Nueva Ecija
Nueva Ecija is a Philippine province in the Central Luzon region on the main island of Luzon.
The name of Nueva Ecija is derived from the Spanish city of Ecija, this city of towers located on the Río Genil between the two Andalusian cities of Córdoba and Seville. The capital is Palayan City. In the 5751.33 km ² province in 2010 lived 1,955,373 people. Besides Tagalog (share: 60%) Kapampangan and Ilocano is spoken.
Geography
The province is located in the center of Luzon and has no connection to the sea. In the southwest, near the border of Pampanga the land is swampy. Further to the east, it is initially very flat. Thereafter, the land rises gradually until the Sierra Madre, in this area is the Aurora Memorial National Park and the Minalungao National Park. In the north are the Philippine Cordilleras and Caraballo Mountains.
Cities and municipalities
Nueva Ecija is divided into 5 cities and 27 municipalities, which in turn are divided into 849 barangays:
- Cabanatuan City
- Gapan City
- Science City of Muñoz
- Palayan City
- San Jose City
- Aliaga
- Bongabon
- Cabiao
- Carranglan
- Cuyapo
- Gabaldon
- General Mamerto Natividad
- General Tinio
- Guimba
- Jaén
- Laur
- LICAB
- Llanera
- Lupao
- Nampicuan
- Pantabangan
- Penaranda
- Quezon
- Rizal
- San Antonio
- San Isidro
- San Leonardo
- Santa Rosa
- Santo Domingo
- Talavera
- Talugtug
- Zaragoza
Economy
The main source of income is agriculture. Corn, eggplant, onions and sugar cane are produced in large quantities. In some communities there are large mango or banana plantations. In the great plains of Nueva Ecija, there are also countless rice fields. Thus, the province is the most productive rice producers in the country. Also in onion cultivation Nueva Ecija is a leader in Southeast Asia. The majority of the onion comes from the community Bongabon. For the power supply of hydroelectric power plant on Pantabangan reservoir plays an important role.
Also, Natural resources, such as copper and manganese were detected in General Tinio, Caranglan and Pantabangan.
Population
Nueva Ecija was settled in the last century by Tagalogs and Ilokanos who came from the neighboring provinces such as Pangasinan. Today, most Ilokanos live in the north of the province. There they hold, as well as the Tagalogs, to the traditions of their people firmly. However, today's culture is strongly influenced by the Christian faith. Mostly, there are also small communities in the Caraballo Mountains or the Sierra Madre, where Ilongots, Aetas or Negritos live.
History
The province lies the Archaeological Site Arubo, during excavations could be bifaces recovered from the Neolithic period are 16500-6000 years old. From 1902 to 1906 Epifanio de los Santos was the first native Filipino governor of the province.