The Moro people comprise the 13 Islamized ethnolinguistic groups of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan. Along with the group known as Lumad in Mindanao, the Moros are an indigenous population that had been living on the islands long before the coming of Spanish colonialism. Today, the Moro people are found all over the Philippines. However, they are dominant in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. They are also numerous in some municipalities of North Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay and Palawan. Ethnically and geographically, the Moro people are distributed as follows: See table. Racially and culturally, the Moro people share a common origin with the majority of Filipinos. Linguistically, they belong to the Malayo-Polynesian group of languages. Origin of the word Etymologically, the word Moro was derived from the term “Moor,” itself originating from “Mauru,” a Latin word that referred to the inhabitants of the ancient Roman province of Mauritania in northwest Africa, which today comprises the modern states of Algeria, Mauritania and the Kingdom of Morocco. With the rise of Islam, Mauritania became a Muslim province under the Umayyad Caliphate. Before long, Muslim armies conquered and then ruled much of the Iberian Peninsula from 711 to 1492, a total of 781 years. For the Spaniards the term Moor did not necessarily have derogatory connotation. It was simply the Spanish name for anyone who was Muslim. In colonial Philippines, the Spanish rulers used the word “Moro” to refer to all inhabitants of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan, believing that they all belonged to the Islamic faith. Derogatory connotations Spanish efforts to subjugate the Moro homeland resulted in the Spanish-Moro wars that began in 1565 and lasted for over 300 years. To gain the sympathy and support of Christianized native Filipinos, the Spaniards infused the term “Moro” with derogatory connotations, such as “pirates,” “traitors,” “juramentado,” “enslavers,” “cruel” and “uncivilized.” Thus, until the emergence of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1969, the people in Moroland refused to be called Moros. The MNLF, however, transformed the term into a byword of nationality and identity in Moroland. Read more: opinion.inquirer.net/39098/who-are-the-moro-people#ixzz2rQyAKdTc Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 17:54:15 +0000
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