Baguio City is a 1st class highly urbanized city in northern Luzon known as the Summer Capital of the Philippines. Situated on the southwestern point of the Cordillera Mountains, Baguio was originally a part of Benguet before it became an independent chartered city. Due to the city's climate, the President of the Philippines used to administer the country from Baguio during summer.
Baguio was originally inhabited by different ethnic groups that contributed to its rich culture, which has also been influenced by Spanish, Japanese and American colonization. The Spaniards arrived in the area in 1572, when Juan de Salcedo conducted a number of expeditions in the mountains of Benguet, followed by Don Q.M. Quirante in 1694. The area was finally conquered in 1846 by Commandante de Galvey, who established a military garrison or commandancia on flat terrain north of Baguio. The commandancia was named La Trinidad after Galvey's wife. Later, the Spaniards established thirty-one rancherias (settlements) outward from the fort. The Spaniards brought not only cultural and religious legacy but also agricultural development. The colonizers introduced arabica coffee, which is grown in the area as kapeng Benguet (Benguet coffee) up to the present. When the Americans arrived in the area, the site of the present Baguio City was still an Ibaloi village called Kafagway. The Americans made the area accessible by carving out the mountainsides along the Bued River Canyon and constructing Kennon Road, which connected Kafagway to the lowlands. In 1900, the Americans established their civil government in the area with H. Phelps Whitmarsh as the first governor of Benguet, of which Kafagway was then the capital. The place was later renamed Baguio. The Americans planned Baguio as an agricultural recreational facility. The city was designed by American architect and urban planner Daniel H. Burnham, who had also planned Manila's Roxas Boulevard and “Chicago's One Magnificent Mile.” Mines were built in the mountains surrounding the area, and in 1903, Camp John Hay was created as a recreation area for the U.S. Armed Forces. On 9 September 1909, Baguio was declared an urbanized city as well as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines.” A landmark known as the “Mansion” was made the residence of the American governor-general during the summer to escape Manila's heat, a tradition continued by the Presidents of the Philippines. Additionally, the Philippine Commission also built a number of legislative buildings in which to conduct their summer sessions, along what is now known as Session Road. The Philippine Government then conducted its business in Baguio City during the summer, a tradition that is continued today only by the Philippine Supreme Court. However, most of the prime property in Baguio is still owned and operated by the Philippine government up to the present, including the Cabinet Hill, Engineer's Hill, Supreme Court Compound, Court of Appeals Compound and the COMELEC Compound. The Japanese bombed Baguio on 8 December 1941 and occupied it by December 27, using Camp John Hay as their headquarters. On 3 September 1945, General Tomoyuki Yamashita formally surrendered to the Americans at the US Ambassador's residence in Camp John Hay. After his surrender, Manila, Baguio and the remaining provinces immediately began rehabilitation. The Philippines was granted independence in 1946, with Camp John Hay remaining as an American base in Baguio as per the RP-US Bases Agreement. The camp was finally ceded to the Philippines on 1 July 1991 together with the remaining US military bases in the country. In 1997, a private firm was granted a long-term lease under a contract for developing the area. Baguio is currently the seat of administration of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), comprised of Baguio City, Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Apayao and Mountain Province.
