A hundred years before Spaniards arrived in the Philippines, the settlement which eventually became Tagbilaran was already involved in trading with China and Malays. Tagbilaran Strait was the location of the precolonial polity of
Bo-ol. This early settlement had contact with the Spaniards in 1565, when the Spanish conquistador
Miguel López de Legazpi and the native chieftain
Datu Sikatuna pledged peace and cooperation through the famous blood compact.
San José de Tagbilaran was established as a town on 9 February 1742, by General Francisco Antonio Calderón de la Barca, Military Governor of the Visayas Islands, who separated it from the town of
Baclayon. The town was dedicated to
St. Joseph the Worker. Since then it was part of the province of Bohol until it became a chartered city on 18 July 1966, by virtue of Republic Act No. 4660. The 1818 census showed that Dauis-Tagbilaran had 2,055 native families and 9 Spanish-Filipino families. The city was occupied by the
United States during the
Philippine–American War and by
Imperial Japan during
World War II.
Sitio Ubos (
Lower Town) is Tagbilaran's former harbor site and is considered to be the city's oldest portion, having been a busy trading center since the seventeenth century until the early twentieth century. As such, the place houses the oldest and largest number of heritage houses in Bohol. Sitio Ubos declined as a major port towards the end of the Spanish era when the causeway to Panglao Island was constructed. Since then, the area lost its former glory and its old houses were either demolished or neglected. In 2002, in recognition of its cultural and historic significance, Sitio Ubos was declared a "Cultural Heritage Area". Some of the surviving heritage houses to this day include the Rocha–Suarez House, Rocha House, Hontanosas House, Beldia House, and Yap House.
Historic events One of the most important events in
Philippine history (immortalized on canvas by the famous Filipino painter
Juan Luna) was the
blood compact between
Datu Sikatuna, a local native chieftain, and Captain
Miguel López de Legazpi, the Spanish explorer and colonizer. It was believed that it took place in the coast of Bool, now a barangay of Tagbilaran, on 16 March 1565, a day after Legazpi and his crew of
conquistadores on four ships chanced upon the shores of Bool during their trip to the province of
Butuan from
Camiguin Island because of strong southwest monsoon winds and low tide. But in March 2006, the National Historical Institute (now
National Historical Commission of the Philippines) installed a stone marker with an iron plaque at Villalimpia, Hinawanan Bay,
Loay, to rectify the error once and for all. The historical marker states that:
Ang Sandugo Sa look ng Hinawanan, Loay naganap ang sandugo sa pagitan nina Miguel Lopez de Legazpi at Datu Sikatuna ng Bohol sa loob ng barkong San Pedro ng Espanya, 25 Marso 1565. Isinagawa sa pamamagitan ng pag-inom ng alak na inihalo sa dugo mula sa hiwa sa dibdib ng dalawang pinuno. Naging simula ng pagkakaibigan ng mga Espanyol at mga Boholano at Kristiyanisasyon ng Pulo. Tagbilaran was occupied by Imperial Japanese forces on 17 May 1942, after the
fall of the Philippines during
World War II. During the Japanese occupation, the municipal government of Tagbilaran, whose mayor at the time was Manuel Espuelas, moved from the Poblacion to Tiptip. Another significant event was the Battle of Ubujan wherein a guerrilla unit under the command of Captain
Francisco Salazar (aka Vicente Cubello) engaged Japanese troops against overwhelming odds.
2013 earthquake An
earthquake with magnitude 7.2, with an epicenter near
Sagbayan, Bohol, struck Bohol on October 15, 2013. Tagbilaran received four fatalities and 21 injuries, and damage to buildings, including the seaport, airport, and city hall. ==Geography==