General Information

The Bicol Region or Bicolandia is one of the 17 regions of the Philippines. It occupies the Bicol Peninsula at the southeastern end of Luzon island and some other islands. It consists of six provinces, namely, Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Sorsogon. It has one independent component city, Naga City, and six component cities, Iriga, Legazpi, Ligao, Masbate, Sorsogon, and Tabaco. The regional centers are Legazpi City, the region's political and administrative center, Naga City, the region's cultural and religious center. Legazpi City, Naga City, Iriga City and Sorsogon City are the leading cities in the region in terms of urbanization and also the hub of the region's economic activity. Bicol is the one of the most secular out of the entire Philippines, as only 55% of Bicol Region inhabitants attend church weekly, compared to 68% as the nation's whole.

History

The original Bicolanos were the indigenous people e.g. the Agta that roam the peninsula. They can be found in the area of Mt. Isarog and Mt. Iriga. They have their own culture and economy. before the foreing commercial influence, their cultural practices were friendlier to the environment even if they practice the traditioinal slash and burn agriculture.

One of the elements of their slash and burn practices is to leave the land for a while for it to recover. They transfer to another area.Pmcalara 12:45, 2 September 2007 (Taipei Standard Time)

Contrary to western Historians that Philippines was discovered by the Spaniards, there were already Bicolanos in the region. Artifacts from several museums in the region can attest to this. Some of these artifacts were found in Ticao Island in Masbate. There were aftifacts the pre-date the arrival of the Spaniards by at least 500 years.

There was already a Bicol Culture. Also, the many Languages of Bicol are living evidence to this colorful culture. The Bikol Languages were closely linked with austronesian languages of South east asia and the Pacific. This indicate that the Bicolanos had an interaction, culturally and economically, with its Island neigbors. The propaganda that the Philippines and the Bicol region were discovered by the Europians were part of a plan to colonize the nation--physically and culturally.