Central Visayas

Central Visayas (Filipino: Gitnang Kabisayaan) is a region of the Philippines, designated as Region VII. It is located in the central part of the Visayas island group, and comprises three provinces: Bohol, Cebu, and Siquijor; and three highly urbanized cities: Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue. Cebu City is the regional center. The region is dominated by the native speakers of Cebuano. The land area of the region is 10,102 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi) and with a population of 5,513,514 people.

In 2015, the region was redefined, when Region VII lost the province of Negros Oriental to the newly formed Negros Island Region. Prior to this, the region had a population of 6,800,180 at the 2010 census, with an area of 15,875 square kilometres (6,129 sq mi). . In the 2013 election, it had 4,114,046 registered voters.

History

Regions first came to existence in on September 24, 1972, when the provinces of the Philippines were organized into 11 regions by Presidential Decree No. 1 as part of the Integrated Reorganization Plan of President Ferdinand Marcos.

Visayas

The Visayas /vᵻˈsaɪəz/ və-SY-əz or the Visayan Islands (Visayan: Kabisay-an; Tagalog: Kabisayaan), is one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Mindanao and Luzon. It consists of several islands, primarily surrounding the Visayan Sea, although the Visayas are considered the northeast extremity of the entire Sulu Sea. Its inhabitants are predominantly the Visayans.

The major islands of the Visayas are Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, and Samar. The region may also include the islands of Romblon and Masbate, whose population identify as Visayan and whose languages are more closely related to other Visayan languages than to the major languages of Luzon.

There are four administrative regions in the Visayas: Western Visayas (4.7 million), Negros Island Region (3.6 million), Central Visayas (6.8 million), and Eastern Visayas (4.1 million).

Etymology

A theory proposed by some scholars states that the term Visayas was derived from the name of a 7th-century thalassocratic Malay Srivijaya Empire. In Sanskrit, sri (श्री) means "fortunate," "prosperous," or "happy" and vijaya (विजय) means "victorious" or "excellence". In the 12th century, parts of the Sulu Archipelago and the Visayas Islands were either subject or tributaries of the empire.