Сан-Карлос қаласы: тарихы мен дамуы

Component city in the Philippines

San Carlos, officially the City of San Carlos (; ; ), is a second class component city in the province of Negros Occidental in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 132,650 people. The municipality's status was elevated to city on July 1, 1960, per Republic Act No. 2643 and Presidential Proclamation No. 685 s. 1960.

San Carlos City was formerly named Nabingkalan, deriving its name from Nabingka, the daughter of a chieftain of the Negrito settlement in the area, who ruled the barrio during the early part of the 17th century. She was famous for her loveliness and mental and physical prowess. After her death, the people mourned for two years, and to perpetuate her memory, named the barrio after her. The settlement was later bought by Carlos Apurado from Badian, Cebu, who with the help of fellow pioneers developed the settlement into a thriving Christian village. In 1856, Buglas (Negros) Island, as a politico military province under the Spanish Empire, was divided into two provinces, west Negros under Iloilo and east Negros under Cebu. Nabingkalan was under the jurisdiction of Calatrava municipality in Iloilo. Don Emilio Saravia, the first political military governor in the island during the Spanish era, renamed the barrio and established it as a pueblo. A mission belonging to the municipality of Calatrava was created in 1895, although since 1891 a religious had been assigned to it. The number of inhabitants at the time was 1,100, living in the mountainous areas rather than the coast where the modern village is located. Father Pedro Chivite was assigned to the mission. It was vacated during the Revolution, and in 1904 Father Eusebio Valderrama took charge of it. With the help of Fathers Ángel Quintana, Juan Lorenzo, and Vicente Vázquez, all the towns of the coast from Guihulngan to Escalante were attended to. Since then, it has been administered to by the Fathers. According to a church chronicle from 1925, what was a poor and depopulated village in 1897 was by then one of the most important towns in Negros Occidental. In that year, the city had an estimated population of 30,000. The land began to be cultivated when a Spaniard who observed the fertility of the land built a small sugarcane farm. Seeing the good results obtained, others joined in cultivating the land, modern machines were installed, and it became one of the most productive villages on the island. In 1889 there were four estates and in 1897 there were 16, mainly owned by Spaniards. and Calatrava were established. San Carlos prospered through the years, however the village lost its pueblo status in 1890, when Negros Island was divided into Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, and the village was recorded as an arrabal or barrio of Calatrava (Hilub ang).

During the first years of the American occupation of the Philippines, the economic and social pace of the activities of the people were gauged by the movements of the large landholders and Spaniards in the lowlands. In 1903, Filipinos were first allowed to elect their own leaders. In 1912, when a sugar central was constructed, the economic life of the people was greatly enhanced. Political activities, however, were closely connected to Calatrava until 1925, when it was organized into a municipality. San Carlos Milling Company of San Carlos erected one of the first and only modern sugarcane mills in the Philippines, and has engaged in sugarcane cultivation and sugar production. The capacity of the mill is 1000 tons of cane per day, which results in 125 tons of centrifugal sugar. It was completed at the end of 1913 at a cost of about one million dollars, and the first cane ground was from the 1914 crop. Per a 1903 act of the Philippine Commission, the municipality consisted of its present territory and that of Calatrava's, with the seat of the municipal government at San Carlos. In 1920, the municipality comprised the barrios Antabayan, Cubay, Euzcasa, Looc, Malalamban, San Juan, Santa Filomena, Sitio Banatic, Tigbon, and Varconia. World War I encouraged the people of San Carlos to grow more sugar producing crops. After the armistice in 1917, the planters who produced more sugar had their wealth greatly increased because of the new price of sugar never before enjoyed by the planters. During the war, many men of the municipality volunteered to fight for the United States, but a few months later were sent back home because of the armistice.

Cebuano is the predominant language of San Carlos, closely followed by Hiligaynon. Both languages are understood and used in both urban and rural areas. English and to some extent Tagalog are also spoken and understood, especially in urban areas.

Located in the city is San Carlos Solar Energy, owner of the SaCaSol I solar installation located in the north of the city, currently the largest operational solar plant in the Philippines.

The Pintaflores Festival was born out of the city's search for a cultural identity and tradition. In 1992 after successfully holding two activities with the Nabingkalan Tattoo Festival and the Dances of Flowers as highlights of the city fiesta, the idea of blending the two concepts to come up with a presentation that could be considered the city's very own started what today is one of the most popular street dancing festivals in the region, the Pintaflores Festival. Pintaflores was coined from the Spanish words pintados , the concept behind the Nabingkalan Tattoo Festival, and flores , the theme of the Dances of Flowers. The pintaflores street dancing and ritual competition are the highlights of the annual festival every November 3–5. It features rhythmic dances and dance dramas of life and death and the triumph of good against evil that depict the people's thanksgiving and merriment, abundant blessings and success. As part of the pintados tradition, the faces, arms, bodies and legs of the dancers are painted with flowers to express gratitude to man and his environment. The street dancing culminates in a dance ritual performed at the city auditorium. Different dance steps and musical accompaniment add to the thrill of the competition. The human flower formation is another part of the ritual which is created by choreographed dancers. Colegio de Santo Tomas – Recoletos high school students bested seasoned contestants to land third place in the free interpretation category in the heavily contested Sinulog festival in Cebu City in January 1993. In April of the same year, the group won the championship in Panaad Sa Negros, a province wide cultural festival in Negros Occidental. Represented by barangays II and Quezon, the Pintaflores street dancing contingent won first prize in Panaad Sa Negros in 1996. The same group with the participation of barangay Ermita secured the championship again in 1997 and the fifth prize in Sinulog festival 1998. In the 1998 Panaad sa Negros, the Pintaflores group composed of dancers from barangays Punao and Palampas and the City Hospital appeared in the fiesta presentation as guest performers. In the 1999 festival the group, represented by elementary school children, continued its unbeatable streak by emerging champions, consequently reaping the Hall of Fame award for topping the fiesta presentation event in four consecutive years. Having established a name in street dancing, Pintaflores danced performers in such places as Iloilo City in 1996 and Roxas City in 1997 among the best of the best in the region, and in Canlaon and Victorias in 1999 as the best in the province. Pintaflores has evolved as a new breed of dancers emerged with the 1996 launch of Pintaflores Bata or Pinta Bata, a street dancing and ritual competition among elementary school children. After five years and many awards, including the Panaad sa Negros Hall of Fame awards, the word Pintaflores, like Daan Sa Kaunlaran and the Homelot program, has become another byword of the creativity of San Carloseños.

Pedicabs and Motorized tricycles are common modes of transport within the city. Buses and jeepneys provide service for inter town travel. Local outriggers and pump boats provide inter island travel to and from Sipaway Island. The city is also served by RO RO ferry services to Toledo City, Cebu. The city is one of the termini of the Negros Occidental Eco Tourism Highway, numbered N69 in the Philippine highway system. At the other end is the city of Bacolod, about 2 hours away.

Another historical milestone in the life of the city is the cabinet meeting of President Fidel V. Ramos in the city on August 27, 1996, making San Carlos the first component city to be made the venue of a Presidential Cabinet meeting. Award winning actress Assunta de Rossi became a resident in the city when she married then congressman Jules Ledesma. Former boxer Gerry Peñalosa also hails from the city. Romeo Villalva Tabuena, an artist included in Who's Who in American Art, and has had works featured in publications like the "American Artists", "Diplomat", "Literary Review" and the "Reporter", has family roots in San Carlos. Elizabeth Ramsey, a comedian and the mother of singer Jaya, and Dr. Gerry H. Tan, Chairman of the Division of Endocrinology at Cebu Doctors' University College of MedicineCebu Doctors' University Hospital from 1999 to present, also hail from the city. Reiven Bulado, an actor who played Ibo in the MMFF film Panaghoy sa Suba was born in San Carlos and attended high school at the Colegio de Santo TomasRecoletos.