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Political History of Cavite City

Cavite City, which was simply called Tangway (meaning peninsula) by its natives before it was given royal encomienda in May of 1571 by Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and during the Spanish rule, was christened by the Spaniards as Cavite La Punta (being a point or a tip of land connected to a larger portion of land) to distinguish it from Kawit which was also called Cavite. When the castillians discovered Cavite La Punta to be a suitable place for the repair and construction of their ships and galleons they decided to move their settlement here and christened it anew as Cavite el Puerto (Port of Cavite) and Cavite Nuevo (New Cavite), thence, Kawit became known as Cavite el Viejo. Actually, what was considered as "Cavite" then was a big town comprising of the present-day Kawit, Noveleta, Imus and Cavite City. As the population grew, these places seceded one after the other and became independent pueblos (towns).

Kawit was founded as town in 1600, Cavite el Puerto in 1614, Imus in 1775, and Noveleta in 1867. The capital of the province was moved from Kawit to Cavite el Puerto in the year the latter was founded, San Roque was added and was founded as town also in 1614 but was placed under the civil administration of Cavite el Puerto until 1720 when it was granted a right to be a separate and an independent pueblo. Las Caridad, the former Hacienda La Estanzuela of San Roque, separated and was founded as town in 1868, when Spanish Governor General Jose de la Gandara granted the petition of the people of that barrio led by Don Justo Miranda to make it an independent town.

The government of the pre-Spanish Cavite City was one of a tribal form of government, the barangay system. It was ruled by a datu who came from the thickly populated Tagalog settlement in Kawit. When the Spaniards came, the form of government ws changed as the Castillans organized pueblos. The Spanish Gobernador Politico-Militar of the province appointed Filipinos as civil administrators. Each pueblo was placed under a Gobernadorcillo, who later became known as Capitan Municipal, assisted by a Tiniente Mayor, a Tiniente Segundo, a Tiniente Tercero, Tiniente de Barrio and several Cabezas de Barangay.

For Cavite el Puerto, the earliest and the only Gobernadorcillo recorded as Don Tomas Salazar, who held the position from 1846 up to 1851.