The City of Dumaguete is a city in the Philippine province of Negros Oriental. It is the capital, principal

seaport, and largest city of the province. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 133,470 people.

A person from Dumaguete is called a "Dumagueteño". The city is nicknamed The City of Gentle People.

Dumaguete is referred to as a university town because of the presence of four universities and a number of other colleges where students of the province converge to enroll for tertiary education. The city is also a popular

educational destination for students of surrounding provinces and cities in Visayas and Mindanao.

The city is best known for Silliman University, the country's first Protestant university and the first American

private university in Asia.There are also 12 elementary schools and 9 high schools. The city's student population is estimated at 30,000.

The city attracts a considerable number of foreign tourists, particularly Europeans, because of easy ferry access from Cebu City, the availability of beach resorts and dive sites, and the attraction of dolphin and whale watching

in nearby Bais City.

The city has a domestic airport which provides three daily flights to and from Manila through Cebu Pacific and

two daily flights through Philippine Airlines and daily flights to Cebu City through Cebu Pacific and

Airphil Express.

The power source of the city comes from the geothermal power plant in Palinpinon, Valencia. The city has

redundant fiber optic lines and is a focal point for telecommunications. It is the landing point for fiber optic cables linking it to Manila, the capital of the Philippines, the cities south of Luzon, as well as to other major cities in

southern Philippines.

History

"Dumaguete" was coined from the Visayan word "daggit" which means "to snatch". Because of the frequent

marauding attacks of the pirates on this once coastal town, and the power to attract and keep her visitors for

good, the word "dumaguet" was coined, meaning "to swoop". Thus the name was christened to the village of

Dumaguete. However, Diego Lopez Povedano in 1572 indicated the place as "Dananguet". But in 1734,

Murillo Velarde referred to it using its present name of Dumaguete.

In 1890, the island-province of Negros was divided into two politico-military provinces, Occidental and Oriental.

As earlier constituted, in 1898, Dumaguete was included in Negros Oriental. After the Philippine-American War,

 on May 1, 1901, a civil government was established by the Americans in the Province of Negros Oriental,

including Dumaguete.

When World War II broke out, the city was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Forces on May 26, 1942. It was

liberated on April 26, 1945 by the combined forces of the United States, Filipino Soldiers and the recognized

guerrillas.

The establishment of the local military general headquarters and camp base of the Philippine Commonwealth

Army from 1942 to 1946 and the Philippine Constabulary 7th Infantry Regiment from 1944 to 1946 was stationed and located in Dumagette during World War II.

Three years later on June 15, 1948, Republic Act No. 327, created the City of Dumaguete. Later, on June 21, 1969, Republic Act No. 5797 was enacted, otherwise known as the Revised Charter of Dumaguete City.

Geography and climate

The city's topography is generally flat from two to six kilometers from the shoreline. It slopes gently upwards to

 the adjoining municipality of Valencia. The highest ground elevation is located at the boundary of the municipality of Valencia, about one hundred meters above mean sea level. About 93% of the land have slopes of less than 3%. The remaining areas have 3% to 5% slope.

 Climate

Dumaguete has two seasons, namely; the dry and the wet seasons. The wet season covers the period from

June to November, and the dry season starts from December to May, the hottest being April and May. The

average maximum temperature is 34.3 째C and the average minimum temperature is 22.9 째C for the past years.

The relative humidity of the locality for the past years was 78쩐% with the month of December registering the

highest.