Pampanga (Kapampangan: Lalawigan ning Pampanga; Tagalog: Lalawigan ng Pampanga) is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac to the north, Nueva Ecija to the northeast, Bulacan to the east, the Manila Bay to the central-south, Bataan to the southwest and Zambales to the west. Its capital is the City of San Fernando. Angeles City, while geographically within Pampanga, is classified as a first-class, highly urbanized city and is governed independently of the province.
The name La Pampanga was given by the Spaniards, who encountered natives living along the banks (pampáng) of the Pampanga River. Its creation in 1571 makes it the first Spanish province on Luzon Island (Cebu in Visayas is older as it was founded by the Spaniards in 1565). The town of Villa de Bacolor in the province briefly served as the Spanish colonial capital when Great Britain invaded Manila as part of the Seven Years' War. At the eve of the Philippine Revolution of 1896, Pampanga was one of eight provinces placed under martial law for rebellion against the Spanish Empire; it is thus represented on the Philippine national flag as one of the eight rays of the sun.
Pampanga is served by Clark International Airport (formerly Diosdado Macapagal International Airport), which is in Clark Freeport Zone, some 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) north of the provincial capital. The province is home to two Philippine Air Force airbases: Basa Air Base in Floridablanca and the former United States Clark Air Base in Angeles City. Due to its growing population and developments, the Clark Global City is now developed and is located in Clark Freeport Zone. By 2015, the province has 2,198,110 inhabitants,[2] while it has 1,079,532 registered voters.
