Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, is a highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 965,332 people, making it the sixth-most populated city in the country and the most populous in the Central Visayas Region and in the whole Visayas.
It serves as the capital of the Cebu province wherein it is geographically situated and grouped under the province by the Philippine Statistics Authority, but is one of three highly urbanized cities (together with Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue) that are administratively independent of the provincial government and also the largest city within that province. It also serves as the regional center of Central Visayas, and its metropolitan area exerts influence on commerce, trade, industry, education, culture, tourism, and healthcare beyond the region, over Central and Eastern Visayas and partly over Mindanao. It is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies. Additionally, Cebu City is the prime trading center of the southern Philippines.
Cebu City is bounded on the north by the town of Balamban and the city of Danao, on the west by the city of Toledo, on the east by the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue and the towns of Liloan, Consolacion and Compostela and to the south by the city of Talisay. Located at the center of the eastern seaboard of Cebu Island, it is the core city of Metro Cebu, the second largest metropolitan area in the Philippines, which includes the cities of Carcar, Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Naga and Talisay and the municipalities (towns) of Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla and San Fernando. Metro Cebu had a total population of 3,207,256 as of the 2024 census.
The current political boundaries of the city are an amalgamation of the former municipalities of Cebu, San Nicolas, El Pardo, Mabolo, Talamban and Banilad in the Commonwealth period.
The city has experienced rapid economic growth since the 1990s, a phenomenon also known as "Ceboom". Owing to its economic importance and influence in modern times, Cebu City is also popularly referred to as the Queen City of the South.
Etymology
The modern name, Cebu, is a 16th–17th century Spanish pronunciation of the native name Sugbo and its early iterations are Zibu, Zebu, Zubu, Subuth, Çubu, and Sibu. The word sugbú in Cebuano means "to dive into water", and also in Tagalog, Hiligaynon, Aklanon, and Mansaka languages with more or less the same meaning. The name is derived from the Proto-Philippine word *sug(e)bu meaning "to wade into water". In Mateo Sanchéz's entry, he defines sugbu or sibu as "to put or place partially into the water" or "as someone stepping into water, but not totally".
As with most settlements in the Philippines whose common origin is either derived from an abundance of plants, for example, Manila and one of the most common names of cities in the Philippines, Talisay and settlements near a body of water, for example, Iloilo and the island of Mindanao. The Selden Map records the island known to the Ming dynasty as sokbu (束務), a Hokkien pronunciation of the name (in Mandarin Chinese "suwu"), in the early 17th century.
History
Pre-Hispanic period
Very little is known about when the site was first settled prior to colonization, but artifacts have been discovered near the city, if not exactly at the site in what is now Cebu City dating back to at least the 14th to 15th centuries CE. Other geological and archaeological studies revealed that Cebu as a settlement began sometime during the 10th century. Though there are artifacts detailing the settlement of the island as early as 2000 BCE, the exact date of when the village was settled and named "Sugbu" is unknown, since prior to colonization most Visayans were illiterate up until the later half of the 16th century.
According to a new translation of ancient Chinese Annals: a kingdom called Suwu (束務) was mentioned in the 1225 work Zhu Fan Zhi (諸蕃志), and in the 17th century this was the same name used for Cebu among Chinese traders to the Philippines, thus, it is presumed to be the same location.
Cebu was referenced in association with Boni (Brunei) wherein it was written:
"The countries of Xilonggong (Sailunggung/Sailengkeng, possibly
Selingaan Island), Shimiao (Simmiu/Simbio), Rili (Jatlai/Jitleh, possibly Jelai ), Hulumantou (Wulomantau/Holobantau), Suwu (Somat/Sobut), Lima (Leima/Libeh), Danyu (Damjyu/Tamu), and Manuo (Manok/Belok) are located on islands in the sea. Their people travel to and fro in small boats, and their clothing and diet are the same as those of Boni. They produce sheng agarwood, lakawood, beeswax, and tortoiseshell. Merchants can trade for these with white porcelain ware, wine, rice, coarse salt, white spun silk, and trade-quality gold."
The book Zhinan Zhengfa (“The True Art of Pointing South) which had maritime logs compiled from 1471-1588 show maritime shipping lanes plying from the kingdom of Manila (کراجاءن مانيلا) to the Rajahnate of Cebu and that the Cebu Rajahnate's industries also specialized in local goods, mainly of: Seaweed, Iron Smithing, Terraced Rice, and Native Cotton.
During the Ming Dynasty, Chinese records categorized the inhabitants of Cebu and adjacent islands—notably Butuan, Samar, Leyte, Negros, Panay, and Northern Mindanao the collective ethnonym "Visayans," transcribed in contemporary sources as Pisheye. Scholarly interpretations suggest that the Pisheye territories were an alliance group of primarily low-lying coastal port kingdoms characterized by limited agricultural development, a geographical profile consistent with the topography of pre-colonial Cebu. Historical accounts further document the maritime prowess of these Visayan groups, noting their expansionist activities into Eastern Taiwan and from there, their persistent raids along the southeastern coast of China, specifically targeting the prefecture of Quanzhou and the coastal settlements of Shui’ao and Weito.
There is a popular myth that the city was supposedly founded by "Sri Lumay" and that the place was once "Kang Sri Lumayng Sugbo". However, the authenticity of this source is highly debatable and should not be taken seriously. There are no existing documents predating Spanish chroniclers that made a reference to the island, and there was no mention of the so-called "Sri Lumay". Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina's History of the Bisayan Islands does not even mention the epic or any reference to that person. Also, in the compilation of Spanish accounts by esteemed American historian specializing in Philippine history, William Henry Scott, there is no mention of any scorched earth tactics in Visayan warfare. It is likely then that the "legend" is an invention by Jovito Abellana. The supposed capital city, "Singhapala" (ᜐᜒᜅ᜔ᜑᜉᜎ), a localization of the Tamil-Sanskrit Singapura (சிங்கப்பூர்), same root-word as the City-State of Singapore, was also not mentioned as a capital city. Instead, Antonio Pigafetta, the Italian chronicler in Magellan's expedition, records "Cingapola" as a town, whose chiefs are Cilaton, Ciguibucan, Cimaninga, Cimaticat, and Cicanbul. Were it a rich city, it would be very unlikely to have been ignored by Pigafetta, and the absence of stone structures were not found nor erected before the late 16th to the 17th century.
Despite the smallness of the polity of Cebu it borrowed a considerable degree of Indo–Malay culture from more developed regional neighbors like Butuan, to which it had dynastic links since its ruler Rajah Siagu was a cousin of Rajah Humabon. This is also evident in the titles of native Cebuano nobility, as Chief Humabon (mistakenly identified as a "king" in Pigafetta's writings) was addressed by the Sanskrit title "Rajah". Rajah Tupas, who ruled Cebu in 1565, was descended from the brother of Rajah Humabon who was a "bendara" ("treasurer" or "vizier" in Malay), a clipping of the Sanskrit bendahara (भाण्डार, lit. "storage house").
Spanish period
On April 7, 1521, Portuguese explorer at the service of the Spanish Crown and leader of the first expedition to circumnavigate the world, Ferdinand Magellan, landed in Cebu. He was welcomed by Rajah Humabon. Magellan, however, was killed in the Battle of Mactan, and the remaining members of his expedition left Cebu soon after several of them were poisoned by Humabon, who was fearful of foreign occupation. The last ruler of Sugbo, prior to Spanish colonization, was Rajah Humabon's nephew, Rajah Tupas (d. 1565).
On February 13, 1565, Spanish and (probably some) Mexican conquistadors led by Miguel López de Legazpi together with Augustinian friars whose prior was Andrés de Urdaneta, left New Spain (modern Mexico) and arrived in Samar, taking possession of the island thereafter. They Christianized some natives and Spanish remnants in Cebu. Afterwards, the expedition visited Leyte, Cabalian, Mazaua, Camiguin and Bohol where the famous Sandugo or blood compact was performed between López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna, the chieftain of Bohol on March 16, 1565. The Spanish arrived in Cebu on April 15, 1565. They then attempted to parley with the local ruler, Rajah Tupas, but found that he and the local population had abandoned the town. Rajah Tupas presented himself at their camp on May 8, feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel, when the island was taken possession of on behalf of the Spanish Crown. The Treaty of Cebu was formalized on July 3, 1565, and López de Legazpi's party named the new city Villa de San Miguel de Cebú (later renamed Ciudad del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús). In 1567, the Cebu garrison was reinforced with the arrival of 2,100 soldiers from New Spain (Mexico). The growing colony was then fortified by Fort San Pedro, and aside from Mexican soldiers, the city was founded by 80 colonists from Spain. Asides from these Mexican Mestizos and pure Spanish Europeans, around 400 Native American Tlaxcalans were also part of the conquest of Cebu and were given pensions. The Philippines hosts the only architectural and cultural styles in Asia that were founded by Latin Americans and Anglo Americans. Yet despite being a most unique tourism destination among Asians for the American and Latino influences not available anywhere else in the continent, as the other Asian nations were colonized by Europeans instead, the number of tourists going to the Philippines from their Asian neighbors are negligible. Whereas in contrast, the Philippines is a top source of tourists going to its Asian neighbors.
By 1569, the Spanish settlement in Cebu had become important as a safe port for ships from Mexico and as a jumping-off point for further exploration of the archipelago. Small expeditions led by Juan de Salcedo went to Mindoro and Luzon, where he and Martín de Goiti played a leading role in the subjugation of the Kingdoms of Tundun and Seludong in 1570. One year later, López de Legazpi departed Cebu to discuss a peace pact with the defeated Rajahs. An agreement between the conquistadors and the Rajahs to form a city council paved the way for the establishment of a new settlement and the construction of the Christian walled city of Intramuros on the razed remains of Islamic Manila, then a vassal state of the Sultanate of Brunei.