Zamboanga

The name of Zamboanga is the Hispanicized spelling of the Sinama term for "mooring place" - samboangan (also spelled sambuangan; and in Subanen, sembwangan), from the root word samboang ("mooring pole"). "Samboangan" was the original name of Zamboanga City, from where the name of the peninsula is derived. "Samboangan" is well-attested in Spanish, British, French, German, and American historical records from as far back as the 17th century. A commonly-repeated incorrect modern folk etymology instead attributes the name of Zamboanga to the Indonesian word jambangan (claimed to mean "place of flowers", but actually means "pot" or "bowl"), usually with claims that all ethnic groups in Zamboanga were "Malays". However, this name has never been attested in any historical records before the 1960s. The city's nickname "City of Flowers" is derived from such folk etymologies.

The Zamboanga Peninsula was settled in the late 12th or early 13th century by the Subanen people; along with the Subanen, it was also the homeland of the ancestors of the Yakan, the Balanguingui, and other closely related Sama-Bajau peoples. The 11th-century Chinese Song dynasty records also mention a polity named "Sanmalan" (三麻蘭) from Mindanao, which has a name similar to Zamboanga and has been tentatively identified with it by some authors (Wang, 2008; Huang, 1980). Sanmalan is said to be led by a Rajah "Chülan". His ambassador, "Ali Bakti", and that of the Butuan's "Likan-hsieh" are recorded as having visited the Chinese imperial court with gifts and trade goods in AD 1011. However, the correlation between Zamboanga and Sanmalan is based only on their similar-sounding names. …

The southwest and eastern sides of Zamboanga City are bounded by irregular coastlines with generally rocky terrain and occasional stretches of sandy or gravelly beaches. The coastal profile usually descends abruptly towards the sea. Where rivers enter the sea, bays have formed, and the surrounding area has filled up with alluvial soils, producing small to large coastal plains. Zamboanga City has mangrove areas, such as in Tagasilay and eastern Vitali Island. It also has the Pasonanca Watershed Forest Reserve. The overall topography of the city could be described as rolling to very steep. There are some flat lands, mostly narrow strips along the east coast. The urban center is mostly flat with a gentle slope to the interior, ranging from 0% to 3%. A portion of about 38,000 hectares has slopes ranging from 18% to 30%. …