The seat of government was later transferred to Himamaylan until Bacólod became the capital in 1849, heralding the opening of the sugar industry spearheaded by British diplomat and businessman Nicholas Loney.

[13] European demand and Philippine supply would place Negros squarely on the British-dominated global economic map for the next hundred years.

[12][10] The mass settlement was pioneered by Iloílo-based landowners, though the mountainous terrain of the island made it more practical for colonists to settle the coastal areas on opposite ends.

The armed uprising against Spanish colonial rule was divided between Papa Isio's dumaan and sacada army and the hacendero-led cantonal forces,[16] between which relations were tense.

Families such as the Montillas and Zubiris of southern Negros would also rise to political prominence in their adopted provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Bukidnon, respectively.

[21][22] Mindanao localities that are home to the highest concentrations of diaspora Negrenses are found in Valencia, Tacurong, Kidapawan, Koronadal and General Santos, while significant numbers reside in Dávao, Zamboanga and Cagayán de Oro as well.

With the declaration of martial law by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972 and the collapse of the sugar industry on Negros in the 1980s due to the expiration a few years earlier of the Laurel–Langley Agreement, which had previously guaranteed Philippine sugar-producers access to the US market, Negrense families emigrated en masse from Negros to the United States, Canada and Australia to escape the economic losses incurred with the steep decline of the island's main crop.

Large diaspora populations have since formed in the United States (Hawaii, California, New Jersey and New York) and in Australia (Queensland and New South Wales).

The collapse of the Negros sugar industry and the "widespread hunger, unemployment, and terrorism" that subsequently engulfed the island accounts for the large Negrense presence outside the homeland,[23][10] whether in other parts of the country or abroad.

All strata of Negrense society took part in the emigration from the island: from the impoverished sacadas and dumaan to the landowning hacenderos, the latter now easily stripped by Marcos of their kingmaker roles in national politics.

[23] Violent socioeconomic conflict, albeit much reduced,[9] continues to plague Negrense society to this day,[4][24][25][26] the latest series of incidents being the Negros killings of 2017 to 2019.

[27][28] In spite of the troubles that continue to beset the Negrense people, particularly those who live on mainland Negros,[29] the island today positions itself at the centre of organic-food production and tourism in the Philippines,[30][31] seeking to move away from the colonial single-crop economy to one rebuilt on sustainable food systems.

[43][44][45] Negrense society has from its inception been heavily stratified,[24][46] divided between the seasonal sacada laborers, the settled dumaan farmhands, the millers and the landowning hacenderos.