Ibalon

Ibalon was an old name for the Bicol Peninsula at the southeastern end of Luzon. Its settlements lay along the Bicol River and the slopes of Mayon; family-centred barangays followed datus, with no authority above them.

In 1567 Spaniards landed at Gibal-ong in Sorsogon. Missionaries founded churches at Naga, and hardwood forests supplied shipyards building Manila galleons. When the colonial administration divided Bicol into provinces in 1636, the old name survived as the Partido de Ibalon.