Zamboanga del Norte is a
province of the
Philippines
located in the Zamboanga Peninsula
region in
Mindanao
.
Its
capital is Dipolog
City
and the province borders Zamboanga del
Sur
and Zamboanga Sibugay
to the south and Misamis Occidental
to the east. The Sulu Sea
lies to the
northwest of Zamboanga del Norte.Zamboanga del Norte is the Largest
province of Zamboanga
Peninsula in terms of land area.
Demographics
Zamboanga del Norte has a population of 823,130 according to the
2000 census. Its population density is 124/km². It is ranked 27th
among the provinces both in terms of population and population
density.
The main language spoken is
Cebuano.
Zamboangueño/
Chavacano,
English and
Tagalog are also spoken, indicative of a
high level of literacy. The original and native
Subanon language lives on, especially in
the highlands.
Economy
About half of the province's land area is devoted to
agriculture. Corn, coconut, and rice are the
major crops. The province being rich in marine and mineral sources,
its fish production has accelerated through the development of
fishponds. Commercial fishing has likewise steadily increased
through the years, with the yellow fin tuna as the primary
species.
In
2006, a study by
National Statistics
Coordination Board (NSCB), found Zamboanga del Norte Province
to be the Philippines's poorest with a
poverty incidence rate of 64.6% in
2003, an increase from 47% in year 2000 statistical
figures.
[34409]
Geography
Political
Zamboanga del Norte is subdivided into 25
municipalities and 2
cities. These are further
subdivided into 691
barangays, and
clustered into 3
congressional
districts.
Cities
Municipalities
Physical
Zamboanga
del Norte comprises the northern portion of the Zamboanga
Peninsula. It is bounded on the north and west by the
Sulu
Sea, on the east by Misamis Occidental, and on the south by Zamboanga del Sur.
The province occupies a total land area of 6,618 square kilometers.
It has an average elevation of 243.8 meters, with Mt.
Dabiak in Katipunan
as the highest peak at 2,600 meters. Other
parts, near the coastlines, are plains. The province's irregular
coastline runs 400 kilometers from north to south.
Zamboanga del Norte has a mild and moderate climate due to evenly
distributed rainfall throughout the year. Its southern portion has
a longer dry season.
History
The early
history of Zamboanga del Norte is shared with that of Zamboanga
City
, which had been the center of the entire Mindanao area, most notably during the American era.
When
Zamboanga City became a chartered city on October 12, 1936, it
encompassed the southern tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula and the island of Basilan
, making it the largest city in the world in terms
of land area.
This all changed in
1948 when Basilan was made
into a separate Chartered City, and further, when Republic Act No.
711, issued on
June 6,
1952, created two more provinces out of Zamboanga City.
One of these provinces was Zamboanga del Norte.
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