Bohol Island

Carmen, PH-07, Philippines; Bilar, PH-07, Philippines; Loboc, PH-07, Philippines; Tagbilaran City, PH-07, Philippines; Dauis, PH-07, Philippines
Est. 50.1km / 1 hr 12 mins

Bohol Island - Cya On The Road

Bohol (Tagalog pronunciation: [bɔˈhɔl]), officially the Province of Bohol (Cebuano: Lalawigan sa Bohol; Tagalog: Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. Its capital is Tagbilaran. With a land area of 4,821 km2 (1,861 sq mi) and a coastline 261 km (162 mi) long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines.The province of Bohol is a first-class province divided into 3 congressional districts, comprising 1 component city and 47 municipalities. It has 1,109 barangaysThe province is a popular tourist destination with its beaches and resorts. The Chocolate Hills, numerous mounds of brown-colored limestone formations, are the most popular attraction. The formations can be seen by land (climbing the highest point) or by air via ultralight air tours. Panglao Island, located just southwest of Tagbilaran, is famous for its diving locations and is routinely listed as one of the top ten diving locations in the world. Numerous tourist resorts and dive centers dot the southern beaches. The Philippine tarsier, amongst the world's smallest primates, is indigenous to the island.It was the home province of Carlos P. Garcia, the eighth president of the Republic of the Philippines (1957–1961) who was born in Talibon, Bohol.On 15 October 2013, Bohol was devastated by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was 6 km (3.7 mi) south of Sagbayan. The earthquake, which also hit southern Cebu, claimed 222 lives altogether and injured 374 people. It also destroyed or damaged a number of Bohol's heritage churches.In 2017, the provincial government began initiating the nomination of the entire province to the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network.EtymologyBohol is ultimately derived from bo-ol, a kind of tree that flourished on the island. Similar to Nahuatl, the h in the middle was used to transcribe a glottal stop which is a common phoneme in the languages of the Philippines. The original name is survived through Bool, a town in Tagbilaran where Miguel Lopez de Legazpi supposedly landed. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)Further information: Kedatuan of Dapitan  A drawing from the Boxer Codex depicting the Pintados.In 1667, Father Francisco Combes, in his Historia de Mindanao, mentioned that at one time in their history, the people of the island of Panglao invaded mainland Bohol and subsequently imposing their economic and political dominance in the area. They considered the previous inhabitants of the islands as their slaves by reason of war, as witnessed for example by how Datu Pagbuaya, one of the rulers of Panglao, considered Datu Sikatuna as his vassal and relative.[15] The invasion of mainland Bohol by the people of Panglao ushered the birth of the so-called Bohol "kingdom", also known as the "Dapitan Kingdom of Bohol". The Bohol "kingdom" prospered under the reign of the two brother rulers of Panglao - Datu Dailisan and Datu Pagbuaya, with trade links established with neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, particularly with the Sultanate of Ternate. The flourishing of trade in the Bohol "kingdom" is owed to its strategic location along the busy trading channels of Cebu and Butuan. For other countries such as Ternate to gain access to the busy trade ports of the Visayas, they need to first forge diplomatic ties with the Bohol "kingdom".Relations between the Sultanate of Ternate and the province of Bohol soured when the Ternatan sultan learned the sad fate of his emissary and his men who were executed by the two ruling chieftains of Bohol as punishment for abusing one of the concubines. Thus, in 1563, the Ternatans attacked Bohol. Twenty joangas deceitfully posing as traders were sent by the sultan of Ternate to attack Bohol.[16] Caught unaware, the inhabitants of Bohol could not defend themselves against the Ternatan raiders who were also equipped with sophisticated firearms like muskets and arquebuses, which the Boholanos saw for the first time. Such new weaponry were the result of the aid of the Portuguese to the Ternatan raid of Bohol. Many Boholanos lost their lives in this conflict, including that of Pagbuaya's brother Datu Dailisan. After the retaliatory Ternatan raid against Bohol, Datu Pagbuaya, who was left as the sole reigning chief of the island, decided to abandon mainland Bohol together with the rest of the freemen as they considered Bohol island unfortunate and accursed. They settled in the northern coast of the island of Mindanao, where they established the Dapitan settlement.Bohol is derived from the word Bo-ho or Bo-ol.[6] The island was the seat of the first international treaty of peace and unity between the native king Datu Sikatuna and Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi on 16 March 1565 through a blood compact alliance known today by many Filipinos as the Sandugo.  

by RoadVoices
Custom audio tours for large and oversize vehicle routes

Get the full experience in the app

Discover 6 hidden gems with captivating audio stories, explore top-rated nearby hotels, find affordable flights and enjoy the best local eats - all in the Cya On The Road app.

Download now and search for Bohol Island.