Bacolod
city of the Philippines and capital of the province of Negros Occidental
Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; Tagalog: [bɐˈkɔlɔd]; Hiligaynon: Dakbanwa sang Bacolod; Filipino: Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a highly urbanized city in the Negros Island Region in the Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 624,787 people, making it the most populous city in the Negros Island Region and the second most populous city in the entire Visayas after Cebu City.
It is the largest city and capital of the province of Negros Occidental where it is geographically situated and grouped under the province by the Philippine Statistics Authority, although it operates as an administratively independent city. It serves as one of the two regional centers of Negros Island Region, alongside Dumaguete, and is the core of the Bacolod metropolitan area.
The city is known for the MassKara Festival, held during the third week of October, and for its nickname "The City of Smiles". The city is also famous for its local delicacies such as piaya, cansi, napoleones, and chicken inasal.
Etymology
Bacólod (English: Bacolod), is derived from bakólod (Old Spelling: bacólod), the Old Hiligaynon (Old Ilonggo) (Old Spelling: Ylongo and Ilongo) word for a "hill, turtle, mound, rise, hillock, down, any small eminence or elevation", since the resettlement was founded on a stony, hilly area, now the barangay of Granada. It was officially called Ciudad de Bacólod (City of Bacolod) when Municipalidad de Bacólod (Municipality of Bacolod) was converted into a city in 1938.
History
Spanish colonial period
Historical church accounts provide a glimpse of the early years of Bacolod as a mere small settlement by the riverbank known as Magsungay (translated as "horn-shaped" in English). When the neighboring settlement of Bago was elevated into the status of a small town in 1575, it had several religious dependencies and one of which was the village of Magsungay.
The public source identifies “Bacolod” as city of the Philippines and capital of the province of Negros Occidental. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Bacolod, city and Philippines.
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Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5217. VIAF identifies the subject as 237442665. Authority coordinates are 10.676, 122.951. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2024, 1938 and 1575.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bacolod” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.