【4K】SANTA MARIA ILOCOS SUR | SUSU BEACH | AERIAL VIEW MARCH 2025

The community of Santa Maria must have already been an organized settlement before the Spaniards came to the Philippines. When Captain Juan de Salcedo conquered the Ilocos in 1572, they found out that the people were already engaged in a robust trade and commercial relationship with the Japanese and the Chinese. The people's main industries were fishing, farming, and - to some extent - cotton weaving and pottery. The people were noted for their religiosity. They worshiped the anitos, spirits, and local deities. Although the conquest of the Ilocos Region was a slow and painful process owing to the resistance mounted by the inhabitants, they were later conquered through the use of the sword and with the Cross. It was the religious nature of the people that the friars greatly leveraged to convert the Ilocanos to the new faith — Christianity. In 1572, Juan De Salcedo established an encomienda in Vigan as more places fell under the control of the Spaniards. More parishes or visitas (sub-parishes) that could be easily serviced by the ecclesiastical and military officials were set up. When Narvacan was created as a definitory by the Augustinians on April 25, 1576, its visitas were Santa Maria, San Esteban, and Santiago. It is recorded that Narvacan was an encomienda of Don Nicolas de Figeroa in 1589; and left vacant in 1610. During this time, or a period later, Fr. Diego de Soria who later became bishop expanded the mission or religious control to the hinterlands - extending as far south as Pangasinan and east to the Cagayan Valley. In the beginning, Santa Maria experienced hardships due to wars and other events. In 1638, the Chinese burned the town and ten years later in 1660–1661, during the Andres Malong Revolt, the Zambals ransacked and looted the settlement, and killed some of the inhabitants of the town. Much of the church properties were carried away by the rebels. In 1762, the forces of Diego Silang, the leader of the Ilocos Revolt of 1762–1763 during the British Occupation, controlled the town of Santa Maria until Silang was assassinated in Bantay by his close friend, a mestizo named Miguel Vicos, in 1763.