Mindoro

This article is about the Philippine island. For other uses, see Mindoro (disambiguation).

Mindoro

Mindoro (Philippines)
Geography
Location	South East Asia
Coordinates
Archipelago	Philippines
Area
Area rank	74th
Coastline	618.8 km (384.5 mi)
Highest elevation	2,585 m (8,481 ft)
Highest point	Mount Halcon
Country
Philippines
Province	Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro
Largest settlement	San Jose, Occidental Mindoro (pop. 131,188)
Demographics
Population	1,238,573 (as of 2010)
Density	117.2 /km2 (303.5 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	Mangyan, Tagalog

Mindoro (Tagalog pronunciation: [mɪnˈdoɾo]) is the seventh-largest island in the Philippines. It is located off the coast of Luzon, and northeast of Palawan. The southern coast of Mindoro forms the northeastern extremum of the Sulu Sea.

History

1990 map of Mindoro island

In past times, it has been called Ma-i or Mait by Chinese traders and, by Spaniards, as Mina de Oro (meaning "gold mine") from where the island got its current name. According to the late historian William Henry Scott, an entry in the official history of the Sung Dynasty for the year 972 mentions Ma-i as a trading partner of China. Other Chinese records referring to Ma-i or Mindoro appear in the years that follow.

The products that Mindoro traders exchanged with the Chinese included "beeswax, cotton, true pearls, tortoise shell, medicinal betelnuts and yu-ta [jute?] cloth" for Chinese porcelain, trade gold, iron pots, lead, colored glass beads and iron needles.

From 1920 to 1950, the island was a single province with Calapan City as the provincial capital. In 1950, it was divided into its two present-day provinces, Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro, following a referendum that was pushed through by then acting governor Romeo Venturanza.

The island was the location of the Battle of Mindoro in World War II.

Economy

Beach in Northern Mindoro

The economy of Mindoro is largely based on agriculture. Products consist of a wide variety of fruits, such as citrus, bananas, lanzones, rambutan, and coconuts, such cereals as rice and maize, sugar cane, peanuts, fish (catfish, milkfish, tilapia), livestock, and poultry. Logging and the mining of marble and copper also thrive.

Tourism is a lucrative business as well, with locations such as Apo Reef National Park, Lubang Island, Puerto Galera, Sabang Beach, and Mount Halcon. Puerto Galera's beaches are the island's most known tourist attraction and are widely visited.

Culture

The principal language in Mindoro is Tagalog, although in some parts it has been greatly influenced by the native Visayan and Mangyan languages. Mainstream Filipino and Taglish are, indeed, present in and around such areas as Puerto Galera, Pinamalayan, and Calapan City. Visayan and Mangyan languages, too, are spoken on the island, as are Ilokano and some foreign languages — e.g., English, Fukien, and, to a much lesser extent, Spanish.

The common religions on the island fall under Christianity. The religion of the indigenous Mangyan population is animism. Though they are into animism as a religion, the Catholic Church in some of Mindoro's parts is also active.

Fauna

Mindoro is also home to the Tamaraw or Mindoro dwarf buffalo (Bubalus mindorensis), which is endemic to the island. The Tamaraw is a bovine related to the water buffalo and is an endangered species.

Bibliography

• C.Michael Hogan. 2011. Sulu Sea. Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. P.Saundry & C.J.Cleveland. Washington DC

External links

• "Map of Mindoro" showing towns and major mountain tops
• Mindorenyos - Connecting Mindoro People
• Online Community for Mindorenyos

Videos

• Born to be Wild: Mindoro, 19 June 2008