HISTORY OF MINDANAO

MINDANAO ISLAND

• Mindanao is named after the Maguinadanaons who constituted the Sultanate historically,
and evidence from maps made during the 17th and 18th centuries suggests that the name
was used to refer to the island by natives at that time.
• Second largest (after Luzon) in the
Philippines
• An old Spanish map of Mindanao island.
PEOPLING IN MINDANAO

• Evidence of human occupation dates back tens of thousands of years. In prehistoric times
the Negrito people arrived. Sometime around 1500 BC Austronesian peoples spread
throughout the Philippines and far beyond.
• Negrito – a class of several ethnic groups that inhabit isolated pats of Southeast Asia.
• Mindanao also has the largest concentration of ethnic minorities in the Philippines. They
include the Magindanao, Maranao, Ilanun, and Sangil; all are Muslim groups sometimes
collectively called the Moro. Groups usually found in the uplands include the T’boli,
Subanon, Bukidnon, Bagobo, Mandaya, and Manobo. Another important group is the
Tiruray, whose religion is a mixture of Christian, Muslim, and local beliefs.
• Islam first spread to the region during the 13th century through Arab traders from present
day Malaysia and Indonesia. Prior to this contact, the inhabitants of the area were
primarily animists living in small autonomous communities.
• Islam was spread in the Philippines by Mudum, Raja Baginda, Abu Bakr, and Serif
Kabungsuan.
SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD: Spanish-Moro War

• The Spanish considered the Moros a threat to their Catholic mission in the Philippines
and worked to prevent the spread of Islam throughout the archipelago. In fact, the name
“Moro” is a Spanish term for “Moors,” referring to the Muslims who ruled the Iberian
Peninsula from 711-1492. The Spanish expelled the Moors and reclaimed the peninsula
during an event called the Spanish Reconquista (or "reconquest").
MORO WARS (1901-1913)

• The Moro Rebellion (1901-1913) occurred after the conclusion of the Philippine-
American War and involved sporadic confrontations between the Muslim Filipinos living
in the southern part of the Philippines and the American soldiers there to oversee the
transition from Spanish rule to U.S. oversight.
When sovereignty over the Philippines passed to the United States in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, the
United States initiated a policy designed to assimilate the Moro into the Philippine nation and to curb some
feudal practices such as slave trading. The result of this attempt to alter the traditional ways of the Moro was
intransigence and rebellion.

• Sporadic fighting took place in 1901 and was renewed in the spring of 1903. American troops were attacked
near Lake Lanao in the interior of Mindanao.
• March 1906 at the top of Mount Dajo on the island of Jolo. Six hundred Moro who had taken refuge inside a
large volcanic crater were killed by troops under Gen. Leonard Wood. He was absolved of any wrongdoing
by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt.
• Renewed hostilities occurred in September 1911 and June 1913. Fighting ceased thereafter, although Moro
separatist movements continued into the 21st century.
• In 1930s, US authorities encourage Christian to migrate in the southern region of Mindanao which was
mostly populated by Muslisms.