Dapitan

Dapitan is a component city in the province of Zamboanga del Norte in the Philippines, with 87,699 residents at the 2024 census. It is best known as the place where the national hero Jose Rizal was exiled by the Spanish colonial authorities, which earned it the nickname Shrine City in the Philippines. Its earliest settlers were the Subanen, and in 1564 the people of the Dapitan Kingdom, led by Pagbuaya and originally based on Bohol, migrated there after their territory was subjugated. The city is also home to Gloria's Fantasyland, the first amusement park in Mindanao, and to the Cotta de Dapitan, a fort established in 1761 to monitor the waters of northern Zamboanga.