Santa Maria, officially the Municipality of Santa Maria, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. According to th…Santa Maria, officially the Municipality of Santa Maria, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 30,006 people. The community of Santa Maria must have been already an organized settlement before the Spaniards came to the Philippines. When Captain Juan de Salcedo conquered the Ilocos in 1572, they found out that the people were already engaged in a brisk trade and commerce with the Japanese and the Chinese. The people's main industries were fishing and farming and to some extent weaving of cotton cloth and pottery. The people were noted for their religiosity. They worshiped the anitos, spirits and local Gods. Although the conquest of the Ilocos Region was a slow and painful process for the inhabitants resisted, they were later conquered through the use of the sword and hand in hand with the Cross. It was the religious nature of the people that the friars greatly exploited to convert the Ilocanos to the new faith — Christianity.
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