Taal is located
on the Batangas province in the Philippines. It is the name of a volcano, a
lake and a town.
Pre-Spanish
period
On the 14th
century, there were already several Malay settlements on the shore of the lake.
One of them was lead by Datu Puti (some sources are saying he was coming from
the island of Borneo)
Spanish period
During the
Spanish time (from 1521 to 1898), the lake was called Lake Bombon. The area
was conquered by the Spanish in 1572.
The Batangas
province was founded in the 16th century and Taal town was its
capital during the17th century.
Several towns like Taal town, Tanauan, Lipa were located on the
shore of the lake.
All these towns were destroyed during the various eruptions of
the volcano and were relocated farther from the volcano.
As a result it
was also decided that the capital of the province of Batangas will be transferred
farther from the volcano and Batangas city was eventually chosen as the new
capital.
Check this old
map of the volcano lake area. You can see the former and new sites of
several of these towns.
At that time
there was no lake inside the main crater!
Recent days
At the dawn of the 20th century, tourism started in the area and people started to hike on volcano island.