Bais, officially the City of Bais (; ), is a 3rd class component city in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 84,317 people. Etymology In the early days of Spanish exploration, some Spaniards came upon a swampy land and docked their boats at the vicinity of the two small islets that guarded the village. While exploring the place, they saw natives fishing along the coast. The Spaniards approached the natives and asked for the name of the place. The natives could not understand Spanish, and believing that the Spaniards were asking for the name of their catch, the natives answered saying "Ba-is"; from that day on, this swampy valley of the Old Panlabangan and Talamban Hills became known as Bais. History Pioneer in the sugar industry Negros Oriental's economy was far from progressive, and its rich soil was not utilized to its full capacity in the 1850s. During those years, people in Negros Island are depicted as having a life of content for they tended to produce only enough goods to meet their daily needs. Even before the sugar boom of the 1850s, Negros Oriental was already producing sugar. The transport of most of its product was mainly done from the ports of Iloilo, which explains the fast moving pace of development of the sugar industry in Negros Occidental, primarily due to its proximity to Iloilo. This situation was a disadvantage on the movement of sugar from the oriental plantations further away to the east. According to Bais historian, Penn Tulabing Larena, a wide array of difficulties barred the development of the sugar industry in the Oriental part of the island. The pioneer sugar traders and adventurers include José Rodrigo Camilo Rubio and Diego García-Baena - both from Cádiz, Agustín de Sandes from Mexico, Aniceto Villanueva from Spain and Vicente-Anunciación Te (who later adopted the surname Teves, from Amoy Province, China). After hearing about the fertility of the flatland of Bais, these individuals carved away the virgin forests of the eastern side of the island. Many came and settled in the area and planted sugar cane, thus producing muscovado sugar (invented by Vicente-Anunciación Teves) from their mills which was then exported to Spain via Iloilo, the principal shipping point in the Visayas. This was loaded in large sailboats called lurchas or Batel built by Aniceto Villanueva and Joaquín Montenegro. Bais