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Zambales' economic pillars (Left to Right: Marine resources, Mining, The Zambales Mango, The Zambales Turnips, The Dinamulag Festival.

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Zambales is both abundant in agricultural and marine resources due to it being in between the Zambales Mountain Range and the West Philippine Sea. Among its known agricultural resources would be its Turnips, Carabao Milk, and its famed Mangoes, letting it earn the moniker of "The Mango Capital of Luzon". Its distance near the West Philippine Sea allows better support to the fishing industry and access to other resources such as oil and natural gases such as Hydrogen and Methane.

Zambales is also known as one of the most famous tourist destinations near Manila. Its known as both "The Wreck Diving and Triathlon Capital" and also renowned for its beaches, reefs, waterfalls, forests, valleys, and mountains which attract many adventurers and daredevils for different activities such as using jet-skis, cliff jumping, scuba diving, deep sea fishing, skydiving, hiking, survival training, boating, surfing, island hopping, treetop climbing, cycling, and bird-watching.

Zambales' culture and history also attracts tourists. Examples would be pilgrimages to Our Lady of Poonbato, a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary found by Aetas almost 400 years ago, the Mango or Dinamulag Festival which is a week-long thanksgiving for the prosperous harvests for Mangoes, the Binabayani Festival which commemorates the war between Christian settlers and Animist Sambals, the House of President Ramon Magsaysay, and Fort Paynauen, a former Spanish fort where revolutionary Aetas, Sambals, and Kapampangans were detained in the Colonial Era.

Olongapo City and neighboring Subic are the Party Capitals of the province due to the presence of various clubs, hotels, bars, and restaurants. Subic in particular is also the site of several music festivals and during Holy Week, holds a Mardi Gras feast that lasts for several nights.

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Zambales' economic pillars (Left to Right: Marine resources, Mining, The Zambales Mango, The Zambales Turnips, The Dinamulag Festival.

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Zambales is both abundant in agricultural and marine resources due to it being in between the Zambales Mountain Range and the West Philippine Sea. Among its known agricultural resources would be its Turnips, Carabao Milk, and its famed Mangoes, letting it earn the moniker of "The Mango Capital of Luzon". Its distance near the West Philippine Sea allows better support to the fishing industry and access to other resources such as oil and natural gases such as Hydrogen and Methane.

Zambales is also known as one of the most famous tourist destinations near Manila. Its known as both "The Wreck Diving and Triathlon Capital" and also renowned for its beaches, reefs, waterfalls, forests, valleys, and mountains which attract many adventurers and daredevils for different activities such as using jet-skis, cliff jumping, scuba diving, deep sea fishing, skydiving, hiking, survival training, boating, surfing, island hopping, treetop climbing, cycling, and bird-watching.

Zambales' culture and history also attracts tourists. Examples would be pilgrimages to Our Lady of Poonbato, a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary found by Aetas almost 400 years ago, the Mango or Dinamulag Festival which is a week-long thanksgiving for the prosperous harvests for Mangoes, the Binabayani Festival which commemorates the war between Christian settlers and Animist Sambals, the House of President Ramon Magsaysay, and Fort Paynauen, a former Spanish fort where revolutionary Aetas, Sambals, and Kapampangans were detained in the Colonial Era.

Olongapo City and neighboring Subic are the Party Capitals of the province due to the presence of various clubs, hotels, bars, and restaurants. Subic in particular is also the site of several music festivals and during Holy Week, holds a Mardi Gras feast that lasts for several nights.

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The awe-inspiring Mt. Pinatubo, a pride of Zambales and one of the greatest known volcanoes throughout the world. It is revered by the Aeta people as sacred.

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The Sambal people as depicted in the Spanish manuscript known as the Boxer Codex

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Even before the Malays came to our shores, the Aeta people have long inhabited the land that would soon be Zambales. Soon after, the Sambals came after the arrival of the Malays. The word "Sambal" came from the Malay word "Sembah" which means "to worship" as the early Sambals heavily practiced Anitism or the worship of "Anitos": gods of nature and the spirits of their ancestors.

When Spanish forces, led by the renowned conquistador Juan de Salcedo, first explored the area in 1572, they gained the trust of the early Sambals by freeing their chieftain from a Chinese raid party. The unity formed between them led to the province being organized and led to the formation of the first 5 towns: Subic, Botolan, Masinloc, Iba, and Sta. Cruz.

Masinloc was originally its first capital until 1901 when Governor Potenciano Lesaca assigned the town of Iba to instead assume the role due to its strategic location during the American Colonial Era. Zambales was also a major fighting force during World War II against the forces of Imperial Japan as it was a major training area and battlefield for native Guerilla fighters and the American army. Among the soldiers fighting within Zambales was former President Ramon Magsaysay.

In the post World War II era, Zambales has had its fair share of hardships as well. During the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos, the province was heavily militarized as the Sambal people were vocal critics and oppositionists against Martial Law. This led to multiple incidents of violence, especially against the Aeta population. In 1991, Zambales was severely affected by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo which weakened the province's economy and led to a loss of 400 lives and left 22,000 homeless and injured.

In the modern age, Zambales has been a known tourist destination and because of the Scarborough Shoal Standoff or the international tension between The Philippines and China in staking a claim over Scarborough Shoal, a shoal just off the coast of the town of Masinloc, due to its abundance in resources such as natural gases and oils.

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A map of Zambales with all of its known landmarks and features

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Zambales is situated on the Western coasts of the Philippines, directly near the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea. It is bound on the North by Pangasinan, bound on the East by Tarlac and Pampanga, and bound to the South by Bataan.

The Province of Zambales is known for the different spectrums of its natural features like Volcanoes such as Mt. Pinatubo which last erupted in 1991 are some of its known features. It also has the Zambales Mountain Range which are heavily mined due to its rich deposits of metals particularly chromium, iron, and nickel in the Northern regions. Due to Mt. Pinatubo's eruption, many open areas, such as in the town of Botolan, are covered in lahar or fragments of volcanic flow. Zambales also has numerous bodies of water that attract different travelers such as the rivers of Bagsit, Bancal, and Pamulaklaki, Uacon Lake, Nagsasa and Anawangin Cove, Pundaquit Island, and Magalawa Island.

The Northern parts of Zambales, particularly in the towns of Masinloc to Sta. Cruz, are usually swampy and rich in Mangrove trees which local fishermen have learned to harness to aid in fishing. Lastly, the province is also abundant in open fields and forests in both lowlands and highlands. Its moniker of "One of the Mango Capitals of the Philippines" comes from the fact that its terrain and climate are well suited for the growth of its sweet mangoes.