Agtas and Dumagats are believed to be the first inhabitants of village used to be called "Apalong". This name was derived from a wild plant called "
Palong Manok", which looks like a rooster's comb. It is said that whenever the settlers of
Apalong went to other places and asked where they came from, the usual reply is "We came from
Kapalungan". Historians may comment that the natives were either referring to their place which has many "Palong" (roster's comb) or maybe they wanted identification for their settlement. Whatever it was, no record will show and no one at that time is still living, what is clearly known to Capalongueños is that this place was and still is an environment of flowers called
Palong Manok. In 1572, the Spanish Conquistador Capt
Juan de Salcedo and his men reached pacific shores and landed on
Kapalongan settlement. Instead of finding gold, they found abundant wild beautiful red flowers that looked like roster's comb. The Spaniards built a church, formed a government, and the village was made a town and officially named Capalonga. The Spaniards for some years persisted on mining for gold at Sitio Maglagonlong, and the Spanish control was described to be brutal, harsh and full of harassment until they went away leaving behind imprints on the community's cultural heritage. It is also believed that the first migrants of Capalonga came from the neighboring province of
Tayabas (now Quezon). This is the reason that out of the twelve (12) municipalities of
Camarines Norte, Capalonga has the highest rating and accent in speaking the
Tagalog language. However, with the continuous migration process, mixed dialects has been produced. Today, like other places in the country, the dialects of the residents were enriched by various local medium of expression, thereby making no difference from the trend of other political units. Without roads and being isolated from other towns by mountains, forest, rivers and sea, Capalonga remained relatively undeveloped by commerce and industry as late as the 1950s. In 1956, the road to Capalonga was opened. Still, growth had been slow until
Martial law changed the pace. It was in the years 1987 to 1992 that all wooden and temporary bridges have been replaced by concrete bridges. Likewise, in the late part of 2003 up to the present, the paving of the Bagong Silang - Capalonga Road has started and existence of the air-conditioned van transport is now available as a result. On June 21, 1969, ten barangays were excised from Capalonga to form the new municipality of
Santa Elena by virtue of Republic Act No. 5480. ==Demographics==