Moros (people)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Muslim Moros are the largest non-Christian group in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines and comprised about 5% of the total Filipino population in 2005. They are also called Moros (Spanish for Moors ) because they were called that by the former Spanish colonial rulers of the Philippines. Most Moros live in the southern Philippines ( Mindanao , there in the autonomous region of Bangsamoro , the southern part of Palawan , on the Sulu Archipelago ) and in large cities such as Manila , Cebu and Baguio .

history

The Islam came in 1380 by the missionary Makdum Karim to the Philippines and was carried out by Muslim Malays fixed on the southern Philippines. Several sultanates were formed there , including the powerful Sultanate of Sulu and the Sultanate of Maguindanao .

There was already a Muslim presence in Manila . The prince of Manila at the time of the Spanish conquest, Rajah Sulayman , was of Muslim faith. However, all parts of the Philippines, except for the areas that the Spaniards could not bring under control, were evangelized to Catholicism . Only the south of the Philippines remained Muslim, while the hill tribes of the Philippines adhered to their ethnic religion . The three largest Muslim ethnic groups in the Philippines are the Maguindanao , the Maranao, and the Tausug .

It was not until 1902 that the US brought the Moros under control in a conflict that lasted until 1913 with the participation of veterans of the Indian wars. That is why many Moros do not see themselves as Filipinos at all, but as members of an independent Moro people. Since then, separatist groups have been calling for the establishment of their own country with the name Bangsamoro (German: Moroland), partly with the further inclusion of today's non-Philippine areas, such as the area of ​​influence of the old large Sultanate of Brunei on the north and east sides of Borneo (now Malaysian and the small sultanate Brunei ).

From the 1920s, the central government of Manila promoted the settlement of Mindanao by Christian settlers from Luzón and the Visayas Islands. This led to mutual resentment and conflict, especially between settlers and native Muslims. From the 1970s onwards there was an armed conflict against the central government , initially through the Islamist National Liberation Front of the Moros (MNLF). Other groups emerged later, such as the Islamic Liberation Front of the Moros (MILF) and, as a split from it, the terrorist Abu Sajaf . The conflict has not been resolved to this day, although the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao ("Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao"), decided by the Philippine Parliament, has existed since 1990 .

literature

  • Vic Hurdley: Swish of the Kris: The Story of the Moros. EP Dutton & Co., New York 1936, reprinted 2010.
  • Cesar Adib Majul: The Moro Struggle in the Philippines. In: Third World Quarterly , Volume 10, No. 2 ( Islam & Politics ) April 1988, pp. 897-922.