The site of what would become Toboso dated back to the
precolonial period. The center of the original settlement was first known as
Sag-ahan, an archaic word which means in the
Cebuano language "to take out or catch fish by the hands" because fish were abundant in the coast and rivers, and eventually lent its name to the contemporary barangay Sagahan. Upon
Spanish colonization, the community was named
Toboso in honor of a similar settlement in Spain,
El Toboso, famous for appearing in the
novel Don Quixote by the Spanish writer
Miguel de Cervantes, as the town in which the fictional character
Dulcinea del Toboso lives. Toboso was then a barrio of
Escalante. Like many other settlements on the eastern coast of
Negros, the community of Toboso had expanded with the coming of immigrants from the island of
Cebu and developed extensively in fishing, agriculture and commerce. During early period of
American colonization of the Philippines, more impetus was dedicated to a
sugarcane mill called the Central Azucarera del Danao at Labilabi, 6 kilometers from Toboso. The development of the
sugar industry was started and gave livelihood to members of the community of Toboso. After
Philippine Independence, Toboso continued to thrive as a part of Escalante until Executive Order No. 141 was signed by president
Elpidio Quirino separating the town as an independent municipality from Escalante. ==Geography==