La Trinidad is one of thirteen (13) municipalities (along with one city) that comprise the province of Benguet in the Cordillera Administrative Region. The town is politically subdivided into (16) barangays, and is a part of the 2nd Congressional District of Benguet.
La Trinidad is the capital and seat of the provincial government, as well as a major education and trade center for the province of Benguet.
La Trinidad is endowed with a rich fertile valley, and as such was well-cultivated by its original settlers even long before the coming of the Spaniards. To this day, the town is considered the "Salad Bowl of the Philippines", owing to its reputation as one of the leading vegetable-producing municipalities in the entire country.
The natives of La Trinidad were generally Ibaloys who trace their ancestry to the Kalanguya Tribe (forest people) of Tinek, Ifugao, who, due to the need to survive in a less hostile and more suitable environment, followed mountain ranges or the courses of rivers in different waves and paths of migration, and usually settled along rivers or open clearings in Kabayan, Itogon, Tuba, Atok, Kafagway (Baguio) and La Trinidad.
Finding earlier settlers in those areas, these migrants then mingled with the former and through intermarriage, settled among them.
Religion was based on the belief in a supreme being called the Kabunian. Prayers were done during rituals and festivities, and were based largely on agriculture.
Cañaos, or religious festivities, were accompanied by ba-dew (chants and dance) with gansa (gongs) and solibao (drums) as the basic musical instruments.
The name "Benguet" was once limited to the area of what is now the La Trinidad Valley. Benguet is a native term which refers to a lake where water does not drain, referring to the former swamp area where no natural drain existed.
In search for gold, Spanish explorers led by Don M. Quirante discovered the valley in 1624. Its name La Trinidad is the namesake of Don Quirante’s beloved and beautiful wife.
Relatively the most developed settlement in the Benguet area during those times, La Trinidad served as the gateway from the southern lowlands into the mountain region and the center of administration to the Spaniards throughout the centuries, up until the American colonialization period.