hISTORYA

HISTORY of the PROVINCE of ISABELA ...a pictorial history... Troy Alexander G. Miano, DPA, LPT Provincial Tourism Officer of Isabela Head of the Isabela Museum & Library Philippine Copyright 23 March 2001 updated 23 August 2018 First Settlers During the Stone Age, around 25,000 years ago, dark skinned and kinky haired pygmies arrived in northeast Luzon. The descendants of the nomadic Aetas (or Negritos) were the Dumagats now settling and roaming in the forested Sierra Madre mountain range in eastern Isabela and Aurora province. Aetas can be found at the slopes in the City of Ilagan, San Mariano and the four coastal towns of Divilacan, Maconacon, Palanan and Dinapigue.   Negritos of Coastal Isabela, near what is now Palanan town, pose with American Governor of Mountain Province, Samuel Cane c.1900s. (Photo by Dean Conant Worcester)  The term “Aeta” is the oldest term to refer to the pygmies from Isabela, Pampanga, Tayabas (now Quezon & Aurora provinc