La Carlota, officially the City of La Carlota, (; ; ), is a component city in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. According to the , it has a population of people, making it the least populous city in the province.
Throughout much of its early history, agriculture was the primary livelihood of the native settlers of Simancas. Early inhabitants cultivated rice for subsistence, while later settlers grew tobacco for export during the Spanish colonial period. Settlement activity centered along the Candaguit River, from which Simancas gradually expanded. By 1856, historical accounts began to mention Mampunay, and the parish priest of San Enrique subsequently designated Simancas as a barrio.
Before the establishment of permanent Spanish settlements in the Philippines in 1565, Simancas was said to have been led by Mangkas, a Negrito warrior who resided near what is now known as Canman-ug Creek. He was regarded for his role in defending the community and maintaining peace. According to local tradition, the settlementâÂÂs name was derived from the prevalence of individuals named after him, eventually becoming âÂÂSimancas.âÂÂ
Spanish administration over the Philippine archipelago began to take shape in the late 16th century, marking the gradual integration of communities such as Simancas into the colonial system.
Until two years after its foundation in 1871, it was known as Simancas, a barrio under the jurisdiction of the neighboring town of San Enrique, which was led by a Spaniard who was married to a woman named Carlota. Legend has it that she was well-loved by the natives for her social works so that they named their settlement after her when it was created as a municipality near the end of the Spanish colonial era in the Philippines. In line with the Spanish practice of adding an article before a proper noun, âÂÂLa Carlotaâ became its official name.
The division of Negros island into two distinct provinces (Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental) took place in 1890 at the start of this historic decade. La Carlota as well saw a flowering of culture during this decade, which ushered in what many consider as its golden literary age. Near the end of that decade was born in La Carlota one of its most famous children in the literary field: Adelina Gurrea. She later gained world prominence as a journalist, poet and novelist in Spain where she espoused women's causes in her writings.
From 1901 to 1906, La Carlota figured prominently in the anti-American resistance movement on Negros. It produced some of the best-known Babaylan leaders, chief among whom was Papa Isio. He led the struggle against the American occupation that replaced the Spanish regime as a result of the Treaty of Paris that ended the SpanishâÂÂAmerican War and ceded control of the Philippines to the United States. Babaylans or entrencirados conducted guerrilla warfare against the American forces in the towns of La Carlota, Isabela, Kabankalan and La Castellana. From its humble beginnings as a small settlement, La Carlota has evolved into one of the major sugar-producing cities in the Philippines.
On June 19, 1965, by virtue of Republic Act No. 4585, La Carlota was granted a city charter, becoming one of the two landlocked cities in Negros Island, the other being neighbouring Canlaon in Negros Oriental.
In 2011, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) awarded the city with a "seal of good housekeeping" for its efforts in advancing accountability and transparency in local governance. In the same year, it was also named as one of the top-performing local government units in the Philippines, ranking eighth in the component cities category. On December 29, 2011, the city was nominated for excellence in local governance, an honor given by the provincial government under its Pagpasidungog Awards .
La Carlota City is geographically located at the north-central portion of Negros Occidental. It is bordered in the north by Bago, in the east by Kanlaon Volcano and Canlaon of Negros Oriental, in the southeast by the town of La Castellana, in the southwest by Pontevedra and in the west by San Enrique. It has a total land area of , most of it devoted to agriculture.
La Carlota City is from Bacolod.
La Carlota is politically subdivided into 14 barangays. Each barangay consists of puroks and some have sitios.
Currently, there are 3 barangays which considered urban (highlighted in bold). The farthest from the city is Barangay Yubo, which is 17.9 kilometers from the urban core. The city's barangays are as follows:
The city enjoys two distinct seasons like the rest of the Philippines: The dry season from January through May and the wet season from June through December.
The first recorded census, conducted in 1903, pegged the population at 3,097. The 1995 Philippine Statistics Authority survey recorded a population of 56,414. Two years later, the population grew to 57,982, increasing to 62,094 in 2002. By then population density was 4.5 persons per hectare. Of the 14 barangays or villages, Barangay II has the biggest population with 9,221 and Barangay Yubo has the smallest with 1,962.
About 96% of the people use a local Negrense variant of Hiligaynon as their main language of communication, while the remaining 4% of the population use Cebuano. English and Tagalog are generally understood and spoken by a large segment of the city's population, especially amongst the well-educated peoples.