NORTHERN SAMAR

'Northern Samar' is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catarman and is located at the northern portion of the island of Samar. Bordering the province to the south are the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar. To the northwest, across the San Bernardino Strait is Sorsogon; to the east is the Philippine Sea and to the west is Samar Sea.

Contents

People and culture

Economy

Geography

Political

Municipalities

Physical

History

External links

People and culture

Most people speak Norte Samarnon, a variation of Waray-Waray, though Cebuano is also widely understood, being spoken in the municipality of San Isidro and the island municipalities of San Antonio and San Vicente. A third language Inabaknon is spoken in the island of Capul.
Norte Samarnon usually is further subclassified into Balicuatro, Central and Pacific speakers.

Economy

Major industries of the province include agriculture and fishing.

Geography

Political

Northern Samar is subdivided into 24 municipalities.

Municipalities

★ Allen ★ Biri ★ Bobon ★ Capul ★ Catarman ★ Catubig ★ Gamay ★ Laoang ★ Lapinig ★ Las Navas ★ Lavezares ★ Lope de Vega

★ Mapanas ★ Mondragon ★ Palapag ★ Pambujan ★ Rosario ★ San Antonio ★ San Isidro ★ San Jose ★ San Roque ★ San Vicente ★ Silvino Lobos ★ Victoria

Physical

Northern Samar is bounded on the north by the San Bernardino Stait, on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the west by the Samar Sea, and on the south by Western Samar. Its total land area is 3,498 km².
The province is composed largely of low and extremely rugged hills and small lowland areas. It also has small and discontinuous areas along the coasts and its rivers are usually accompanied by alluvial plains and valleys. The province is endowed with relatively rich and fertile soil that most crops can grow on it.

History

Northern Samar is where the Sumuroy Rebellion of 1649-1650 led by the Waray hero Juan Ponce Sumuroy first began. One of the trusted co conspirators of Sumuroy, David Dula y Goiti, sustained the Filipino quest for motherland in a greater vigor. He was however wounded in a battle, was captured and later was executed in Palapag, Northern Samar by the Spaniards together with his seven key lieutenants. They were accused of masterminding several attacks on Spanish detachments. The place where David came from was named later as Candawid (Kan David) in Isla De Batag, Laoang, Northern Samar. Some of David's descendants changed their surnames to Dulay to avoid Spanish prosecutions. Some maintained their surname Dula, which up to these days is the source of minor internal frictions among some descendants of David Dula y Goiti in Laoang, Northern Samar accusing each side as "sigbinan", a native waray folklore which originated in Isla de Batag, which connotes "a family secretly keeping bear-like creatures", which are being fed with all kinds of meat, sometimes, including flesh of dead Spanish Guardia Civil. Several famous Northern Samarenos are tracing their ancestry among the seven co conspirators executed with David Dula y Goiti in Palapag , Northern Samar. One of those executed is a grear great grandfather of Governor Raul Daza.
During the Philippine-American War, the Siege of Catubig was fought in the town of Catubig.

External links

★ Official Website of the Provincial Government of Northern Samar