Samar (province)
Samar, officially the Province of Samar (; ), formerly named as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Catbalogan. It is bordered by Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte and the Leyte Gulf, and includes several islands in the Samar Sea. Samar is connected to the island of Leyte via the San Juanico Bridge. In 1768, Leyte and modern Samar were created out of the historical province of Samar. In 1965, Northern and Eastern Samar were created. Fishing and agriculture are the major economic activities in the province . On 8 November 2013, the province was significantly damaged by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), particularly the towns of Basey, Marabut and Santa Rita. Etymology. "Samar" is said to derive from the word "Samad", a Visayan word for "wound" or "cut", describing the rough physical features of the land which is rugged and deeply dissected by streams. Geography. Samar province covers a total area of occupying the central-western sections of the Samar island in the Eastern Visayas region. The province is bordered on the north by Northern Samar, east by Eastern Samar, south by Leyte and the Leyte Gulf, and west  by the Samar Sea. Topography. Samar province is hilly, with mountain peaks ranging from high and narrow strips of lowlands, which tend to lie in coastal peripheries or in the alluvial plains and deltas accompanying large rivers. The largest lowlands are located along the northern coast extending up to the valleys of Catubig and Catarman rivers. Smaller lowlands in Samar are to be found in the Calbayog area and on the deltas and small valleys of Gandara and Ulot rivers. Slopes are generally steep and barren of trees due to deforestation. Run-off waters after heavy rains can provoke flooding  in low-lying areas and the erosion of the mountains enlarges the coastal plains of the province. Climate and rainfall. Areas near the eastern coast of the province have no dry season (with a pronounced maximum rain period usually occurring from December to January), and are thus open to the northeast monsoon. Municipalities in the southeastern section of the province experience this type of climate. Areas located in the northwestern portion of the province have a more or less evenly distributed rainfall throughout the year. Administrative divisions. The province of Samar comprises two congressional districts, 24 municipalities and two component  cities. It has a total of 952 barangays. Demographics. The population of Samar (province) in the was people, with a density of . Religion. Samar (Western Samar) is predominantly Roman Catholic. The "Catholic Hierarchy" (2014) states that 95 percent of its population adhere to Roman Catholicism. Some other Christian believers constitute most of the remainder such as Rizalista, Iglesia Filipina Independiente, Born-again Christians, Iglesia ni Cristo, Baptists, Methodists, Jehovah's Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Seventh-day Adventist and Members Church of God International (MCGI). Muslims are also present and a few mosques are located  within the province. Languages and dialects. Residents of Samar are mostly Waray, the fifth largest cultural-linguistic group in the country. 90.2 percent of the household population speaks the Waray-Waray language, while 9.8 percent also speak Cebuano; 8.1 percent Boholano; 0.07 percent Tagalog; and 0.5 percent other languages. There are two types of Waray spoken in the province, "Waray Lineyte-Samarnon" which is spoken from the southernmost tip of the province up to the municipality of Gandara and "Waray Calbayog", an intermediary between the Waray of Northern Samar and the Waray of Samar, spoken in Calbayog City, Santa Margarita , and in some parts of Tagapul-an, Santo Niño, Almagro and Matuguinao. Notable personalities. 19th & 20th Centuries 21st Century Proposed creation of Samar Administrative Region (SamAR). There is a proposed creation of Samar Administrative Region or SamAR, in which Eastern Visayas will be partitioned into two separate regions. Since the creation of Negros Island Region out of the regions of Western Visayas and Central Visayas, non-government organizations, local government units and people from the three Samar Island provinces are now expressing their support and willingness to put the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar and Eastern Samar into one separate  administrative region in order to boost its economy, improve and directly provide to its people the government's basic and other public services and lower its poverty rate incidence, since Samar island's three provinces are listed as one of the poorest provinces of the Philippines.