[edit]
Early history[edit]
The early inhabitants of Cavite City were the Tagalogs ruled by the Kampilan and the bullhorn of a datu, the tribal form of government.[citation needed] According to folklore, the earliest settlers came from Borneo, led by Gat Hinigiw and his wife Dayang Kaliwanag, who bore seven children.[citation needed] Archaeological evidence in the coastal areas shows prehistoric settlements.[citation needed]
Spanish colonial era[edit]
Illustration of the Port of Cavite from the Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Yslas Filipinas (1734)
Master plan for the then-town of Cavite (1762)
The Spanish shipyards and arsenal in Cavite (1899)
The Governor's Palace in the Navy Yard (1899)
On May 16, 1571, the Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi declared the region a royal encomienda, or royal land grant.[citation needed] Spanish colonizers settled in the most populated area (present-day Kawit) and called it Cavite. The old Tangway at the tip of the Cavite Peninsula, across Bacoor Bay, was referred to as Cavite la Punta, meaning "Point of Cavite" or Cavite Point. Upon discovering that, because of its deep waters, Cavite la Punta was a suitable place for the repair and construction of Spanish galleons, the Spanish moved their settlement there and called it Cavite Nuevo (New Cavite) or just Cavite. The first settlement was renamed "Cavite Viejo" (and in the early 20th century, regained its former name, Kawit). In 1582, the Spanish founded Cavite City with 65 Spanish households.
In 1590, the Spaniards fortified Cavite Nuevo/Cavite City with murallas (high thick curtain walls) on its western, northern, and eastern sides, while Bacoor Bay remained open to the south. Fort Guadalupe was built at the same time on the eastern tip, and the town became the Puerto de Cavite (Port of Cavite) or Cavite Puerto. The Fort of San Felipe Neri and the Porta Vaga Gate began construction in 1595 and were completed in 1602. Puerta Vaga (corrupted to Porta Vaga) was the port city's barbican, the only principal entrance from San Roque in the west. It was flanked by the western wall, protected by two bastions at its northern and southern ends. The wall and gate were also separated from the mainland by a moat, which made the town like an island.
Cavite was legally founded in 1614 with Tomás Salazar as the earliest known gobernadorcillo recorded. At the same time, the town became the capital of the new politico-military province of Cavite, established also in 1614. Like some other provinces during the Spanish era, the province adopted the name of its capital town – e.g., Bulacan, Bulacan province; Tayabas, Tayabas (now Quezon province); Tarlac, Tarlac province; and Manila, Manila province.
San Roque was founded as a separate town in 1614. In 1663, during the Spanish evacuation of Ternate, Indonesia, the 200 families of mixed Mexican-Filipino-Spanish and Papuan-Indonesian-Portuguese descent who had ruled over the Christianized Sultanate of Ternate, including their Christian-convert Sultan, were relocated to the cities of Ternate (Cavite province), Ermita, Manila, and San Roque (Cavite province).
In subsequent years, Latin-American soldiers from Mexico were deployed at Cavite: 70 soldiers in 1636; 89 in 1654; 225 in 1670; and 211 in 1672.
San Roque was later placed under the civil administration of Cavite until it was granted the right to be a separate and independent municipality in 1720. La Caridad, formerly known as La Estanzuela de San Roque, separated and was legally founded as a town in 1868. Governor-General José de la Gardana granted the petition of the people led by Don Justo Miranda to make Barrio La Estanzuela an independent town.
By the end of the 1700s, Cavite was the main port of Manila and was a province of 5,724 native families and 859 Spanish Filipino families.: 539 : 31, 54, 113  The 1818 Spanish census showed that the port of Cavite alone had 221 native families and 153 Spanish-Filipino families.: 564 
City of Churches[edit]
As the town grew, it developed a cosmopolitan reputation, and attracted various religious orders to set up churches, convents, and hospitals within the confines of the fortified city center. The Franciscan Hospital de San José (Saint Joseph’s Hospital) was built for sailors and soldiers in 1591. The San Diego de Alcalá Convent was built in 1608, followed by the Convents of Porta Vaga (La Ermita), Our Lady of Loreto (Jesuit), San Juan de Dios (Saint John of God), Santo Domingo (Dominicans), Santa Mónica (Recollects), and San Pedro, the port's parish church. The fortified town enclosed eight churches, the Jesuit college of San Ildefonso, public buildings and residences, all meant to serve the needs of its population of natives, soldiers and workers at the port, transients, and passengers aboard galleons.
During this period, the city was called Tierra de Maria Santísima (“Land of Mary, Most Holy”) because of local Marian devotion.[citation needed] Squares and parks abounded: Plaza de Armas (across from Fort San Felipe), Plaza de San Pedro (across the church), Plaza Soledad (across Porta Vaga), and Plaza del Reparo (bayside).
Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade[edit]
The skyline of the old Port City of Cavite in 1899.
The Port of Cavite (Puerto de Cavite) was linked to the history of world trade. Spanish galleons passed back and forth every July between Acapulco and Cavite. Galleons and other heavy ocean-going ships were not able to enter the Port of Manila along the Pasig River because of a sand bar that only allows light vessels to reach the river-port. For this reason, the Port of Cavite was regarded as the Port of Manila, as the main seaport of the colonial capital.
At the height of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade, the Port of Cavite was the arrival and departure port of the Spanish galleons that brought many foreign travelers (mostly Spaniards and Latinos) to its shores. The Port of Cavite was fondly called Ciudad de Oro Macizo ("City of Solid Gold"). The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty once sent an expedition to the place they called Keit (Cavite) to search for gold, received by Governor-General Pedro Bravo de Acuña. Marilola Pérez, in her 2015 thesis "Cavite Chabacano Philippine Creole Spanish: Description and Typology", describes a large number of Mexicans settling in Cavite and spreading to Luzon, integrating into the local population and leading peasant revolts. Mexicans were not the only Latin Americans in Cavite, as there were also a fair number of other Latin Americans. One of these was the Puerto Rican Alonso Ramírez, who became a sailor in Cavite, and published an influential early Latin American novel entitled "Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez"
Between 1609 and 1616 the galleons Espíritu Santo and San Miguel were constructed in the shipyard of the port, called the Astillero de Rivera (Rivera Shipyard of Cavite), sometimes spelled as Ribera.
San Roque Isthmus[edit]
The San Roque causeway connecting Cavite Nuevo to San Roque town (1899)
The narrow San Roque isthmus or causeway (now M. Valentino Street) connected Cavite Puerto to San Roque, its only border town. Maps from the 17th century show that this narrow isthmus was once as wide as the town itself. Problems with rising water and the encroaching waves that plagued Cavite Puerto likely eroded the land into a narrow isthmus.
American Occupation[edit]
The U.S naval base in 1941 before its destruction in 1945.
Spain turned the port over to the Americans after the Treaty of Paris of 1898. At the start of the American era, Cavite Puerto became the seat of the U.S. Naval Forces in the Philippines. It was redesigned to make way for modern ships and armaments. The historical structures, like Fort Guadalupe, were demolished, along with most of Fort San Felipe.
Local government administration was reorganized under the Presidentes municipales with the direct supervision of American army officers (the first being Colonel Meade). The first Filipino Presidentes municipales were appointed: Don Zacaria Fortich for Cavite Puerto, Don Francisco Basa for San Roque, and Don Pedro Raqueño Bautista for Caridad.
In 1900, the Caviteños held their first election under the American regime. Each pueblo or town elected local officials: Presidente municipal, Vice-Presidente municipal and a Consejo (council) composed of Consejales (councilors). Don Gregorio Basa was elected as the Presidente Municipal of present-day Cavite City.
In 1901, the Philippine Commission approved a municipal code as the organic law of all local governments throughout the country. In its implementation in 1903, the three separate pueblos of Cavite Puerto, San Roque, and La Caridad were merged into one municipality, which was called the Municipality of Cavite. By virtue of a legislative act promulgated by the First Philippine Assembly, Cavite was again made the capital of the province. Subsequently, its territory was enlarged to include the district of San Antonio and the island of Corregidor. The Municipality of Cavite functioned as a civil government whose officials consisted of a Presidente Municipal, a Vice-Presidente Municipal and ten Consejales duly elected by the qualified voters of the municipality.
In 1909, Executive Order No. 124, of Governor-General W. Cameron Forbes, declared the Act No. 1748 annexing Corregidor and the islands of Caballo (Fort Hughes), La Monja, El Fraile (Fort Drum), Santa Amalia, Carabao (Fort Frank) and Limbones, as well as all waters and detached rocks surrounding them, to the Municipality of Cavite.
Cityhood[edit]
Main article: Cities of the Philippines
Under the Philippine Commonwealth, Assemblyman Manuel S. Roxas sponsored Commonwealth Act No. 547, elevating Cavite's status to a chartered city. On September 7, 1940, the executive function of the city was vested in a City Mayor appointed by the President of the Philippine Commonwealth. The legislative body of the City of Cavite was vested on a Municipal Board composed of three electives, two appointives, and two ex-officio councilors, with the City Mayor as the presiding officer.
Japanese occupation[edit]
The Spanish era belfry ruins of the former Augustinian Recollects Church of Santa Monica after the city was heavily bombarded during World War II in 1945.
On December 10, 1941, two days after an attack that had destroyed American air defenses at Clark Field and three days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Imperial Forces destroyed Cavite Naval Base and bombed Cavite City.
Later, after Japan seized the Philippines, Japanese leaders appointed at least two City Mayors of Cavite City.
The island of Corregidor played an important role during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. The island was the site of two costly sieges and pitched battles—the first in early 1942, and the second in January, 1945—between the Imperial Japanese Army and the U.S. Army, along with its smaller subsidiary force, the Philippine Army.
In 1945, during the fight to liberate the country from Japan, the US and Philippine Commonwealth militaries bombarded the Japanese forces stationed in the city, completely destroying the old historic port of Cavite. The old walls and the Porta Vaga Gate were damaged. Most of the structures were destroyed, but some of the church towers remained. The city was littered with bomb craters.
After the war, the city's local administration resumed operations. The walls, gates, and ruins of the old city were later removed. Only the bell tower of the Church of Santa Monica of the Augustinian Recollects and the two bastions of Fort San Felipe remain from the old city.
Post-war era[edit]
Third Republic (1946-1972)[edit]
Republic Act No. 981, passed by the Congress of the Philippines in 1954, transferred the capital of the province from Cavite City to the newly established Trece Martires. Subsequently, the city charter was amended. By virtue of an amendment to the charter of Cavite City, the City Mayor, City Vice Mayor and eight councilors were elected by popular vote. The first election of city officials in this way was held in 1963.
During the Marcos presidency and dictatorship (1965-1986)[edit]
Main article: Marcos dictatorship
The Philippines' gradual postwar recovery took a turn for the worse in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with the 1969 Philippine balance of payments crisis being an early landmark event. Economic analysts generally attribute the crisis to the ramp-up on loan-funded government spending to promote Ferdinand Marcos’ 1969 reelection campaign. In September 1972, one year before the expected end of his last constitutionally allowed term as president, president Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law. This allowed Marcos to remain in power for fourteen more years, during which Cavite endured many social and economic obstacles.
On February 25, 1972, amidst a spate of assassinations against Cavite government officials, mayor and former congressman Manuel S. Rojas was assassinated by multiple gunmen in the barrio of Panapaan in Bacoor, Cavite while on the road with his driver, a policeman, to Manila; both Rojas and his driver were unarmed.
The excesses of the Marcos Family prompted opposition from various Filipino citizens despite the risks of arrest and torture Victims of human rights abuses during this period included Cavite City resident and University of the Philippines student leader Emmanuel Alvarez. Alvarez, a descendant of Katipunan General Pascual Alvarez, became one of the desaparecidos of Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos when he was accosted by two men believed to be military personnel while commuting from his home in Cavite City on January 6, 1976, and never seen again. He has formally been honored as a hero of Philippine democracy, having had his name etched on the wall of remembrance of the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani.
During the 1986 snap elections, Marcos won against Corazon Aquino in Region IV (which then included the provinces of MIMAROPA) according to the official COMELEC results, but this was disputed by NAMFREL. An exit poll conducted by American election observers found that voters from Cavite City preferred Aquino over Marcos.
Land reclamation[edit]
Samonte Park.
In the latter part of the 1960s and early 1970s, the land adjacent to the San Roque isthmus was reclaimed. The new land is now occupied by the San Sebastian College – Recoletos de Cavite and some residential homes. The present Cavite City Hall is built where the north tower of the old western wall once stood, which was already partly reclaimed by 1945.
Half of the old port city, including Fort San Felipe, is now occupied by Naval Base Cavite and is closed to the public. The old historic core of Cavite is now part of the San Roque district, and is referred to today as either Fort San Felipe or Porta Vaga. The former location of the Porta Vaga Gate, the western wall, and its towers is now occupied by the Governor Samonte Park.
Contemporary era[edit]
A portion of Danilo Atienza Air Base was converted into a domestic airport in 2020 called Sangley Point Airport. The airport is planned to be converted into an international airport under the national government's Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program. The original proponent status (OPS) contract was initially awarded to a consortium between MacroAsia Corporation and China Communications Construction Company Ltd., until it was dropped by the provincial government in 2021. After another round of bidding, the contract was awarded to the Yuchengco-led Sangley Point International Airport Consortium in 2022.
