Jovellar, Philippines

History

In Year 1572, when the first Spanish Port was established at the western coast of the Bicol Peninsula, Christianization spread-out among the natives and paved the way for the founding of the municipality of Jovellar.

With these developments, the native converts were emboldened to be adventurous and ventured to establish new settlements far out in the region of Bicol Peninsula. Thus, a group from west coast led by a leader popularly known as PIA, sailed upstream of Donsol River and settled in its mouth. There the people in the settlement became economically active by engaging in the gathering of all kinds of forest products like vines, resin, tar, rattan log and wildlife which were sold to dwellers in the west coast. As trade and commerce flourished, more people settled in the place which was later on named as “QUI PIA”. QUI meaning belonging to and PIA as tribute to said adventurous woman.

Succession of political developments saw the evolution of this settlement namely:

1. By Year 1649, this settlement was formally created as a Municipal District under the Ecclesiastical and Civil Jurisdiction of Nueva Caceres bearing the name “Distrito Municipal De Quipia”;

From the History section of Jovellar on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.