[3] Initially, the town was named "Manlambus", a Visayan term meaning "to strike with a club", in reference to how the fishes were caught in its coastal waters.

But archaeological findings in October 1975 and May 1976 made by a team of Anthropology students led by Professor Lionel Chiong of Silliman University reveal an early record of men who inhabited not only the present city but also the island of Negros during the pre-Spanish time.

Obviously buried with the dead, the plate, bowls, jars and iron implements were found alongside the skeletal remains, the daggers and hunting knives on top of the breast section and the gold beads inside the skulls in-between the upper and lower jaws.

When carbon-14 tested, these findings together with the human skeletal remains were found to date as far back as the 12th century A.D. All this proved that present-day Escalante was inhabited by settlers with a relatively developed culture who were engaged in some form of trade and commerce with the outside world, such as the Chinese and Japanese traders who could have brought the jarlet, stoneware and celadon pieces during the Ages of Contacts and Trade with the East (11th & 12th centuries A.D.) The northeastern part of Negros Island was "one of the most cultivated regions" in the mid-19th century.

On November 28, 1856, Governor-General Manuel Crespo issued a decree creating the towns of Escalante and Saravia.

Navarro, in a report to the Recollect Provincial in 1861, wrote that the inhabitants of his Parish and its 14 barrios lying along the northeast portion of the island from Calatrava to Himogaan, "speak the Cebuano dialect and all, or the majority, came from Cebu, with the exception of those from Barrio Marianas (Himogaan) .

In 1859, a politico-Military Command was established in Bacolod under Governor Emilio E. Saravia with six towns under its jurisdiction: Escalante, Guihulngan, Jinuboan, Jimalalud, Tayasan, and Ayungon.

Tobacco was grown commercially but its production decreased when monopoly was established starting from the time of Don Emilio Saravia (1855–1857), the first politico-military of the Negros Island.

To capture the hearts and minds of the inhabitants without the use of guns and cannons, the Americans opened the first free elementary school at Old Poblacion in the early 1900s.

A Gabaldon-type elementary school building was constructed at Old Poblacion during the term of Mayor Fernando Lucot (1912–1918).

The municipal hall and the town plaza were constructed and developed during the time of Francisco Ferrer, Sr. Also at this time, the first municipal school site where the first elementary school was located, was formally acquired, and the installation of the Rizal Monument at the public plaza completed.

The establishment of the general headquarters of the Philippine Commonwealth Army was active on January 3, 1942, to June 30, 1946, and the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary was active again on October 28, 1944, to June 30, 1946, and military stationed in the town municipality of Escalante during the Japanese Occupation.

In 1945, local Filipino soldiers of the 7th, 72nd, 75th and 76th Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the 7th Constabulary Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary was liberated the towns in Escalante, Negros Occidental and helping Negrosanon guerrilla fighters defeats and attacking Japanese Imperial forces and ended of the Second World War.

The siege of all Filipino troops of the Philippine Army and Constabulary units was found liberated in the town municipality on 1945 against the Japanese.

This placed the new town in an enviable position, not only being a center of higher education and quality medical care in this part of Negros.

This brought about profound changes in the socio-cultural, economic and political life of the town as it provided the much-needed opportunity for children of poor families in the area to acquire college education.

During this time, a modern public market, new municipal building, and the 50,000-gallon reservoir was erected under the mayor Braulio P. Lumayno.

However, the uneven land distribution, marginal food production, and the excesses of the political system created so much discontent especially in the sugarcane farms.

Then BAYAN Chairman Rolando Ponsica, who was one of the persecuted during the Martial Law years, easily became the mayor in 1988.

After 143 years of existence as a municipality, under the leadership of Mayor Santiago G. Barcelona, Jr., Escalante was now qualified to become a city.

It was signed into law on February 28, 2001, by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and was ratified in a plebiscite held on March 31, 2001.

It is bounded on the north and west by the city of Sagay, on the south by the town of Toboso and on the east by the Tañon Strait.

Outside the city center of Escalante, there is a separate region of low rolling hills, especially going to its upland barangays towards Mt.

In a limited coastal zone, remnants of a third ecosystem, coral reef may be found but in residual, degraded form.

The marine waters of Escalante are generally warm throughout the year, except for early mornings of the cool months of December, January and February.

It is also the time when low tides called aya-ay prevail, making beachcombing of its shores more pleasurable.

But being largely coastal, Escalante enjoys a constant flow of refreshing sea breeze.

The city belongs to the 1st Congressional District of Negros Occidental, which is under the leadership of Congressman Gerardo P. Valmayor, Jr.