PAMPANGA’S HISTORY

Ancient Pampanga's Territorial area included portions of the modern provinces

of Tarlac, Bataan, Zambales, Nueva Ecija and Bulacan. Pampanga was re-organized as
a province by the Spaniards on December 11, 1571. For better administration and
taxation purposes, the Spanish authorities subdivided Pampanga into pueblos, which
were further subdivided into districts (barrios) and in some cases into royal and private
estates (encomiendas).
Due to excessive abuses committed by some encomenderos, King Philip II of Spain in
1574 prohibited the further awarding of private estates, but this decree was not fully
enforced until 1620. In a report of Philippine encomiendas on June 20, 1591, Governor-
General Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas reported to the Crown that La Pampanga's
encomiendas were Bataan, Betis y Lubao, Macabebe, Candaba, Apalit, Calumpit,
Malolos, Binto, Guiguinto, Caluya, Bulacan and Mecabayan. The encomiendas of La
Pampanga at that time had eighteen thousand six hundred and eighty whole tributes.
Pampanga, which is about 850 square miles (2,200 km2) in area and inhabited by more
than 1.5 million people, had its present borders drawn in 1873. During the Spanish regime
it was one of the richest Philippine provinces. Manila and its surrounding region were then
primarily dependent on Kapampangan agricultural, fishery and forestry products as well
as on the supply of skilled workers. As other Luzon provinces were created due to
increases in population, some well-established Pampanga towns were lost to new
emerging provinces in Central Luzon.
During the 17th century, The Dutch recruited men from Pampanga as mercenaries who
served the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, known as Papangers[4] part of the
larger Mardijkers community. Their legacy can be found in North Jakarta, however, there
are few traces of their descendants, except for a small community in Kampung Tugu.
The historic province of Bataan which was founded in 1754 under the administration of
Spanish Governor-General Pedro Manuel Arandia, absorbed from the province of
Pampanga the municipalities of Abucay, Balanga (now a city), Dinalupihan, Llana
Hermosa, Orani, Orion, Pilar, and Samal.
During the British occupation of Manila (1762-1764), Bacolor became the provisional
Spanish colonial capital and military base.
The old Pampanga towns of Aliaga, Cabiao, Gapan, San Antonio and San Isidro were
ceded to the province of Nueva Ecija in 1848 during the term of Spanish Governor-
General Narciso Claveria y Zaldua. The municipality of San Miguel de Mayumo of
Pampanga was yielded to the province of Bulacan in the same provincial boundary
configuration in 1848.
In 1860, the northern towns of Bamban, Capas, Concepcion, Victoria, Tarlac, Mabalacat,
Magalang, Porac and Floridablanca were separated from Pampanga and were placed
under the jurisdiction of a military command called Comandancia Militar de Tarlac.
However, in 1873, the four latter towns were returned to Pampanga and the other five
became municipalities of the newly created Province of Tarlac.
On December 8, 1941, Japanese planes bombed Clark Air Base marking the beginning
of the invasion of Pampanga. Between 1941 and 1942, occupying Japanese forces began
entering Pampanga.
During the counter-insurgencies under the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1944,
Kapampangan guerrilla fighters and the Hukbalahap Communist guerrillas fought side by
side in the province of Pampanga, attacking and retreating the Japanese Imperial
forces for over three years of fighting and invasion.
The establishment of the military general headquarters and military camp bases of
the Philippine Commonwealth Army was active from 1935 to 1946. The Philippine
Constabularywas active from 1935 to 1942 and 1944 to 1946 in the province of
Pampanga. During the military engagements of the anti-Japanese Imperial military
operations in central Luzon from 1942 to 1945 in the province of Bataan, Bulacan,
Northern Tayabas (now Aurora), Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales, the
local guerrilla resistance fighters and Hukbalahap Communist guerrillas, helped the U.S.
military forces fight the Imperial Japanese armed forces.
In the 1945 liberation of Pampanga, Kapampangan guerrilla fighters and the Hukbalahap
Communist guerrillas supported combat forces from Filipino and American ground troops
in attacking Japanese Imperial forces during the Battle of Pampanga until the end of the
Second World War. Local military operations soldiers and officers of the Philippine
Commonwealth Army 2nd, 26th, 3rd, 32nd, 33rd, 35th, 36th and 37th Infantry Division
and the Philippine Constabulary 3rd Infantry Regiment recaptured and liberated the
province of Pampanga and fought against the Japanese Imperial forces during the Battle
of Pampanga.
After the Second World War, operations in the main province of Pampanga was downfall
insurgencies and conflicts between the Philippine Government forces and the
Hukbalahap Communist rebels on 1946 to 1954 during the Hukbalahap Rebellion.
The June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo displaced a large number of people with the
submersion of whole towns and villages by massive lahar floods.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pampanga