History of Lingayen

Pangasinan Capital Town


During periods of crises, when a government is fighting for its survival, necessity sometimes demand that it moves its seal of power from place to place.


To most Pangasinanses, Lingayen has always been the capital town of the province. The contrary is also true.


Pangasinan, as a province, antedates the Spanish conquest, Long before Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese navigator who discovered the Philippines for Spain was born, Pangasinan was already having her commercial relations with China, particularly during the time of the Chinese emperor Yung-Lo in 4th century of the Christian era.

Ling Ah Yen

In fact, in years 628-636 A.D., in the course of the trade and diplomatic relations between China and Pangasinan, a Chinese nobleman named Ling Ah Yen, migrated to the province and settled in a coastal area which later came to be known as Lingayen.


Lingayen, the cradle of Chinese culture in Pangasinan, which gave the province six Governors of Chinese extraction (Sison, Antonio Sison, Teofilo Sison, Servillano Sim dela Cruz, Sofronio Quimson and Francisco Quimson Duque) rose to prominence as the province leading community since the days of Ling Ah Yen.

Thus, when the Spanish colonial authorities organized Pangasinan into an alcaldia, to be governed by a Spanish alcalde mayor from 1580 to 1898, Lingayen was made the capital town.

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