Davao City
Precolonial era

The area of what is now Davao City was once a lush forest inhabited by Lumadic peoples such as the Bagobos and Matigsalugs, alongside other ethnic groups such as the Aeta, Maguindanaon and the Tausug. Davao River was then called Tagloc River by the Bagobos, Maguindanaons and Tausugs who then inhabited a settlement near the mouth of the river to the sea around what is now Bolton Riverside due immediately southwest of the city plaza. In 1543, Spanish explorers led by Ruy Lopez de Villalobos sailing around Mindanao deliberately avoided the area around Davao Gulf, then called Gulf of Tagloc, due to the danger posed by fleets of Moro warships operating in the area while surveying the southeastern coast of Mindanao for possible colonization, and as a result the Davao Gulf area remained virtually untouched by European explorers for the next three centuries.
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