Early history The first inhabitants of Abra were the ancestors of the
Bontocs and the
Ifugaos. These inhabitants eventually left to settle in the old Mountain Province. Other early inhabitants were the
Tinguians or Itnegs.
Spanish colonial era In 1585, the
Tinguians were mentioned for the first time in a letter from
Father Domingo de Salazar to the King of Spain. In 1598,
Bangued was occupied by Spanish-Iloco forces. The Spanish established a garrison to protect their missionaries from headhunters so that they could Christianize the
Tinguians and locate gold mines. This led to the Ilocano settlement of this area.
Bangued was under the care of the Spanish missions in
Vigan and
Bantay. Fr. Esteban Marin and Fr. Agustin Minon established a mission in
Bangued as early as 1598. On April 5, 1612, Fr. Pedro Columbo became the first minister. It would seem that this actuation of the
Augustinians was precipitated by the
Dominican takeover of the ministry of
Narvacan since the Dominicans wanted to convert Narvacan into a mission center to evangelize the other parts of Abra. To check this Dominican move, the Augustinians elevated Bangued to a ministry. Fr. Juan Pareja
OSA, a former parish priest in
Bantay, led the conversion of the province. He came to Abra in 1626 and is reported to have converted as many as 3,000 inhabitants, including the chieftain Miguel Dumaoal. He founded the mission of San Diego and later the ministry of Bangued. He established the following towns as visitas of Bangued:
Tayum, Sabangan and Bucao (now
Dolores). Inspired by Fr. Pareja, these towns battled almost daily against the rancherias of Palang, Talamuy, Bataan, Cabulao, Calaoag, and
Langiden. Fr. Jose Polanco
OP also contributed to the conversion of Abra. A man of austere mortification, he died in Abra in 1679 and was considered a saint by the locals. Fr. Bernardino Lago
OSA arrived in the early 19th century. In 1823, Fr. Lago began work in
Pidigan. After 25 years, the Christians were numbered about a thousand "baptized, living in community, with schools, church and municipal house, tilling the earth to support themselves and their children." Fr. Lago also founded the town of
La Paz. Fr. Galende enumerates the foundation of the other towns of Abra: •
Tayum, 1803 • San Gregorio, 1829 •
Pidigan, 1823 •
La Paz, 1832 •
Bucay, 1847 • San Jose, 1848 • Villavieja, 1862 •
San Quintin, 1868 •
Dolores, 1882 •
Pilar, 1882 •
San Juan, 1884 • Alfonso XII, 1884 Originally, the area was called
El Abra de Vigan ("The Opening of Vigan"). During the
British Occupation of the Philippines,
Gabriela Silang and her army fled to Abra from
Ilocos and continued the revolt begun by her slain husband
Diego Silang. She was captured and hanged by authorities in 1763. In 1818, the Ilocos region was divided into
Ilocos Norte and
Ilocos Sur. On October 9, 1846, Abra became an independent province with the capital and residence of the provincial governor located in Bucay. In 1863, the capital was transferred to Bangued, the province's oldest town. It remained so until the arrival of the Americans in 1899.
American occupation In 1908, the
Philippine Commission annexed Abra into Ilocos Sur in an attempt to resolve Abra's financial difficulties. On March 9, 1917, the
Philippine Assembly re-established Abra as a province under Act 2683.
Japanese occupation During World War II, Japanese forces occupied Abra in 1942. The province was liberated by Filipino soldiers and guerrillas in 1945. The Battle of Abra was characterized by intense fighting between Filipino guerrillas/Allied forces and the Japanese military. The capital,
Bangued, experienced intense conflict during the liberation, including heavy carpet bombing and artillery fire from American forces to remove the Japanese, resulting in significant destruction of ancestral homes.
Under the Marcos dictatorship The beginning months of the 1970s marked a period of turmoil and change in the Philippines, as well as in Abra. During his
bid to be the first Philippine president to be re-elected for a second term, Ferdinand Marcos launched an unprecedented number of public works projects. This caused the Philippine economy took a sudden downwards turn known as the
1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis, which in turn led to a period of economic difficulty and social unrest. With only a year left in his last constitutionally allowed term as president, Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under
Martial Law in September 1972 and thus retained the position for fourteen more years. This period in Philippine history is remembered for the Marcos administration's record of
human rights abuses, particularly targeting political opponents, student activists, journalists, religious workers, farmers, and others who fought against the Marcos dictatorship. In Abra, many of the victims were from the indigenous
Itneg people (known then among most lowlanders as the Tingguian people, which is an
exonym). Numerous human rights abuses against Itnegs were documented in the various Amnesty International missions which allowed to conduct investigations in the country after Marcos had to give in to political pressure. On May 6, 1983, Sitio Beew in the
Municipality of Tubo was the site of several attacks by the 623rd Philippine Constabulary (623rd PC) led by Captain Berido, Lt. Rehaldo Lebua and Lt. Juanito Puyawan, which would collectively come to be known as the "
Beew massacre." The 623rd PC burned down four houses and a rice granary, which still contained the remains of three villagers including an unborn baby, and Barangay Councilman Rodolfo Labawig, pregnant mother Josefina Cayandag, and her unborn child. Beew residents, including babies and toddlers, were beaten and their houses looted in response to the residents' alleged support of protests against the logging operations of
Herminio Disini's
Cellophil Resources Corporation in their area.
Contemporary history On July 27, 2022, a
magnitude 7.0 earthquake, jolted the province. Eleven people died (at least seven of them were from Abra), and more than 600 were injured. A magnitude 6.4
aftershock three months later injured more than 100 people and caused additional damage. The province is notorious for its election-related crimes, hence earning some nicknames including the title as the "Killing Fields of the North." Through the decades, there have been numerous assassinations of alleged supporters, former politicians, and even incumbent officials. These killings include the gunning incident that took the life of then Vice Governor Rafael Blanco; and the more recent and notorious incident involving Rep. Luis Bersamin in 2006, which earned nationwide attention. These election-related crimes typically occur months before and during both the midterm and general elections. Most especially weeks before the official filing of COCs (Certificate of Candidacy), and during the campaign period. With this, the Commission on Elections along with concerned agencies (e.g. DILG, PNP, etc.), usually identifies several municipalities in the province as "areas of concern," in which they bear the Category Red in terms of election hot spots. ==Geography==