The historical name of the Philippines, "Las Islas Felipenas", named by Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos in honor of Prince Philip of Spain, used to refer to the islands of Leyte and Samar only, until it was adopted to refer to the entire archipelago.

The Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, first came to the island in 1543 and named it Las Islas Felipinas.

During the World War II era, the Leyte Provincial Capitol briefly became the seat of the Philippine Commonwealth Government.

A successful Allied invasion of the island was the crucial element to the eventual Filipino and American victory in the Philippines.

11077, seeking to create Western Leyte, which would cover two cities (Ormoc and Baybay) and 16 municipalities (Albuera, Bato, Calubian, Hilongos, Hindang, Inopacan, Isabel, Kananga, Leyte, Matag-ob, Matalom, Merida, Palompon, San Isidro, Tabango, and Villaba) where Cebuano is predominantly spoken.

The province is situated west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte, south of Biliran, and east of the Camotes Sea.

Baybay attained cityhood in 2007 but reverted to its municipal status when the Supreme Court declared its city charter unconstitutional in 2008.

It was on February 15, 2011, that the Supreme Court reversed its decision once again, allowing Baybay, along with the other 16 cities, to retain their cityhood status.

Tacloban-Waray dialect is considered as the standard form of Waray language and is used as the de facto lingua franca in both Leyte and Samar Islands.

The 2000 census stated that 97% of Leyte's population adhered to Roman Catholicism, one of the highest percentages in the Visayas.

[citation needed] The remaining 3% were adherents of other different Christian denominations and sects, such as the indigenous Iglesia ni Cristo, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and Members Church of God International, popularly known as Ang Dating Daan, and many other foreign religious groups like the Mormons, Born Again Christians, Baptists, Pentecostals, Seventh-Day Adventists (Sabadistas), and many more.

It comprises 0.3% of Tacloban City's population, and its adherents are mainly the Maranao people and other Moro migrants from Mindanao who work mostly as traders.

The upper portion is a perspective of the national Freedom Park commemorating the landing of General Douglas MacArthur and the American Liberation Forces in Leyte during World War II.

The alphabet on the cross argent is the ancient Visayan paleographic syllabary of the letter L which stands for Leyte.

[23] Located at Pawing, Palo, Leyte, the 6.8 facility hosts two business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, namely, the Expert Global Solutions (EGS) Company (formerly APAC Customer Services, Inc.) and ACUDATA, Inc. (a financial and data services BPO).

Tacloban Airport primarily serves connecting flights from major Philippine cities (Manila and Cebu).