Pampanga was founded by

the Spanish conquistador,

Martín de Goiti in 1571. The
name derived from the native
Kapampangan words
"pangpang ilog" meaning
"riverside" where the early
Malayan settlements were
concentrated along the Rio
Grande de la Pampanga.
Kapampangan men are known
for their gallantry and
leadership while
Kapampangan women are
famous for their beauty and
skill in culinary arts.
Pampanga, one of the richest
provinces in the Philippines,
was re-organized as a province
by the Spaniards on December
11, 1571. For governmental
control and taxation purposes,
the Spanish authorities
subdivided Pampanga into
towns which were further
subdivided into districts and
in some cases into royal and
private estates.
Ancient Pampanga's territorial
area used to include portions
of the provinces of Bataan,
Bulacan, Nueva Ecija,
Pangasinan, Tarlac and
Zambales in the big Island of
Luzon of the Philippine
Archipelago. Pampanga which
is about 850 square miles in
area and presently inhabited
by more than 1.5 million
people, had its present
borders drawn in 1873.
During the Spanish regime it
was one of the richest
Philippine provinces. Manila
and its surrounding region
were then primarily dependent
on Pampangan agricultural,
fishery, and forestry products
as well as on the supply of
skilled workers. As other
Luzon provinces were created
due to increases in population,
some well-established
Pampanga towns were lost to
new emerging provinces in
Central Luzon.
It has been widely believed
and theorized by many that
Kapampangans are
linguistically distinct from
the Tagalogs who surround
them. Many said that they
are descendants from
migrants from the Malang
Region in Central Java in the
past. However, thriving
settlements and communities
already existed along the
marshy banks of the coast and
rivers even before Spanish
conquistadors arrived in 1571
making their descent a moot
point to some. The province’s
name was from the fact that
many of its inhabitants lived in
river banks. La Pampanga,
initially the name assigned to
the area by the Spanish
conquerors, translated to a
river bank. The province’s
creation dating back to 1571
makes it the first Spanish
province in the Philippines.
Before the Spanish
conquistadors arrived,
Pampanga had a caste system
consisting of the datu or chiefs,
the timawa or freeborn and the
salves. Several datu existed in a
community, but only the
powerful were allowed to rule
exercising executive, judicial
and military control. The
position was attained mainly
through birth and is
hereditary, but a datu can be
easily replaced when their
control over their titles
weakened. It was not until in
1571 and upon the defeat of
Raja Soliman in Tondo that the
Spanish colonizers began their
conquest of the province.
Hispanization, albeit met with
resistance from the Muslim
communities in Betis and
Lubao, occurred rapidly
insomuch that by 1574,
Kapampangan soldiers were
already fighting for the
Spaniards to deter the
Chinese pirate Limahong.
Christianity and Catholicism
became so widespread that by
the 17th century; almost all of
the natives were already under
the influence of the Catholic
Church