Leyte (Leyte)
Leyte (IPA: ['lɛɪte]), officially the Municipality of Leyte (Bungto han Leyte; Bayan ng Leyte), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 40,397 people.
There are several versions as to how the place got its name. One of these relates that according to tradition, toward the west of the present town of Carigara, was a village ruled by Datu Ete. When the Augustinian Fathers heard of the region, they went to the place in order to Christianize the natives. They sailed by boat towards a small bay that swelled into a big river. Disembarking at a small village near the bank of the river, the friars asked the natives for direction. The natives, not knowing the language, answered, "Hira Ete" - which means, "the place belonged to Ete." The friars thought the natives meant that the name of the place was called Hiraete, hence their communications with their superiors referred to the place as Hiraite.
There are several versions as to how the place got its name. One of these relates that according to tradition, toward the west of the present town of Carigara, was a village ruled by Datu Ete. When the Augustinian Fathers heard of the region, they went to the place in order to Christianize the natives. They sailed by boat towards a small bay that swelled into a big river. Disembarking at a small village near the bank of the river, the friars asked the natives for direction. The natives, not knowing the language, answered, "Hira Ete" - which means, "the place belonged to Ete." The friars thought the natives meant that the name of the place was called Hiraete, hence their communications with their superiors referred to the place as Hiraite.
Map - Leyte (Leyte)
Map
Country - Philippines
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Negritos, some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Adoption of animism, Hinduism and Islam established island-kingdoms called Kedatuan, Rajahnates, and Sultanates. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for Spain, marked the beginning of Spanish colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the archipelago Las Islas Filipinas in honor of Philip II of Spain. Spanish settlement through Mexico, beginning in 1565, led to the Philippines becoming ruled by the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. During this time, Catholicism became the dominant religion, and Manila became the western hub of trans-Pacific trade. In 1896, the Philippine Revolution began, which then became entwined with the 1898 Spanish–American War. Spain ceded the territory to the United States, while Filipino revolutionaries declared the First Philippine Republic. The ensuing Philippine–American War ended with the United States establishing control over the territory, which they maintained until the Japanese invasion of the islands during World War II. Following liberation, the Philippines became independent in 1946. Since then, the unitary sovereign state has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a decades-long dictatorship by a nonviolent revolution.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
---|---|---|---|
PHP | Philippine peso | ₱ | 2 |
ISO | Language |
---|---|
EN | English language |
TL | Tagalog language |