Formerly called Ibat, and then Libog, Albay was once ruled by Gat Ibal, an old chief who also founded the old barangay of Sawangan, now part of the City of Legazpi.

Historian William Henry Scott wrote that in the local epic called siday entitled "Bingi of Lawan", an Albay datu by the name of Dumaraog went to Lawan (present-day Laoang, Northern Samar) to ask for the hands of Bingi bringing with him 100 ships.

The entire Bicol peninsula was organized as one province with two divisions, Camarines in the northwest and Ibalon in the southeast.

In the 17th century, Moro slave raiders from the southern Philippines ravaged the northeastern coastal areas of the province of Albay.

With a headquarters in the mountain of Guinobatan town, he joined the revolutionary government of Albay as a lieutenant in the infantry.

Major General Vito Belarmino, the appointed military commander, reorganized the Filipino Army in the province.

[9] During the Philippine–American War, Brigadier General William August Kobbé headed the expedition that landed at the ports of Sorsogon, Bulan and Donsol.

Although a civil government was established in Albay on April 26, 1901, Colonel Harry Hill Bandholtz, Commanding Officer of the Constabulary in the Bicol Region, said that General Simeon Ola, with a thousand men, continued to defy American authority after the capture of Belarmino in 1901.

Then came the clearing operations and anti-Japanese insurgency in the Bicol Peninsula, helped by the local Bicolano resistance.

Some Bicolano guerrilla groups invaded around the province of Albay during the Japanese Insurgencies between 1942 and 1944 and were supported by local Filipino troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army and pre-war Philippine Constabulary 5th Infantry Regiments attacking the enemy soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army.

[11] The most prominent of the victims was Clemente Ragragio, the municipal sanitation inspector of Ligao who was later also assigned to Oas.

A killer shot him three times in front of his house in the early evening of August 21, 1985, and the government did not investigate his murder.

He was later honored by having his name inscribed on the wall of remembrance at the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani (lit.

[11] Albay has a total land area of 2,575.77 square kilometres (994.51 sq mi),[13] which makes it the 53rd biggest province.

On the eastern part of the province is a line of volcanic mountains starting with the northernmost Malinao in Tiwi, followed by Mount Masaraga and the free-standing Mayon Volcano.

The western coast of the province is mountainous but not as prominent as the eastern range with the highest elevation at around 490 metres (1,610 ft).

These deities include: Gugurang, the supreme god who dwells inside of Mount Mayon where he guards and protects the sacred fire that his brother Aswang was trying to steal.

;[24] Bulan, the god of the pale moon, he is depicted as a pubescent boy with uncommon comeliness that made savage beast and the vicious mermaids (Magindara) tame.

Rinconada Bikol is a minority language in the province and used by people in barangays of Libon and Polangui that are near the boundary of Bato and Iriga in Camarines Sur.

Another primary language used in the province is Central Bikol which is the native tongue of the population on the eastern coast of the Bicol Peninsula.

Handicrafts are the major source of rural income and comprises a fairly large share in the small-scale industries of the province.

The manufacture of abacá products such as Manila hemp, hats, bags, mats, furniture, home decors,[35] and slippers is one of the main sources of income in the rural areas.

Albay is served by the mainline of the Philippine National Railways (PNR), and has commuter service between Naga in Camarines Sur.