Brief Description
Steeped in history and blessed with natural and man-made scenery, Pampanga offers several sight-seeing options for visitors. Pampanga has always enjoyed the title "The Culinary Center of the Philippines". It is populated by resourceful hardy folk who are justifiably proud of their famous Kapampangan cuisine. The capital, City of San Fernando, is world famous for the annual Lenten re-enactment of the crucifixion of Christ. It is also famous for its Giant Lantern Festival where huge lanterns measuring 20-ft in diameter rise to the occasion to thrill thousands of people with their kaleidoscopic interplay of sounds and colors. The province has remnants of a long and colorful history. It has centuries-old houses, a booming night life center and a myriad of tourist destinations, the site of world-class resorts, casinos, duty-free shopping and golf courses in Clark.
Brief History
Pampanga was already the site of thriving settlements along riverbanks or "pampang" before the Spaniards came. The inhabitants were referred to as "Kapampangans" or "the people by the river bank". Martin de Goiti explored Pampanga and was established in 1571. In 1754, a strip from Dinalupihan to Orion, was ceded to Bataan. In 1848, the province lost five towns to Nueva Ecija and San Miguel to Bulacan. By 1860, its northern district was made into a separate comandancia. This district was made a part of Pangasinan in 1874, and the towns of Mabalacat, Magalang, Porac and Floridablanca were returned to Pampanga. Since the early 20th century, the province has been a hotbed of agrarian troubles, mainly because of its many estates under powerful landlords. During World War II, Pampanga was the base for a guerilla unit known as "Hukbalahap" which resisted the Japanese. The huks later formed the nucleus of local communist insurgency after the war, but it was suppressed in the early 1950's. It resurfaced as the New Peoples Army in the 1960's. Pampanga was the home province