Travel Guide Butuan City

It is said that Butuan, the capital of the province of Agusan del Norte, was the site of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines, and that it was here that the first Catholic mass was held in 1521. In the late 1970s, the oldest ship in the Philippines, the Balangay, a kind of large banca, was discovered here. Butuan has a rich history. From the 10th century onwards, the people of Butuan had been trading with the kingdom of Champa, in southern Vietnam. A century later, it became the center of Philippine trade (gold and sugar cane). There are several hypotheses as to the origin of the city's name. This search is a constant preoccupation for Filipinos. Butuan is thought to derive from the name of a sour fruit, or rather from the name of a datu, the first chief who is said to have regulated the town. In 1995, former president Fidel V. Ramos chose Butuan as the capital of the Caraga region.