There are possible explanations on the origins of the city's name: In local folk history about the period before the arrival of Spanish colonizers, Pasay is said to have been part of Namayan (sometimes also called Sapa), a confederation of barangays which supposedly controlled territory stretching from Manila Bay to Laguna de Bay, and which, upon the arrival of the Spanish, eventually became known as Santa Ana de Sapa (modern day Santa Ana, Manila).

[8][12] On May 19, 1571, Miguel López de Legazpi took formal possession of the Rajahnate of Maynila and its surrounding polities in the name of the Spanish crown.

Most of Pasay went to friar's hands either via donation or by purchase; many natives were also forced to divest of their properties to cope with stringent colonial impositions.

On December 2, 1863, with the recommendation of Manila Archbishop Gregorio Melitón Martínez Santa Cruz, Pineda was granted its own municipal charter, and this date is celebrated yearly as the city's official foundation day.

The execution of José Rizal, who authored the novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo (considered seditious by the colonial government) on December 30, 1896, fanned the flames of the Revolution.

General Emilio Aguinaldo meanwhile declared the independence of the First Philippine Republic on June 12, 1898, and issued decrees providing political reorganization in the country.

[citation needed] Since then, tension simmered between Filipino and American troops, with both sides assigned respective zones but neither observed boundary lines.

On the night of February 4, 1899, four Filipinos crossed the American line in Santa Mesa, Manila, and shots were exchanged, triggering the Philippine–American War.

In June, Noriel together with General Ricarte almost defeated the American forces had they exploited the exhaustion of the enemy in the Battle of Las Piñas.

Soon, the Pasay Real Estate Company offered friar lands as residential lots for sale or for lease to foreign investors.

[citation needed] On April 11, 1914, Cora Wong, a nurse at the Chinese General Hospital, became the first woman in the Philippines to fly as a passenger on a flight with Tom Gunn in a Curtiss seaplane off Pasay Beach.

Pasay was developed to be a residential area for prominent Filipino families and Americans, including future president Manuel L. Quezon.

Carlos Mendoza, a resident of Barrio San Roque, together with 14 others, formed a mobile broadcasting station called "The Voice of Juan dela Cruz."

Carling Mendoza, alias Juan de la Cruz" and other members of the group were brought to the old Bilibid Prison and were tortured.

Osmeña appointed Adolfo Santos as prewar vice mayor of Pasay, in place of incumbent Moises San Juan who died during the war.

He also issued an executive order that would dissolve the City of Greater Manila effective August 1, 1945, thus reinstating Pasay's pre-war status as a municipality of Rizal.

After two years, eight months, and twelve days of trying, the force of habit prevailed and Eulogio Rodriguez Jr., Santos-Diaz's successor, filed a bill returning the city to its original name.

In the following year, an assassination attempt occurred in Pasay when a Bolivian surrealist painter lunged at Pope Paul VI, with a knife grazing his chest.

[21] Not long after the decree had been put into effect, the Metropolitan Manila Commission and the Department of Local Government instructed Pasay to create its own barangays.

Upon the firm suggestion of Local Government and Community Development Secretary Jose Roño, the number of barangays was cut down to two hundred, organized into several zones.

[22] Pasay was the host city of Miss Universe 1974, the first time this event had been held in the morning and in the Asia Pacific, and thus was in the international spotlight in the leadup to the pageant day.

[23] Half a decade later, the city's first family would become famous nationally in the music scene: Sharon, the then young daughter of the mayor, broke out into the spotlight as a singer with the release of the LP DJ's Pet.

In 1981, LRT Line 1 opened its Pasay stations, including its Baclaran terminal on the Parañaque border, marking a return to rapid urban rail.

Cuneta left his post to be replaced by two acting mayors, Eduardo Calixto and Norman Urbina, only to be reelected in 1988 and serving for three more terms, before handing over to Jovito Claudio in 1998.

In 2007, then-Acting Mayor Allan Panaligan carried a plan to construct a new city hall located at the Central Business Park-I Island A along Macapagal Avenue.

[28] Pasay covers a total land area of 18.64 square kilometers (7.20 sq mi),[29][30] making it the third smallest political subdivision in the National Capital Region and fourth in the whole country.

[49] Cebu Pacific, Cebgo, PAL Express, Philippines AirAsia have their headquarters on the grounds of Ninoy Aquino International Airport and in Pasay.

[52] National government offices found in Pasay include: Senate of the Philippines, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, Civil Aeronautics Board, Manila International Airport Authority, the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry's export promotions agency – the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) – located in the International Trade Complex's Golden Shell Pavilion, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Office for Transportation Security (OTS).

LRT Line 1 has four stations in Pasay, namely Gil Puyat, Libertad, EDSA, and Baclaran, and has a depot located along Andrews Avenue.

Multicab services connect SM Mall of Asia with Baclaran in Parañaque, Gil Puyat Avenue, and Pasay Rotonda.