Northeast of the Province of Palawan in Region IV of the Philippine Republic is the island of Mindoro, which (with surrounding smaller islands) constituted the Province of Mindoro from 1921 until 1950, when it was split into Occidental and Oriental halves. Occidental Mindoro has a population of 378,000 in eleven towns, of which Mamburao is the capital, on 5880 sq.km. The Chinese traded with the natives of Mindoro for centuries before the Spanish, in the person of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, discovered the island in 1569. Gold sediments in the streams led the Spaniards to christen the island "Mina de Oro" or "Gold Mine," but that didn't pan out to any great extent. The name survives, compressed. Spanish occupation began the next year under Lopez de Legaspi's lieutenant and grandson, Juan de Salcedo. Both provinces Mindoro Occidental and Mindoro Oriental include primeval forest, nature reserves, many miles of unspoiled beach, and opportunities for hiking, swimming, diving, wind-surfing, fishing, camping, nature-watching, etc. The island is sole home to the tamaraw, a wild relative of the carabao, or water buffalo, with horns that grow up in a V instead of curving in. Exotic birds and butterflies also abound. Oriental Mindoro has the oldest Spanish fort in the Philippines, with the cannons that were used against Moro raiders, whose depredations continued well into the nineteenth century. Occidental Mindoro includes the islands where Japanese soldiers Hiroo Onoda and Fumio Nakahira prolonged World War II until 1974 and 1980, respectively. Both provinces are mainly agricultural, growing rice, maize, coconuts, bananas, and vegetables. There is some light industry, and the ocean teems with commercial and sport fish. |
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