From a Simple Municipality to a Historic City

 Vigan was once just a simple town, a busy trading spot where Chinese merchants exchanged goods with the locals. Back then, it was called "Bee Gan," which means "beautiful shore" in Hokkien. Life was simple, people traded, farmed, and lived quietly.

Then the Spaniards came, and Vigan changed. They turned it into a well-planned colonial town, mixing Filipino, Chinese, and European styles. That’s why the streets are made of cobblestones, the houses are big and old, and the whole place feels like a step back in time.

Now, Vigan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known as the best-preserved Spanish colonial town in Asia. It’s a city now, more modern, but it still keeps its old charm. The history, the culture—it’s all still there, just mixed with today’s world.

REFERENCES:

(1) UNESCO World Heritage Centre https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigan#:~:text=At%20the%20time%20of%20Spanish

(2) Wikipedia https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/502/