MOROLAND – Land of the Bangsa Moro
The 16th century European map below proves that Mindanao was already known to the world even before the so-called “discovery” of the Philippines by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
When Ferdinand Magellan arrived in Cebu in 1521, an island north of Mindanao, he met with the Cebu King, Rajah Humabon. The Spaniard immediately introduced his religion, Roman Catholicism to the natives, and planted a wooden cross to commemorate the arrival of Christianity in Asia. This angered the Muslim religious leader Cali Pulacu (known to the Filipinos as Lapu-Lapu), who protested the presence of the foreigners. Magellan, in typical European arrogance, led his men to the neighboring island, Mactan, where the Cali (meaning judge) lived. Magellan met his death at the hands of the Muslim Cali, thus depriving him the honor of being the first man to circumnavigate the globe. However, his flagship, the Trinidad, was the first ship to circumnavigate the globe (at least according to Western documents).
In 1571, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrived in Manila, in Luzon Island, north of Cebu. Manila at the time was ruled by Muslim Malays from Borneo. Rajah Matanda ruled Manila together with his teenage nephew, Rajah Suleiman, the Rajah Muda. Suleiman’s elders, including his other uncle, Lakan-Dula of Tondo welcomed the foreigners. But the young prince realized that Legazpi had devious intentions. He declared war against the Spanish. Without the help of his elders, Rajah Suleiman fell in battle. Rajah Muda literally means Young King but Malay sultanates use this title to denote Crown Prince. But the Filipinos celebrate Rajah Suleiman as the last king of Manila.
The Spanish conquistadors could not believe their eyes. It was not too long ago when they revolted and drove away the Moros (Moors) from Spain. And now, halfway around the globe, they met them again.
The Spanish differentiated the two natives of the archipelago into Moros (Muslim Malays) and Indios (pagan Malays). They then formulated their simple policy regarding the natives — convert the Indios to Christianity and kill the Moros.
And so, for about three hundred and fifty years, the Spaniards tried their best to christianize the Indios and annihilate the Moros. They succeeded in the former but failed in the latter.
In 1898, the Spanish left and the Americans came. Again the Moros fought. In 1946, the Indios became masters of the Philippine Islands. In 1972, the Moros resumed their fight. # Source.
Congrats on this Jun!
Welcome back!
Thanks Bai!
If not of the Spaniard or American colonization in the Pacific region, I think there would no Moro identity to talk about.. but only Muslim identity (for non-secular people) or Muslim Sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanaw who were then colonized by the Ottoman Empire.
History tells us that the Rajas (or Raj) are small tribal kingdom influence by the mystic Hindu cultures in East Asia during the pre-Islamic period. But this Rajah in Asia Pacific was totally converted into Sultanates during the Islamic empire led by the Ottoman caliphates in the late 13th century.
So, it’s the government’s fault for the Moro people to revolt because they started it when they massacre their brothers in 1968. What was wrong with them that they did it? They were just gone for training and then all of a sudden just to kill them. How brutal!!! This is not what Christianity is all about.
I’m also a Christian but what they did for me is evil. Now I understand why the Moro people are struggling.It’s their right to have back what’s belong to them.