The History of Victorias (Philippines) - CHAPTER 2: 'DAAN BANWA', WHERE EVERYTHING BEGAN

The current, crowded city center is not the original settlement of Victorias. Everything began 1.2 kilometers to the west of the Victorias public plaza, at the shorelines of what is now Barangay 9 of the city.


Before becoming a town in 1898 and a city in 1998, Victorias was just a barrio, a small settlement of nipa houses near the mouth and at the banks of the Malihao River on the northwest side of Negros island facing the Iloilo Strait. That barrio, also originally named Malihaw (also spelled Malihao) after the abundant malihaw plants on the river banks, is now known as Daan Banwa (Old Town), the oldest known settlement.


Though there are no verifiable written records of the barrio's earliest settlers, the 1953 compilation mentions of Indonesians, Cebuanos, and Boholanos as the early inhabitants of Daan Banwa even before the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines.


Although there are studies about the tracing of ancient genomes of the origin of the earliest settlers of the islands later known as the Philippines, there are legends and accepted traditional stories about the original tribes of Panay who could have crossed to the neighboring islands, including 'Buglas', the old name of Negros island. 


                             (Photo: The settlement of Daan Banwa of Victorias City

at the mouth of the Malihaw River)

Location: Victorias City, Negros Occidental, Philippines

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