el nido . palawan . philippines

                                                                                                                        history | area   
 
       The town of El Nido traces its roots to a small village called "Talindak" by its first inhabitants, the Tagbanua tribe.
       It was called Talindak up to 1882, when it became a barrio of Taytay. It was renamed Bacuit by the Spanish in 1890,
       which it remained until 1954, when the town was finally given it’s present name of EI Nido after the edible nests of
       swift lets (collocalia fuciphaga) found in the crevices of its limestone cliffs. These nests, "Nido" in Spanish, are the
       main ingredient for the famed Nido soup.
 

"Bosyador" A Nest Gatherer

The many caves in the cliffs surrounding El Nido provided habitation for humans at least as far back as 2,680 BCE;
and possibly even up to 22,000 years ago as confirmed by
the discovery of fossils of the Tabon cave man in Quezon, Palawan. The caves of Leta-Leta on Langen Island, and the
caves at Cudugnon Point have yielded jewelry showing a
high level of development, and pottery dating back to the
Sung Dynasty (960-1279). Although the origin of the cave dwellers is not yet established, anthropologists believe
these came from Borneo traveling across the land bridge
that connected Palawan with Borneo. The similarity of
Palawan's flora and fauna with that of Borneo fostered this
belief.

Leta-leta Cave, Langen Island, El Nido, Palawan was exca-
vated in 1965 by Dr. Robert Fox. Leta-leta Cave is an
important burial site belonging to the Late Neolithic Period
where an-assemblage of stone and shell artifacts associated with sophisticated pottery and nephrite adzes and axes were        recovered. Other materials include stone ornaments and shell beads.

       Pottery during the New Stone Age, too, was quite unique. Each single piece did not have any copy and was very
       imaginative and beautiful. The Leta-Leta Cave in northern Palawan, for example, yielded at least two such pieces.
       One of this was a stem cup with the body shaped like an egg with a slender stem with a round flat base. A narrow
       lip was provided at the mouth of the vessel. Another was a double-gourd vessel, the mouth of which was formed
       after an open human mouth with the facial features.  Chinese traders have been regularly visiting the area of El Nido
       for its famous edible nests long before the Spaniards conquered the archipelago, in fact El Nido is specifically
       mentioned in Chinese records as far back 1225 CE. Caho Ju-Kua, a member of the Chinese Royal Family, Trade
       Commissioner and Superintendent of Customs of the Port of Chuan How; wrote in his book “Chu Fan Chai” of the
       island of “Pa-Lao-yu” “Land of Beautiful Harbours”, a possible origin of the name Palawan. He described the island
       as having “Many lofty ridges and cliffs that rise as steep as the walls of a house”.  The attraction of trade with the
       Chinese for Nido, good harbours, and the shelter provided by its cliffs and attracted settlers to the area from a very
       early period. The first settlers of the area were the Tagbanua, from whence El Nido’s first name of “Talindak” stemmed.  

 

Some time in the 16th Century the Cuyonos tribe settled the  from the Cuyo islands. According to the legend, the chief of the Cuyonos, Datu Magbanua, in an attempt to expand his influence, sent out 3 of his deputies to settle northern Palawan. Chief Cabongan settled the Taytay area, from whence the Cuyonos eventually settled El Nido.
The Spanish first settled in the present town of El Nido, and Oton (Mabini) in the 1880’s. The first Spanish families were Canovas, Vasquez, Rios and Rey. In 1896-1900 the Cabezas de Barangay were Luis and Mariano Castro.  The centre of population at that time was Cabigsing, then known as Inventario.  Chinese families moved into the area at the same time, first settling in Langeblangeban.  The first Chinese settlers were named Lim Chin, Liao, Edsan


       Ambao, Que-Ke, Lim Piao, Yu His, Pe Phan and Pe Khen.  El Nido town became an independent Municipality in 1916.
       The first town census of 1918 showed El Nido having a population of 1,789. The population grew very gradually, with
       around 2,000 people living here until the period between 1980-1990, when the population doubled in size from
       11,657 to 18,832. Today almost 27,000 people call El Nido their home. Fifty percent of the total populations are
       native Palaweños while the rest are Visayans, Bicolanos, Tagalogs and Ilocanos who have migrated to El Nido in
       search of better opportunities.

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 It was a sea accident in 1979 that eventually led to the opening
of Palawan into tourism big time. As the story goes, a tuna line
disabled a dive boat's propeller in the middle of the night forcing
it to drop anchor in an inlet. The following morning, the divers
woke up to an amazing scenery of skyscraping dark cliffs, thick
green forest, white-sand beach, sparkling water and, rising above
it, a series of magnificently sculpted jade islands. And thus was
the beauty of El Nido was discovered by the rest of the world,
although all El Nido locals have always been aware of
the beauty of their town.  

 

    Major tourism commenced in El Nido in 1983 when Ten Knots
    Philippines, Inc, a Filipino - Japanese joint venture
    company, opened a divers’ resort on Miniloc Island and an
    airstrip (Lio airport) at Villa Libertad on the mainland to
    provide access to the area. Due to its marvellous landscape,
    its crystal-clear waters and the establishment of tourist and
    air transport facilities, El Nido quickly became a prime tourist
    destination. In 1992, the company set up a second resort on
    Pangulasian Island, and in 1998, the third and largest Ten
    Knots resort on Langen Island. The opening of the third resort
    coincided with the destruction of the Pangulasian Resort by
    fire.  During this period several other tourism establishments
    were developed, paving the way for tourism to become a
    thriving economic sector.  


     - Cheyene Morrison
        write-ups

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