the region's economic growth.
A Japanese
entrepreneur named Kichisaburo Ohta was granted permission to
exploit vast territories which he transformed into abaca and coconut
plantations. The first wave of Japanese plantation workers came onto
its shores in 1903, creating a Japan kuo, or Little Japan. They had
their own school, newspapers, an embassy, and even a Shinto Shrine.
On the whole, they established extensive abaca plantations around
the shores of Davao Gulf and developed large-scale commercial
interests such as copra, timber, fishing and import-export trading.
Filipinos learned the techniques of improved cultivation from the
Japanese so that ultimately, agriculture became the lifeblood of the
province's economic prosperity.
Davao was
formally inaugurated as a charter city in March 16, 1937 by
President Elpidio Quirino. Thirty years later, Davao was subdivided
into three independent provinces, namely Davao del Norte, Davao del
Sur, and Davao Oriental. Over the years, Davao has become an ethnic
melting pot as it continues to draw migrants from all over the
country, lured by the prospects of striking it rich in the country's
third largest city.
Top
|
Email
Us
