Capiz became the second Spanish settlement after
Cebu when Captain
Diego de Artienda, sent by Legaspi landed in the town of
Pan-ay and proclaimed it the capital of the province. The capital was then moved to the present location of
Roxas City.
It is said that in Capiz in 1570, the Datu Bankaya’s wife of the Aklan district gave birth to twin daughters. Twin is "Kapid" in the local dialect, so the Spaniards adopted the name Capiz (Kapid) as inadvertently miscommunicated to them by the natives.
Capiz, which was part of
Aklan in pre-Spanish times, was one of the early settlements of the
Malays, centuries before the coming of the Spaniards to the Philippines. It was part of the Confederation of
Madjaas, formed after the purchase of Panay by the Bornean datus from the Negrito king named
Marikudo.
When the Spaniards led by
Miguel López de Legazpi came to Panay from
Cebu in 1569, they found people with tattoos, and so they called it Isla de los Pintados. How the island itself came to be called Panay is uncertain. The
Aeta called it
Aninipay, after a plant that abounded in the island. Legend has it that López de Legazpi and his men, in search of food, exclaimed upon the island, pan hay en esta isla!. So they established their first settlement in the island at the mouth of the Banica River in Capiz and called it
Pan-ay. This was the second Spanish settlement in the Philippines, the first being San Miguel,
Cebu.
In the same year of 1569 Captain ('Capitan')
Diego de Artieda who was sent by Legaspi landed in the Town of Panay and proclaimed it as the capital of the province. Later, they moved the Capital to its present site upon discovering the town of Capiz (not the province, and now Roxas City) which was near the sea and provided docking facilities.
On April 15, 1901, the civic government of Capiz was created by virtue of Act 115.
[1]In 1942, the region was occupied by the Japanese troops. In 1945, the region was liberated by the joint Filipino and American troops with Capiznon guerrillas from the defeated Japanese Imperial forces during
Second World War.
Capiz and Aklan were united under one province until April 25, 1956, when President Ramon Magsaysay signed into law Republic Act 1414 separating the two entities.