Negros lacks highly developed holiday resorts and monuments of art. What makes the island interesting instead are its socioeconomic structure and insurgency-related activities. Departing from our usual format in the island section of our handbook, we therefore focus, in the case of Negros, on sociological features.
Colonial Period
The history of Negros is closely interwoven with that of neighboring Panay, from which it is separated only by the 30km (20mi) wide Guimaras Strait.
According to the earliest written accounts,the expedition of Legazpi touched shore in 1665. The integration of the island into the Spanish Empire was carried out subsequently to a large extent by the colonizers most efficient instrument, the Roman Catholic Church. The first missions were established by the Augustinians in Binalbagan, Tanjay and ilog in 1575, 1580 and 1584 respectively.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, roughly what is now Negros Occidental was administered from Iloilo. The remaining part (now Negros Oriental) was controlled by the local government of Cebu. In 1734, a separate military district was created, covering the whole island under the jurisdiction of its own corregidor (Spanish Judge). This official was vested with judicial power and authorized to collect tribute. The local capital was established in Ilog, but later moved to Himamaylan and from there, in 1849, to Bacolod. It was, however, not until 1856 that Negros became an independent province, with Emilio Saravia as its first Governor.
The second half of the 19th century was marked by rapid social and economic changes.In the early 1800's a new policy was enacted which opened the colony to foreign trade and investment. Foreigners soon had a quasi-monopoly in export and import. From 1820 to 1870, the Philippines jumped from a subsistence economy to one of agricultural export.Together with US companies, British firms were most successful throughout the archipelago.
When Iloilo was opened to foreign trade in 1855, the post of a British vice-consul was created in this thriving urban center. Nicolas Loney, a young, enterprising man from Plymouth, England, was the first to be appointed to this office. Later named father of the sugar industry in Negros and Panay, he did a lot to promote sugar as a cash crop grown on large plantations.
Sugar Arrives
In partnership with another Englishman, Ker, Loney imported sugar cane seeds from Sumatra and machinery from England and Scotland. They arranged the necessary financial transactions and, finally, exported sugar. The first shipments went to Australia (1859) China and Great Britain (863). Sugar produced in Negros soon became the region's major export.
The topography of the eastern part of the island, consisting of plains and rolling hills, was ideal for the crop. Growing demand on the world market caused production to soar. The agri-industrial development was characterized by very labor-intensive production methods and by the acquisition of new land rather than by investments in technological innovations for more efficient cultivation of existing plantations. As a result, an increasing demand for a larger labor force led to a massive migration from neighboring islands, mainly from Panay.
From a sparsely populated rain forest, the coastal plains of Negros Occidental were transformed into the most productive agricultural area of the archipelago. The tribes of Negritos, the island's original population, were driven into the central mountains. From 1850 to 1893, the population of Negros Occidental increased more than ten fold from 30,000 to about 320,000.
In the same time period, 814 sugar mills were constructed. In a parallel development,land was acquired by a small number of native and Chinese-mestizo families. Their agricultural enterprises, the haciendas, were described as communities in themselves", often consisting of a privately owned village inside a closed compound, dominated by the fortress like residence of the landlord.
A pyramidal social stratification took shape, characterized by distinct vertical differences. The levels of the pyramid were: 1.A small capitalist elite of omnipotent hacienderos. 2.former small landowners who stayed as cropsharing tenants after having mortgaged their farms to the haciendero when in need of capital. 3. Overseers and managers to supervise and organize the work. 4. The sacadas, the laborers earning their daily wage whenever they were needed.
The last category formed the vast majority of the hacienda's residents. Their salaries were at a subsistence level. Sacadas were usually hired seasonally, and in periods of time when there was no demand for their work, they were forced to take loans which kept them constantly dependent on their landlords, reducing them to mere debt-slaves.
Continued
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