Agoo is a 2nd class municipality in the province of La Union, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 51,923 people in 9,945 households. A municipality (bayan, sometimes munisipalidad, in Filipino) is a local government unit in the Philippines. ... Map of the Philippines showing all the regions and their provinces. ... La Union is a province of the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Its name is usually attributed to "aroo" or "agoho," a pine-like evergreen tree (Casuarina equisetifolia or Whistling Pine) that thrived in the western coast during the pre-Spanish Period. Genera Allocasuarina Casuarina Gymnostoma Casuarinaceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of 3 or 4 genera and approximately 70 species of trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics (Indo-Malaysia), Australia, and the Pacific islands. ...

History

Before the Spanish

Before the province of La Union was established, Agoo was part of Pangasinan, and was a settlement of people of the "same race as those of Pangasinan." (de Loarca,1582) These people traded with Chinese merchants long before Columbus even sailed to the new world. Later, the Japanese came and established their first settlement in the Philippines. At this time, Agoo's coast was shaped in such a way that it was a good harbor for foreign vessels coming into Lingayen Gulf. Miguel De Loarca referred to Agoo as “El Puerto de Japon” - the Japanese Port. Pangasinan, officially Province of Pangasinan (Pangasinan: Luyag na Pangasinan), is one of the provinces of the Republic of the Philippines. ...

Rosario Mendoza-Cortes, in her book "Pangasinan 1572-1800" suggested that Agoo was likeliest to be the region's primary port of call for Japanese and Chinese traders - the only other candidate being Sual, Pangasinan. This was because there was a Japanese colony there, because traders at Agoo would have access to a greater number of people, and it was nearer to China and Japan. The main product traded from the area was deer pelt, which was shipped to Japan. Sual is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. ...

Agoo's role as a port deteriorated when the Spanish closed the Philippines to foreign trade. When foreign trade was allowed again, it was Sual that became the dominant port.

Discovery by Juan de Salcedo

In 1572, Juan de Salcedo, fresh from his conquest of Southern Luzon, was ordered by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi to explore Northern Luzon and “pacify the people in it” (Mendoza-Corte, Pangasinan:1572-1800). Juan de Salcedo (b. ... Miguel López de Legaspi (1524 - August 20, 1572) was a Spanish explorer whose travels in the Philippine Islands started a more than 300 years control on the islands by Spain. ...

In June 1572, he was traversing the Angalakan River, when he saw and attacked three Japanese ships. When they fled, Salcedo followed them until they landed at a Japanese settlement. After paying tributes, the Japanese were allowed to remain. These Japanese would leave when the port of Agoo was later closed, but not without first teaching the natives their methods of fish culture, rice cultivation, deerskin tanning, duck breeding, and weapons manufacturing.

A permanent settlement was established in Agoo in 1578 when two Franciscan Missionaries, Fray Juan Bautista Lucarelli of Italy and Fray Sebastian de Baeza of Spain, constructed a nipa and bamboo church in honor of St.Francis de Assisi. Agoo became the center of their campaign of pacification and conquest, not only of the surrounding towns that would later become La Union, but of the mountain tribes in the Cordilleras as well. The Order of Friars Minor and other Franciscan movements are disciples of Saint Francis of Assisi. ... A cordillera is an extensive chain of mountains or mountain ranges, especially the principal mountain system of a continent or large island. ...

The two missionaries formally proclaimed Agoo as a civic unit. naming it after the river along whose banks it was built. At the time, the riverbank was forested with pine like trees locally called "aroo" or "agoho" (Casuarina equisetifolia, or Whistling Pine). Genera Allocasuarina Casuarina Gymnostoma Casuarinaceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of 3 or 4 genera and approximately 70 species of trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics (Indo-Malaysia), Australia, and the Pacific islands. ...

Development by the Augustinians

Most of the Town's early development can be attributed to the efforts of the Augustinian Order. They took over from the Franciscans and administered the town off and on throughout the Spanish occupation until the secular priests took over in 1898.

They changed the Town's patron saint to Santa Monica. They established a school where reading, writing, industrial works, and cathechism were taught. They relocated the town center, laid out the streets and public buildings, and established roads leading to the nearby towns.

Father Aquilino Garcia constructed a new church, and the image of Nuestra Senora de Caridad (Our Lady of Charity) was installed in it.

Integration into the Province of La Union

On March 2, 1850, the province of La Union was created by Governor–General Antonio Maria Blanco. It was comprised of the northwestern towns of Pangasinan and the towns of Ilocos Sur south of the Amburayan river. Agoo was the oldest town to be integrated and was listed as having a population of 6,936 people.

Barangays

Agoo is politically subdivided into 49 barangays. A barangay (Tagalog: baranggay , pronounced as ba-rang-gai, gai as in guy), also known by its former name, the barrio, is the smallest local government unit in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district or ward. ...

External links

• Agoo La Union Photo Gallery
• Agoo La Union Community Site
• Pasyalan La Union
• Ilocano Community
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• 2000 Philippine Census Information
• Philippines Business Directory
• Official (Municipal Website) Historical Profile of Agoo

References

• de Loarca, Miguel (1582). Relacion de Las Yslas Filipinas. 
• Mendoza-Cortes, Rosario (1582). Pangasinan 1572-1800. 
• www.agoo.gov.ph (html). Municipality of Agoo. Retrieved on May 4, 2007.