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Luzon refers to the largest and most economically and politically important island in the Philippines and to one of the three island groups in the country, with Visayas and Mindanao being the other two. Luzon as an island group includes the island of Luzon itself, plus the Batanes and Babuyan groups of islands to the north, and the main and outlying islands of Catanduanes, Marinduque, Masbate, Romblon, and Mindoro in the south. The island group of Palawan, which used to be a province belonging to an administrative region of Luzon, has been transferred to Region VI in the Visayas in 2005. In old maps, it was called Luçonia or Luçon and inhabitants were called Luçoes.
History
Land bridges connecting the Philippine islands, especially Luzon to the rest of Asia were thought of to have brought the indigenous Aetas more than 15,000 years ago.
Austronesians from Taiwan landed in northern Luzon during the great Austronesian expansion around 2500 BCE and spread to the rest of the Philippines and Maritime Southeast Asia.
The region first came to contact with Spain in the late 16th century by Spanish conquistadors, led by Martin de Goiti, Juan de Salcedo, and Miguel López de Legaspi who arrived between 1570 and 1571 to claim the lands for Spain.
The island was the center of campaign during the Philippine Revolution. It was here that Phlippine independence was declared by Emilio Aguinaldo.
During the Philippine-American War, U.S. forces fought Filipino guerrillas in various parts of Luzon. In 1901, U.S. Brigadier General J. Franklin Bell told the New York Times that "One-sixth of the natives of Luzon have either been killed or have died of the dengue fever in the last two years. The loss of life by killing alone has been great, but I think that not one man has been slain except were his death served the legitimate purposes of war. It has been necessary to adopt what other countries would probably be thought harsh measures, for the Filipino is tricky and crafty and has to be fought in his own way.
On December 8, 1941 (December 7, 1941 east of the International Date Line), Japanese aircraft attacked U.S. bases on Luzon, launching a campaign which would lead to the landing of invasion forces in various parts of the island. The major landings took place at Lingayen Gulf on December 22. In the face of superior Japanese forces, U.S....
