Negros Oriental

Negros Oriental, officially the Province of Negros Oriental, is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Dumaguete. It occupies the southeastern half of the large island of Negros, and borders Negros Occidental, which comprises the northwestern half. It also includes Apo Island, a popular dive site for both local and foreign tourists. Negros Oriental faces Cebu to the east across the Tañon Strait and Siquijor to the south-east (which happened to be part of the province before). The primary spoken language is Cebuano and the predominant religious denomination is Roman Catholicism. Dumaguete is the capital, seat of government and most populous city of the province. With a population of 1,432,990 inhabitants, it is the second most-populous province in Central Visayas after Cebu, the fifth most-populous province in the Visayas and the 19th most-populous province of the Philippines. History Early history Negros, the largest island in the Visayas, is believed to have once been part of a larger landmass that was cut off by rising waters at the end of the last ice age. Among the early inhabitants of the island were the Negritos and the Austronesians, and later the Han Chinese, who are mainly merchants. They called the island "Buglas", a native word which is believed to mean "cut off".