Calamian Islands

The Calamian Islands or the Calamianes is a group of islands in the province of Palawan, Philippines. It includes:

• Busuanga Island
• Coron Island
• Culion Island
• Calauit Island
• Malcapuya Island
• Banana Island
• Pass Island
• Calumbuyan Island
• several minor islets

Calamianes

Calamian islands satellite image captured by Sentinel-2 in 2016
Calamianes Location within Palawan
Geography
Coordinates	11°54′N 120°14′E
Adjacent to	Linapacan Strait Mindoro Strait South China Sea Sulu Sea
Major islands	Busuanga Island Coron Island Culion Island Calauit Island several other islets
Administration
Philippines
Region	Mimaropa
Province	Palawan

History

Historically, before the Spanish came, the Calamianes was part of the nation of Sandao a vassal state of Ma-i at nearby Mindoro. Then, the Calamianes fell to the Brunei and Sulu Sultanates. Eventually, the Calamianes was site of the Spanish politico-militar Provincia de Calamianes. It became the site of a Presidio or a Spanish military garrison, and the small group of islands received, almost 100 Mexican soldier-colonists in the 1670s.^[1] The Spanish Empire later purchased mainland Paragua from the Sultan of Borneo. By the end of the 1700s, the Calamianes had 2,289 native families too.^{[2]: 539 [3]: 31, 54, 113} During the American occupation (1898-1948), the old Provincia de Calamianes was dissolved and jointly administered with the Island of Paragua as the new Province of Palawan.

During the American occupation and up until recently, Culion Island was host to a leper colony. Busuanga Island hosts the largest town, Coron, in the Calamian Islands. Coron Island is known for having the cleanest inland body of water in the Philippines, called Kayangan Lake. Calauit Island is known for hosting a number of endangered African animal species. Diving spots, with coral reefs and sunken World War II Japanese shipwrecks, also lies within the waters of these islands.

Geology

Highly-deformed bedded cherts of the Liminangcong chert, exposed in the town of Coron, Busuanga Island

Part of the North Palawan Block, Busuanga and Culion islands consist mainly of the Liminangcong Formation, a Permian to Late Jurassic chert. This chert forms the distinguishing mountain ranges, with the Middle-Late Jurassic Guinlo Formation clastics forming the valleys on Busuanga. Coron Island is distinguished by its Late Triassic Coron Limestone.^[4]