The name Batangas is derived from the term batangan, which has two definitions: a log found in the Calumpang River, and rafts used to fish in Taal Lake.

The area was a major site for the Maritime Jade Road, one of the most extensive sea-based trade networks of a single geological material in the prehistoric world, operating for ~3,000 years from ~2000 BCE to ~1000 CE.

Archaeological findings and written accounts by the Spanish explorers in the mid-16th century show that pre-colonial Tagalogs have long histories in complex, stratified societies with trade networks encompassing Southeast and East Asia.

The presence of dining utensils such as plates or "chalices" found with the remains also suggest that prehistoric Batangueños believed in the idea of life-after-death.

According to the Chinese Imperial Annals, Ma-yi had its center in the province and extends to as far as present-day Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon, Bataan, Bulacan, Mindoro, Marinduque, Nueva Ecija, some parts of Zambales, and Tarlac.

Henry Otley Beyer, an American archaeologist, also showed in his studies that the early Batangueños had a special affinity with the precious stone known as the jade.

Kumintang was a large polity around the Calumpang River in modern-day Batangas ruled by the legendary figure Gat Pulintan according to local tradition, was the paramount datu in the region who refused to be Christianized continued resistance against Spanish occupation in the hills.

In the same years that de Goiti and Salcedo visited the province, the Franciscan missionaries came to Taal, which later became the first Spanish settlement in Batangas and one of the earliest in the Philippines.

In an incident recorded by Amelia Bonifacio in her diary, the performance of Tanikalang Ginto in the province led not only to the arrest of the company but all of the audience.

The most notable air combat battle took place at the height of 3,700 metres (12,000 ft) on December 12, 1941, when 6 Filipino fighters led by Capt.

Jesús Villamor engaged the numerically superior enemy of 54 Japanese bombers and fighter escorts which raided the Batangas Airfield.

Jesús Villamor won the battle, suffering only one casualty, Lt. César Basa who was able to bail out as his plane was shot down, only to be strafed by the Zeroes.

During this time, the Imperial Japanese Army committed many crimes against civilians including the massacre of 328 people in Bauan, 320 in Taal, 300 in Cuenca, 107 in San Jose, and 39 in Lucero.

[20] In order to secure the two bays, the 158th needed to capture the entire Calumpang Peninsula near the town of Mabini, which was still held by some elements of the Japanese 2nd Surface Raiding Base Force.

[20] Meanwhile, the 11th Airborne's 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment had begun the opening of the Lipa corridor at Santo Tomas and Tanauan before being relieved by the 1st Cavalry Division and moving via Tagaytay to Bauan and San Jose.

To the north, the 1st Cavalry attacked the remaining Japanese defenses in the towns of Santo Tomas and Tanauan and succeeded in linking up with the advancing 187th and 188th task forces from the south.

During the engagements of the Anti-Japanese Imperial Military Operations in Manila, southern Luzon, Mindoro, and Palawan from 1942 to 1945, (including the provinces of Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Mindoro, and Palawan), units of the Philippine Constabulary, with the local guerrilla resistance joined with the U.S. liberation military forces against the Imperial Japanese armed forces.

[clarification needed] After Douglas MacArthur made his famous landing in the Island of Leyte, he came next to the town of Nasugbu to mark the liberation of Luzon.

Prominent Batangueño Senator Jose W. Diokno was one of the first people Marcos imprisoned without charges,[22] because according to then-Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile, the regime found it necessary to "emasculate the voices of the opposition.

In the second half of 2006, scientists from the United States discovered that the Coral Triangle has its centre at the Isla Verde Passage, a part of the province.

According to the study made by American marine biologist Kent Carpenter, Batangas seas host more than half of the world's species of coral.

Tagalogs are the predominant people in Batangas, being the native settlers in the province, distantly followed by Bicolanos, Visayans, Kapampangans, Pangasinenses, and Ilocanos, as well as Maguindanaons, Maranaos, Tausugs and other ethnolinguistic groups from Mindanao.

Pineapple leaves fibers are processed to form a silk-like fabric known as piña, from which the barong tagalog, the national costume of the Philippines is made.

Cattle raising is widely practiced in Batangas such that every Saturday is an auction day in the municipalities of San Juan, Bauan and Padre Garcia.

Batangas houses 5 industrial parks registered under the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), which are concentrated along the route of STAR Tollway and Jose P. Laurel Highway.

Batangas City and the nearby municipalities of San Pascual, Bauan, and Mabini also have large-scale industrial activity connected with their seaside location, including power generation, oil and gas processing and transhipment, and ship repairs.

Once opened, this will provide motorists a faster route to the resort towns of Nasugbu, Lian and Calatagan in the western part of the province.

Santo Tomas, the First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP) in Tanauan, San Pascual and Batangas City, however, are served by the Metro Manila-based electric company, Meralco.

One power plant to be built at Mabacong, Batangas City, is facing opposition from environmentalists and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lipa, owing to its effect on residents and the aquatic ecosystem on Verde Island Passage.

In fact according to scholars, the very first printed version of the pasyon was authored by a layman from Rosario named Gaspar Aquino de Belen.