Antique

Antique, officially the Province of Antique, is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is San Jose de Buenavista, the most populous town in Antique. The province is situated in the western section of Panay Island and borders Aklan, Capiz and Iloilo to the east, while facing the Sulu Sea to the west. The province is home to the indigenous Iraynun-Bukidnon, speakers of a dialect of the Kinaray-a language, who have crafted the only rice terrace clusters in the Visayas through indigenous knowledge and sheer vernacular capabilities. The rice terraces of the Iraynun-Bukidnon are divided into four terraced fields, namely, General Fullon rice terraces, Lublub rice terraces, Bakiang rice terraces, and San Agustin rice terraces. All of the rice terrace clusters have been researched by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and various scholars from the University of the Philippines. There have been campaigns to nominate the Iraynun-Bukidnon Rice Terraces, along with the Central Panay Mountain Range, into the UNESCO World Heritage List. Etymology Antique was one of the three (districts) of Panay before Spanish colonizers arrived on the islands. The province was known at that time as Hantík, the local name for the large black ants found on the island. The Spanish chroniclers, influenced by the French, recorded the region's name as Hantique with the (silent 'h'), but this was only adopted in areas near Malandog River in present Hamtic town which then became the provincial capital (shortly before Bugason and San Jose). The province bearing its former capital's name is spelled and pronounced as "Antique" (än-ti-ké), without 'h' and pronounced in (Kinaray-a) dialectic way. History