General Santos

The city was named after General Paulino Santos, a Commanding General of the Philippine Army and the settlement's leading pioneer.

The nomadic Blaan people are the original inhabitants of present-day General Santos, and traces of their early settlements of the area are found in the city's place names, which are derived from their vocabulary. Their name for the city, Dadiangas, is from the Ziziphus spina-christi tree that was once abundant in the area and is now a protected species under Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Right Act of 2007. The Blaan now lives alongside the city's new generation of settlers and other immigrants. Beforehand, the Blaan would have been forced upland into the surrounding hills after the Muslims settled in the area under the rule of the Sultanate of Maguindanao. After the fall of Maguindanao, Datu Uto of Buayan expanded his domain south towards Sarangani Bay. …

General Santos lies in the southernmost part of the Philippines. The city is 1,050 kilometres (650 mi) southeast of Manila, 480 kilometres (300 mi) southeast of Cebu, and 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Davao. The city is bounded by municipalities of Sarangani Province, namely Alabel in the east, and Maasim in the south. General Santos is likewise bounded by the South Cotabato municipality of Polomolok and Sarangani Province municipality of Malungon in the north, and the municipality of T'boli in the west. General Santos occupies the whole of South Cotabato's coastline. General Santos has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen climate classification). With an average annual rainfall of less than 1,000 millimetres (39 in), it is one of the driest places in the Philippines. General Santos is politically subdivided into 26 barangays. …