Western Mindanao
is named after the Maguindanaons who constituted the largest 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 the time.
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.
Islam first spread
to the region during the 13th century through Arab traders from
present-dayMalaysia and Indonesia. Prior to this contact, the inhabitants of
the area were primarily animists living in small autonomous communities. The
indigenous population was quickly converted and the firstmosque in the Philippines
was built in the mid 14th century in the town of Simunul. The Philippine
sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao were subsequently in the 15th and 16th
centuries, respectively. In the late 16th to early 17th centuries, the first
contact with Spain occurred. By this time, Islam was well established in
Mindanao and had started influencing groups as far north as present-day Manila
on the island of Luzon.
Upon the
Spaniards' arrival to the Philippines, they were dismayed to find such a strong
Muslim presence on the island, having just expelled theMoors from Spain after
centuries of fighting. In fact, the name Moros (the Spanish word for
"Moors") was given to the Muslim inhabitants by the Spanish. Caesarea
Caroli was the name given by Villalobos to the island of Mindanao when he
reached the sea near it. This was named after the Charles V of the Holy Roman
Empire (and I of Spain).
The region is home
to most of the country's Muslim or Moro populations, composed of many ethnic
groups such as the Maranao and the Tausug, theBanguingui (users of the vinta),
as well as the collective group of indigenous tribes known as the Lumad.
At the beginning
of the 20th century, the Lumads controlled an area which now covers 17 of
Mindanao’s 24 provinces, but by the 1980 census, they constituted less than 6%
of the population of Mindanao and Sulu. Heavy migration to Mindanao of
Visayans, spurred by government-sponsored resettlement programmes, turned the
indigenous Lumads and Moros into minorities
