Mindanaotoday.com | Spatial Turns: From Cagaiang to Cagayan de Misamis (Part 2)
By: RAI Bollozos Sanchez | Historyahe!
HI there!
The previous column, “From Himologan to Cagaiang,” explains that pre-colonial settlements were small hamlets near the waterways with slightly elevated houses made from light materials.
The Himologan settlement, described by a Spanish chronicler, and quoted by Fr. Francis Madigan, S.J., was “one large structure that housed the inhabitants, a rough stone or woods wall fortifying the village. The interior has divided living quarters, a small temple (diwatahan) at the center.”
Nevertheless, the arrival of the two Augustinian Recollects in Himologan became unacceptable to Sultan Kudarat. The village’s location became vulnerable to attacks by the slave raiders.
With both friars who could bear nothing with the attack, assigning a new friar Fray Augustin “El Frayle Capitan” de San Pedro, whose expertise in architecture, gunnery, and military tactics saw three disadvantages of the settlement become inevitable—he saw three disadvantages in Himologan: the village is small to hold all the settlers, they are surrounded at the foot of the hill, and there is no water source.
El Frayle Capitan convinced Datu Salangsang to transfer the settlement to an elevated fortification enabling the defending villagers to command an excellent peripheral at the lower river.
Such advice resettled Datu Salangsang and his people from their old settlement to a stronghold called Cagaiang in 1624.
The transformation of Spanish colonization from Himologan to Cagaiang is a feature of the development of modern Christian settlements.
This movement relocated the inhabitants, particularly those who had converted to Christianity, beneath the “bajas de la campanas.”
The shift began the history of Cagayan de Oro’s urban settlements, which rationalized human settlements in urban centers.
This has started a chain reaction of structural transformation that began with reducciones, the pueblo, and the Plaza Mayor.
The Cagayan pueblo expanded beyond the plaza mayor, having fertile lands along the coast of Bahía de Macajalar; in 1818, Cagayan became one of the four partidos and the cabecera in eastern Misamis.
Moving forward, to differentiate Cagaiang from Cagayan in the north, the Castillan colonizers adopted the name Cagayan de Misamis since it was part of the military district of Misamis during the mid-19th century.
The promising agriculture of Cagayan de Misamis, according to Mardonio Lao, the most important crops of Cagayan were rice, corn, banana, coconut, and sugarcane.
Accordingly, the most notable barangays that planted rice and corn were, Bulua, Anil, Macasandig, Balulang, and Culambog (Lao, 1980).
Further, as the town progressed to urbanity in the 19th century, Cagayan de Misamis became a focal center of trade.
The expansion of streets became vital to the commercial center and expanded from the plaza mayor.
Notable streets of Cagayan de Misamis were, Calle de la Iglesia (Burgos Street), Calle Filipinas (T. Chavez Street), Del Mar (A. Velez Street), Victoria (Hayes Street), and Heroes de Agusan (J. Pacana street).
The looming industry of agriculture and commerce expanded Cagayan beyond the reduccion established by El Frayle Capitan centuries prior.
Not separating from its agro-commercial, commercial, and agro-industrial growth, Cagayan de Misamis became a haven for migrants, with in-migrants from Luzon and Visayas multiplied from 8,888 in 1818 to 11,229 in 1892 (Lao, 1980).
From 1780 to 1840, migrant families like the San Jose, de la Rosa, Ramiro, Baz, and Gaerlan migrated from Luzon. While the Rivera, Velez, and Roa from Visayas.
As Cagayan de Misamis shifted from a simple reduccion in the 17th century to a vital center of trade in the 19th century, the idea of space and social relations encompasses the historical progress of Kagay-anon geography and history—the localization through geography constitutes the beginning of the urbanization of Cagayan de Misamis.
Spatial turns are foundational and vital in the historical discipline because it emphasizes the importance of studying “place and space” in developing new concepts in understanding critical historical issues involving both material and intellectua’ notions or understanding.
For example, the shift of Cagayan from reduccion to a complex agricultural and commercial center in the 19th century not only exposes a complex economic transformation but also may influence “human life,” whether they assimilate to the environment or, possibly, react against the forces it advocates. (MT)
(Ryan Albert Ignacius “RAI” Bollozos Sanchez, 40, is a native of Cagayan de Oro City. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History and currently finishing his Master of Arts in History at Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan. He is currently a full-time faculty in the Department of General Education and Interdisciplinary Studies in Xavier Ateneo – teaching Readings in Philippine History, The Life, Works and Writings of Jose Rizal, and Interdisciplinary Studies subjects. He taught part-time at the Liceo de Cagayan University teaching Southeast Asian History and Government, and U.S. Government and Foreign Policy. You may reach him at rsanchez@xu.edu.ph)
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