Thousands of years ago, Naic was a part of the towering Mt. Taal. Naic was the western slope of the volcano until its internal eruption which led to the sinking of its apex in its present condition.
When the Jesuits discovered Maragondon in 1627, its total land area covers the whole of Naic, Ternate, and Magallanes (Vance; Saulo and De Ocampo, 1990; Medina, 1992). In 1758, the Jesuits founded a community in the western bank of the river (present Barangay Muzon) and made it into a "sitio" with a visita still under Maragondon.
In 1791, the community was finally made into a town with its poblacion still in the western bank. The town was named NAIC after the old archaic word
"CAN(ia)AYIC" meaning "town near one another" or "the other side" (Medina, 1992), while Alfredo B. Saulo contends that Naic is a highly cultured Tagalog word meaning "suburbs" or "countryside". Also in Malaysia, Naic means "overboard" which only proves that the term used, refers to the fact that Naic was just a part of the older town of Maragondon and not from the crying sound of pigs (NA-IGIK).
Moreover, due to the closeness of Naic to the poblacion in Maragondon, Naic transferred its center in 1798 to the eastern bank of the river (the present poblacion)(Medina, 1992). Also during this time, the town was already a flourishing fishing and agricultural village (Villanueva, 1982). On the other hand, the church, since 1797, was under the secular clergy who were mostly Filipinos (Jose, 1997; Medina, 1992). Upon the "Royal Audiencia" issued in 1849, the church was transferred to the Dominican Friars in 1865. The Dominicans upon finding out that the land in Naic was fertile, built the Casa Hacienda de Naic (the present (Naic Elementary School) to be the administration building for the overseer of the larger friar lands in Naic (Jose, 1996).
In the revolution of 1897, all the names of the towns in Cavite were filipinized, thus, the name of Naic was changed to "Maguagi". Furthermore, five historic evens took place in Naic which helped in the attainment of freedom from Spain. These were as follows:
Naic is also the very first town in the country to pass an ordinance banning pigs from the street. It had been a perennial problem of the country. It is one of the greatest achievement of Naic because the other towns followed suit.
by................Ryan N. Sebastian
1. The designing of the first official flag of the country which took place in Sulok, Naic, Cavite (the present Velarmart).
2. The aborted "coup d'etat(Acta de Naic)" initiated by Andres Bonifacio and his 41 co-revolutionists which almost overthrew the government initiated in Tejeros (Casa Hacienda de Naic).
3. The appointment of the first cabinet ministers including the Departments of Interior, Justice, Finance, and Defence (Casa Hacienda de Naic).
4. The Battle of Timalan where the Filipino revolutionists won overwhelmingly against the Spanish troops (Timalan, Naic Cavite).
5. The Battle of Naic where Aguinaldo declared the town to be his last defense (Poblation) (Medina, 1996, de Achutegui, 1972; Aguinaldo, 1964; T.A. Agoncillo, 1963).
