Pre-colonial period Kapangan was formerly called
Takdang (or
Tacdang), which means "people from the east". The early natives, who came from eastern settlements such as
Tinec in
Buguias and
Bontoc, settled along the
Amburayan River and lived by the
kaingin system. They traveled to
Naguilian in
La Union to trade goods with the
Ilocano people The appointed first town president (before now mayor) is Espiritu Cariño (1898–1900) .
Spanish period During the
Spanish Regime, Kapangan was organized into four
barrios;
Balacbac,
Paykek,
Pongayan, and
Taba-ao. The Spaniards appointed
Espiritu Cariño as the first
Capitan del Barrio, whose duty was overseeing
tax collection from local land owners. They also appointed
Juan Ora-a Cariño to the position, eventually promoting him to
Commandantes, one of the highest ranks in office during the time. Both
Espiritu Cariño and
Juan Ora-a Cariño appointed eight people in eight different barrios to serve as
barrio capitans, whose tasks were to oversee the construction of Spanish trails throughout the mountain region. On August 13, 1908, Benguet was established as a sub-province of the newly created
Mountain Province with the enactment of
Act No. 1876. Six townships of Benguet were later abolished, one of which was
Balakbak, which was integrated into the township of Kapangan. According to some stories, Kapangan got its name when an American once asked a local resident what was the name of the place. Since the resident doesn't understand English and so happened that they were about to eat in the party where they were in, she just said "kapangan" which means go eat in English. The American thought that the name of the place is Kapangan and hence the name .
Post-war era On June 25, 1963, then-President
Diosdado Macapagal issued
Executive Order No. 42 converting eight (8) of the thirteen (13) towns (designated as
municipal districts) of Benguet sub-province into regular municipalities. Kapangan was among them. On June 18, 1966, the sub-province of Benguet was separated from the old
Mountain Province and was converted into a
regular province. Kapangan remained to be a component municipality of the newly established province. == Geography ==