Local historians claim that the word davao came from the phonetic blending of the word of three Bagobo subgroups when
referring to Davao River, an essential waterway which empties itself into Davao Gulf near the city.
The aboriginal Obos who inhabit the hinterlands of the region called the river, Davoh;the Clatta
or Guiangans called it Duhwow,orDavau, and the Tagabawa Bagobos, Dabu. To the Obos, the word davoh also
means a place "beyond the high grounds", alluding to the settlements located at the mouth of the river which were surrounded by high
rolling hills. When asked where they going, the usual reply is davoh, while pointing towards the direction of the town. Duhwow
also refers to a trading settlement where they barter their forest goods in exchange for salt or other commodities.
Spanish influence was hardly felt in the Davao until 1847, when an expedition led by Don Jose Oyanguren
came to establish a Christian settlement in an area of mangrive swamps that is now Bolton Riverside. Davao was then ruled by a Moro chieftain,
Datu Bogo, who held his settlement at the banks of Davao River (once called Tagloc River by the Bagobos). After Oyanguren defeated Datu Bago,
he renamed the region Nueva Guipozcoa, in honor of his home in Spain, and became the first governor, Oyanguren's efforts do develop
the area, however, didn't prosper.
A few years after the American forces landed in 1900, private farm ownership gew and transportation and
communication facilities were improved, thus paving the way for the region's economic growth.
A Japanese entrepreneur named Kichisaburo Ohta was granted permission to exploit vast territories which he
transformed into abaca and coconut plantations. The first wave of Japanese plantation workers came into shores in 1903, creating a Japan kuo,
or little Japan. They had there own school, newspapers, an embassy, and even a Shinto Shrine. On the whole they established extensive abaca
plantations around the shores of Davao Gulf and developed large-scale commercial interests such as copra, timber, fishing and import-export trading.
Filipinos learned the techniques of improved cultivation from the Japanese so that utlimately, agriculture became the life blood of the province's
economic prosperity.
Davao was formally inaugurated as a charter city on March 16, 1937 by President Elpidio Quirino. Thirty years later,
Dvao was subdivided into three independent provinces, namely Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental. Over the years, Davao has become an
ethnic melting pot as it continues to draw migrants from all over the country, lured by the prospects of striking it rich in the country's third
largest city.
Epilogue |
The Land |
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