Butuan (pronounced /ˌbuːtuˈʔɑːn/), officially the City of Butuan (Cebuano: Dakbayan sa

Butuan; Butuanon: Dakbayan hong Butuan; Tagalog: Lungsod ng Butuan), is a 1st class highly

urbanized city and regional center of Caraga, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a
population of 337,063 people. [7]
It served as the former capital of the Rajahnate of Butuan before 1001 until about 1521. The city
used to be known during that time as the best in gold and boat manufacturing in the entire Philippine
archipelago, having traded with as far as Champa, Ming, Srivijaya, Majapahit, and the Bengali
coasts. It is located at the northeastern part of the Agusan Valley, Mindanao, sprawling across
the Agusan River. It is bounded to the north, west and south by Agusan del Norte, to the east
by Agusan del Sur and to the northwest by Butuan Bay.
Butuan was the capital of the province of Agusan del Norte until 2000, when Republic Act 8811
transferred the capital to Cabadbaran. For statistical and geographical purposes, Butuan is grouped
with Agusan del Norte but governed administratively independent from the province while
legislatively administered by the province's 1st congressional district.

Colonial period[edit]
On March 31, 1521, an Easter Sunday, Ferdinand Magellan ordered a mass to be celebrated. This
was officiated by Friar Pedro Valderrama, the Andalusian chaplain of the fleet, the only priest then.
Another priest, the French Bernard Calmette (Bernardo Calmeta) had
been marooned at Patagonia with Juan de Cartagena for being implicated in the mutiny at Puerto
San Julián. Conducted near the shores of the island, the Holy First Mass marked the birth of Roman
Catholicism in the Philippines. Rajah Colambu and Siaiu were said to be among the first natives of
the soon-to-be Spanish colony to attend the mass among other Mazaua inhabitants, together with
visitors from Butuan who came with the entourage of Colambu, king of Butuan.[citation needed]
Controversy has been generated regarding the holding of the first mass—whether it was held
in Limasawa, Leyte in Masao, Butuan City, in the hidden isle made up of barangays Pinamanculan
and Bancasi inside Butuan, in the latest discovered site in between Agusan del Sur and Surigao del
Sur, the small barangay of Barobo, or elsewhere. It is sure, however, that Ferdinand Magellan did
not drop anchor by the mouth of Agusan River in 1521 and hold mass to commemorate the event
which was held at Mazaua, an island separate from 1521 Butuan which, in the geographical
conception of Europeans who wrote about it, was a larger entity than what it is now. Antonio
Pigafetta who wrote an eyewitness account of Magellan's voyage described in text and in map a
Butuan that stretched from today's Surigao up to the top edge of Zamboanga del Norte.[citation needed]
The first municipal election in Butuan took place in March 1902 in accordance with Public Law No.
82[14] which coincided with the American occupation of the place.[citation needed]
During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II, more than half of Butuan, if not
all of it, was burned when local guerrilla forces attacked the enemy garrison on 12 March 1943 in the
Battle of Butuan.[15][16]:318[17]:7 On January 17, 1945, guerrillas attacked Japanese troops on the road
between Cabadbaran and Butuan to prevent the Japanese garrison at Butuan from being reinforced.
When the guerrillas depleted their ammunition supply, they were forced to retreat.[18] Later in 1945,
the Philippine Commonwealth troops in Butuan together with the recognized guerrillas attacked the
Japanese forces during the Battle of Agusan. On October 20, 1948, still recovering from the war, the
entire municipality was ruined by a fire.[citation needed]

Modern era