Capiznonisderivedfromthewordkapis,aseashellused.PDFVIP

“Capiznon” is derived from the word kapis, a seashell used to make square panes for windows (and obtained from the mollusk Placuna placenta) and the suffix “non” or “people.” The term refers to the culture, language, and people of Capiz province, one of Panay Island’s four provinces: Iloilo, Capiz, Antique, and Aklan. The Capiznon people belong to a larger group called Visayan, and the Capiznon language is a subclassification of the Visayan language. The language is almost the same as Hiligaynon, the language of the Ilongo. Capiz is bounded by the Sibuyan Sea on the north, Aklan province on the northwest, Antique province on the west, and Iloilo province on the south and southwest. Population count as of 1988 was 600,000 (RR’s Philippine Almanac 1990). Its capital is Roxas City; its municipalities are Cuartero, Dao, Dumalag, Dumarao, Ivisan, Jamintan, Maayon, Mambusao, Pan-ay, Panitan, Pilar, Pontevedra, President Roxas, Sapian, Sigma, and Tapaz. History Folk history recorded in the Maragtas by Pedro Monteclaro (1907) says 10 Bornean datu (chieftains) landed at a site now known as San Joaquin town in Iloilo province. They purchased Panay from the Aeta, cultivated the land, and renamed the island Madya-as. They divided it into three sakup (communities): Irong-Irong, Aklan (which included the area of Capiz), and Hamtik (now Antique). These were loosely united under a government called the Confederation of Madya-as. When the Spaniards led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi came to Panay from Cebu in 1569, they found people with tattoos, and so they called it Isla de los Pintados (Island of the Painted Ones). How the island itself came to be called Panay is uncertain. The Aeta called it Aninipay, after a plant that abounded in the island. Legend has it that Legazpi and his men, in search of food, exclaimed upon discovering the island, Pan hay en esta isla! (There is bread on this island!). So they established their first settlement in the