The City of Pagadian is the provincial capital of Zamboanga del Sur

Zamboanga del Sur

Zamboanga del Sur is a province of the Philippines located in the Zamboanga Peninsula region in Mindanao. Pagadian City is the capital...

 in the island of Mindanao

Mindanao

Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...

, Republic of the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

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The city had its beginnings as a stopover for traders who ply the road between the Spanish town-fort of Zamboanga on the southern tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula

Zamboanga Peninsula

Zamboanga Peninsula / Western Mindanao is a peninsula and an administrative region in the Philippines. Designated as Region IX, the region consists of three provinces, namely, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga Sibugay, its component cities of Dipolog, Dapitan, Pagadian, and...

 and other bigger towns to the north of the old province of Zamboanga. Apart from its sheltered bay and good fishing grounds, it was not a place where anyone envisioned a city would be founded upon it, as it is situation on rolling terrain.