Bigan

Bigan, later known as Vigan, stands in the Abra River delta on the northwestern coast of Luzon. A trading post before Spanish rule, it drew together Ilocano communities, people from the mountains and merchants from China and other parts of Asia. Rivers once separated the settlement from the mainland, and its position connected the Cordillera hinterland to the sea.

Juan de Salcedo reached Bigan in 1572 as Spanish power expanded along the Ilocos coast. A colonial town developed near the older trading community, with churches, public buildings and houses arranged along streets. Chinese merchants settled and married locally, contributing to a distinctive urban culture. The town supplied goods to the Manila–Acapulco trade, and its houses came to combine Philippine, Chinese and European building traditions. In 1755 the bishop's seat of Nueva Segovia moved here from Lal-lo in the Cagayan valley, strengthening Vigan's place as a regional centre.