| Babuyan Island | |
| Native Name: | Curuga Mabuyan |
| Map: | Philippines |
| Map Relief: | yes |
| Coordinates: | 19.5222°N 121.9536°W |
| Archipelago: | Babuyan Islands |
| Area Km2: | 100 |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Length Mi: | 8 |
| Width Mi: | 6 |
| Elevation M: | 1064 |
| Elevation Footnotes: | [2] |
| Highest Mount: | Babuyan Claro |
| Country: | Philippines |
| Country Admin Divisions Title: | Region |
| Country Admin Divisions: | Cagayan Valley |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 1: | Province |
| Country Admin Divisions 1: | Cagayan |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 2: | Municipality |
| Country Admin Divisions 2: | Calayan |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 3: | Barangay |
| Country Admin Divisions 3: | Babuyan Claro |
| Population: | 1,910 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
Babuyan Island (sometimes called Babuyan Claro or Curuga Mabuyan, the clear-sighted) is the highest and northernmost island in the Babuyan Islands in Luzon Strait north of Luzon Island in the Philippines and also directly south of Taiwan via Bashi Channel to Luzon Strait. The whole island makes up the barangay of Babuyan Claro, that constitute the municipality of Calayan in Cagayan province. The volcanic island has a population of 1,910 as of the 2020 census, up from 1,423 in 2010.[3]
The language of Babuyan Island is sometimes classified as a dialect of Ivatan. Babuyan was depopulated by the Spanish and only repopulated at the end of the 19th century with families from Batan Island, most of them speakers of one of the Ivatan dialects.[4]
Babuyan Island lies about 27miles south-southwestward of Balintang Islands, and about 55miles northward of Cape Engaño Lighthouse. The nearly triangular island is about 8miles long in a northeast and southwest direction, with an average width of about 6miles. The island seems to be steep all around. A reef projects from its western point. The south point is steep and rocky with a black, rocky, sugarloaf islet, called Pan de Azucar, close inshore.[5]
Near the western point of the island is Smith Volcano, also known as Mount Babuyan, about 2257feet high. In the middle of the island and east-southeastward from Smith is Babuyan Claro, also known as Mount Pangasun, about 3491feet high, between which the mountains are much lower, so that from a considerable distance eastward it appears as a round mountain with a detached hillock northward. There are three other volcanic cones with no historic eruptions on the island: Cayonan, Dionisio and Naydi.[2]