Беңгет провинциясы: Филиппиннің көкөніс бауыншасы

Province in Cordillera, Philippines

Benguet , officially the Province of Benguet (; ; ; ; ), is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital is La Trinidad. The highland province is known as the Salad Bowl of the Philippines due to its huge production of upland vegetables. The first major expedition into the mountains occurred in 1620, when Spanish explorers went into the La Trinidad Valley, followed by a second expedition in 1623, and a third in 1624. This was the last attempt to occupy the Baguio gold mines by the Spanish until the Galvey expeditions (1829 1839). and succeeded in establishing a presence in the La Trinidad Valley, named after Galvey's wife. in 1846. Eight years later, in 1854, Benguet became a separate comandancia politico militar. Parts of the present province were established as component territories of other comandancias such as Lepanto and Amburayan. +The 19 historical townships of Benguet under Act No. 48 Township Abolished? Notes Township Abolished? Notes Adaoay Itogon Ambuklao Kabayan Ampusongan Kapangan Atok Kibungan Baguio La Trinidad Balakbak Loo Bokod Palina Buguias Sablan Daclan Tublay Galiano When Baguio was converted into a chartered city in 1909, barrio Tuba was separated from the city and incorporated into the township of Twin Peaks. Upon the American colonial government enacting Act No. 1876 on August 18, 1908, which created Mountain Province from areas of the old La Montañosa, Benguet (along with Amburayan, Apayao, Bontoc, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Lepanto) became sub provinces of this new province. A year later in 1909, the township of Baguio was abolished upon its conversion into a chartered city. In 1920, portions of the sub provinces of Amburayan and Lepanto were incorporated into Benguet.

During World War II, Igorot guerrillas and the combined Filipino and American forces fought Japanese soldiers during the final days of the war in 1945.

On June 18, 1966, the huge Mountain Province was split into four provinces with the enactment of Republic Act No. 4695. The four provinces were Benguet, Mountain Province, Kalinga Apayao and Ifugao. When the Cordillera Administrative Region was established by President Corazon Aquino through Executive Order 220 on July 15, 1987, Benguet was made one of its provinces.

The Baguio Mining District consists of Late Cretaceous ophiolite basement rocks. These are overlain by Eocene back arc tholeiitic Pugo Metavolcanics. These grade into the Dalupirip Schist, which is separated from the Early Oligocene Early Miocene sedimentary Zigzag Formation by an unconformity. The Zigzag is composed of deep depositional environment interbedded green sandstones, red siltstones, oligomicitc conglomerates, and minor limestone units. The late Early Miocene early Middle Miocene reefal Kennon Limestone overlays the Zigzag. The Late Oligocene Early Miocene Agno Batholith intrudes the Pugo and Zigzag. The Middle Late Miocene Klondyke Formation was deposited during Central Cordillera geologic uplift, consisting of coarse clastics, polymictic conglomerates, sandstones, and vitric (glassy) tuffs, with minor shales and siltstones. Gold mineralization occurred with dioritic and gabbroic intrusions, and basaltic to andesitic lavas, including the Monglo adakite. The Pliocene Baguio Formation consists of conglomerates interbedded with lava flows and pyroclastics. Pleistocene gold copper mineralization occurred with calc alkaline and dioritic and dacitic adakitic intrusions. This mineralization characterizes the Philex Mine. The main gold base metal mineralization zone is approximately 8 km wide, trends north south for tens of kilometers, and is centrally located at 16° 20' to 16° 26' N latitude and 120° 37' 30" to 120° 43' 30" E longitude. The western boundary of this zone is defined by a volcanic belt, just west of Baguio, while the eastern boundary is defined by an intrusive belt, just east of the Itogon and Antamok mines. The Agno quartz diorite batholith is further east near Binga Dam. Key mines, starting from the south, include the Philex (Cu), Acupan (Au), Itogon (Au), Black Mt. (Cu), Benguet Exploration (Cu), Atok (Au), Antamok (Cu and Au), and Baguio Gold (Au), where Baguio Gold and Antamok are east of Baguio. Continuing northwards, key mines include the King Solomon (Cu), St. Nino (Cu), Boneng (Cu), Lobo (Cu), Gambang (Cu and Au), and Lepanto (Cu and Au). By 1979, underground mining had reached Level 1850 in the Antamok Mine.

Benguet covers an area of occupying the southwestern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region. If Baguio is included for geographical purposes, the total area of Benguet is
The province is bordered on the northeast by Mountain Province and Ifugao, on the southeast by Nueva Vizcaya, on the south by Pangasinan, on the west by La Union, and on the northwest by Ilocos Sur. Situated within the Cordillera mountains, Benguet is dominantly mountainous. Mount Pulag, the highest in Luzon is located within Kabayan. The mountains form the headwaters of several rivers, the major ones which include the Agno, Amburayan, Bued, Bakun, Balili and the Asin. Some of these run through river valleys or gorges. Several natural lakes, small in size, are found within the hinterlands. The largest are the "Four Lakes" in Kabayan; Lake Bulalacao, Lake Detepngepos, Lake Incolos and Lake Tabeyo. The province is the location of several conservation areas, the largest of which are the Upper Agno River Basin Resource Reserve, Mount Pulag National Park, Mount Data National Park and Lower Agno Watershed Forest Reserve.

Most of Benguet falls under the subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) zone, experiencing annual average highs of in April and lows of in January. The province suffers from crop damage resulting from seasonal frost during the cold months of December to March, especially in high altitude towns such as Atok, Buguias, Mankayan and Kibungan. In February 2007, Benguet suffered crop damage due to temperatures reaching as low as .

Benguet comprises 13 municipalities, all encompassed by double legislative districts. The highly urbanized city of Baguio, although administratively independent from Benguet, is situated in the interior of the province, surrounded by the municipalities of La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan and Tuba. The city used to be part of the province but became independent when the city's charter was enacted in 1909. City municipalityname=Coord Population Area Density Barangay (Total number of barangays) km2 /km2 Atok 19,668 8 Baguio ‡ — 366,358 345,366 129 Bakun 15,357 7 Bokod 13,756 10 Buguias 43,627 14 Itogon 59,820 9 Kabayan 15,260 13 Kapangan 19,361 15 Kibungan 17,292 7 La Trinidad † 129,133 16 Mankayan 35,953 12 Sablan 11,457 8 Tuba 47,648 13 Tublay 17,892 8 Totalname=Total 460,683 446,224 2,769.08 140 Capital municipality Municipality

The 13 municipalities of the province comprise a total of 140 barangays, with Pico in La Trinidad as the most populous in 2010, and Anchokey in Kabayan as the least.

Benguet residents generally speak their own languages in addition to Ilocano, Tagalog, and English, which are used for trade and commerce. The Ibaloi tribe speak Ibaloi, which is similar to Pangasinan, while the Kankanaey have their own eponymous language, which is related to the Bontoc language. The SIL Ethnologue database classifies the languages under the South Central Cordilleran branch. Nabaloy (named in the database as Ibaloi) is part of the Southern Cordilleran branch which also includes Pangasinense. The Kankanaey language is under the Central Cordilleran branch, which also includes Bontoc and Ifugao.

Higher education in the province is centered in the capital town of La Trinidad, which houses the Main Campus of the only university in Benguet, the Benguet State University (BSU). The university has two satellite campuses in two municipalities; the Buguias Campus at Loo, Buguias, and the Bokod Campus at Ambangeg, Bokod. Other educational institutions which include Advocates Academic College, BVS Colleges, Cordillera Career Development College, King's College of the Philippines, Philippine College of Ministry, Philippine Nazarene College, as well as the Cordillera Regional Science High School, the Benguet National High School (with several annexes) and the Benguet SPED Center are also situated within La Trinidad. The independent chartered city of Baguio hosts several higher education institutions, which include most notably the University of the Philippines Baguio, Saint Louis University, University of the Cordilleras (formerly Baguio Colleges Foundation), University of Baguio, Pines City Colleges, Baguio Central University, and Baguio School of Business and Technology, attracting students from across the Philippines.

The province is a major tourist destination in the country, Baguio's location within the province provides a boost to the tourism industry of the province. Notable interesting places in the province include Mount Pulag along Kabayan, Kennon Road in Tuba, Ambuklao Dam in Bokod, Binga Dam in Itogon, strawberry and flower farms in La Trinidad, and the Palina and Naguey rice terraces in Atok. Tuba and Tublay hot springs are usually flocked by local tourists from the neighboring provinces. Vegetable terraces can be seen along the Halsema Highway, especially during the growing season. Kabayan is known for its centuries old mummies, while Buguias is visited for its hot springs and the Apo Anno.