Cagayan de Oro, city, northernMindanao, southernPhilippines. It lies along theCagayan River near the head of Macajalar Bay. After its establishment as a mission station in the 17th century, it wasfortified by the Spaniards. Cagayan de Oro was chartered as a city in 1950 and has become the transportation and commercial hub of northern Mindanao. Its international airport is a major stopover for flights south, and the city is the northern terminus of the trans-Mindanao Sayre Highway. Exports include rice, corn (maize), and copra. The satellite town of Carmen is on the left bank of the river, and nearby Bugo is the site of a pineapple cannery.Xavier University (1933),St. Augustine’s Cathedral, the Plaza Divisoria, and Gaston Park are in the city. Pop. (2000) 461,877; (2010) 602,088.