Zambales Wikipedia

Zambales is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region in the
island of Luzon. Its capital is Iba. Zambales borders Pangasinan to the north,
Tarlac and Pampanga to the east, Bataan to the south and the South China Sea to the
west. With a land area of 3,830.83 square kilometres (1,479.09 sq mi), Zambales is
the second largest among the seven provinces of Central Luzon. The province is noted
for its mangoes, which are abundant from January to April.
Zambales does not have a functional airport - the closest airport is Clark
International airport. Subic Bay International Airport, which is located in Cubi
Point in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone is no longer functional for international or
domestic flights.


The Freeport Zone (SBMA) is host to many tourist attractions which include casinos,
beach resorts, parks, beachside huts and cottages and historical sites.
The province's name came from the word zambal, which is a Hispanized term for
Sambali. Zambal refers to the language spoken by the early Austronesian inhabitants
of the place. A contending version states that the name was derived from the word
samba, meaning worship, because the Spanish supposedly found the native inhabitants
to be highly superstitious; worshiping the spirits of their ancestors.

History
 
The area now occupied by Zambales was first explored by the Spanish in 1572, led by
Juan de Salcedo. Among the earliest towns founded were Subic (1572), Botolan
Masinloc became the province's first capital. However, the capital was moved among
the last three towns above during its history before settling in Iba, due to its
strategic location. Seven of the province's original northern towns, which included
Bolinao, Infanta and Alaminos were later transferred under the jurisdiction of
Pangasinan because of their distance from the capital. The first civil governor
of Zambales during the American era was Potenciano Lesaca from 1901-1903.
Zambales lies on the western shores of Luzon island along the South China Sea. Its
shoreline is rugged and features many coves and inlets. The Zambales Mountains in
the eastern part of the province occupies about 60% of the total land area of
Zambales. Subic Bay, at the southern end of the province, provides a natural harbor,
and was the location of the U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay until its closure in 1992.
The summit and crater lake of Mount Pinatubo lies within Botolan municipality in
Zambales, near the tripoint of Zambales, Pampanga, and Tarlac provinces.This
volcano, once considered dormant, erupted violently in 1991. The former summit of
the volcano was obliterated by the eruption and replaced by a 2.5 km (1.6 mi) wide
caldera, within which Lake Pinatubo is situated. With an average depth of 800 m lahar.

Language
 
Sambal, Tagalog, and Ilokano are the three main languages of Zambales. Ilokano
has 115,337 native speakers, Sambal has 114,637, and Tagalog has 250,637 (plus
24,995 non-native speakers). More than 119,126 spoke other languages as their
parent tongue, such as Kapampangan and Pangasinense, including non-Philippine
languages such as English. About 75 percent of the population speaks and
understands English to varying degrees of fluency, and road signs are written in
that language.

Barangays

The 13 municipalities and 1 city of the province comprise a total of 247 barangays,
with Santa Rita in Olongapo City as the most populous in 2010, and Owaog-Nibloc in
Botolan as the least. If cities are excluded, Calapacuan in Subic has the highest
population as of 2010.