Spanish colonial era Before the
Spanish conquest of the area, it was headed by Gat Lakilaw.
Christianity was propagated to the area in 1578 through Fr.
Juan de Plasencia and Fr. Diego Oropesa, both missionaries of the 1st Order of the Franciscans. The area became a formal town in 1583 under Fr. Tomas de Miranda, who brought and successfully cultivated in Nagcarlan the first wheat seeds ever on our country's soil. In 1595, Nagcarlan became an independent pueblo (town), separating itself from other towns which were formally established in 1583. The very first Gobernadorcillo was Gaspar Cahupa (Cajopa). The first stone church was built in 1752 by Fr. Cristobal Torres. While the town is already known as Nagcanlang even before the Spaniards came (as evidenced in the 1572 narrative of Juan Masolong, First Christian of Liliw, Laguna), it was Fr. Torres who allegedly named it Nagcarlan at that time in honor and recognize the contributions of the aforementioned influential and respected woman tribe leader named Ana Kalang (baptized as Ana Panalangin). The name Nagcarlan consistently appeared in the Spanish period records as the name of the town. In 1851, Fr. Vicente Velloc, a Franciscan Missionary built the Underground Cemetery, the first Catholic Cemetery with a crypt in the
Philippines. According to Historical records, this is where the historic
Biac-Na-Bato pact was planned by
Pedro Paterno and General Severino Taino in 1897. It was also in Nagcarlan, where the Brain of the
Katipunan, General
Emilio Jacinto, coming from
Majayjay and wounded, was captured. ==Geography==