Its capital (and largest city) is Tabuk and borders Mountain Province to the south, Abra to the west, Isabela to the east, Cagayan to the northeast, and Apayao to the north.

Kalinga and Apayao are the result of the 1995 partitioning of the former province of Kalinga-Apayao which was seen to better service the respective needs of the various indigenous peoples in the area.

President Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed Lubuagan town the seat of government for 73 days from March 6, 1900, to May 18, 1900, before finally fleeing to his last hideout in Palanan.

[12] During his bid to be the first Philippine president to be re-elected for a second term, Ferdinand Marcos launched an unprecedented number of public works projects.

[22] The Kalinga-Apayao became known as a flashpoint of conflict between the Marcos dictatorship and the various indigenous peoples who lived in the area, because of the Chico River Dam Project,[23][24] which, even if only the most essential part of it were built, would have encompassed the municipalities of Tinglayan, Lubuagan, Pasil, and parts of Tabuk in Kalinga, as well as numerous municipalities in Mountain Province; and would have displaced about 100,000 indigenous people.

In 1977 alone, numerous Kalinga dam protesters — including tribal leaders Lumbaya Aliga Gayudan and Macli-ing Dulag,[23] and even a 12-year-old child[24] — were rounded up by these forces and incarcerated for up to two months.

[27] As a result, the Chico River Dam Project is now considered a landmark case study concerning ancestral domain issues in the Philippines.

[30] However, anti-left sentiment in Aquino's new cabinet, which included figures who were aligned with the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, made the peace process difficult, and negotiations eventually collapsed, and the insurgency in Kalinga-Apayao persisted.

Kalinga covers a total area of 3,231.25 square kilometres (1,247.59 sq mi)[39] occupying the central section of the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon.

Large swaths of the province's lowlands are open grassland suitable for pasture, while the highlands have extensive areas of tropical rainforest.

The seven municipalities and one component city of the province comprise 153 barangays, with Bulanao in Tabuk as the most populous in 2010, and Anggacan Sur in Tanudan as the least.

Due to the mountainous terrain and warrior-culture of the people, the Kalinga were able to preserve their culture despite centuries of occupation in the lowlands by the Spaniards, Americans, and the Japanese.

On February 22, 2019, the Department of Tourism announced the bid of Digdiga Ni Tupayya, a Kalinga courtship dance, to be included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.