Reconquista

The Spaniards fought the Moros from 718 to 1898. The thousand-year struggle started in Covadonga, Asturias and ended in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines.

After the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the 5^th century AD, Hispania was invaded by the Visigoths, Germanic people from the north. In 711, Tariq Ibn Ziyad led the Moros from the south to cross the Strait of Gibraltar and after only 7 years of expansion, they occupied almost the whole Iberian Peninsula except the cold mountainous region in the north along the Bay of Vizcaya (Biscay). They named the new Umayyad Caliphate territory Al-Andalus. In 718, they were defeated by the army of King Pelayo (Pelagius) of the Visigoths at Covadonga in the north. However, the intruders from North Africa and the Middle East continued to rule some parts of the peninsula for more than 700 years.

Abd Al-Rahman I reached Al-Andalus in 755 after surviving the assassination of the Umayyad clan by the Abbasids in Syria. He reinstated the Umayyad Caliphate and made Kurtaba (Cordoba) its capital. The Caliphate fragmented into nine Moorish kingdoms in the 11^th century. By the end of the 13^th century, only one Moorish kingdom remained: the Emirate of Granada. Meanwhile, five Iberian kingdoms (Portugal, Leon, Castilla (Castile), Navarra (Navarre), and Aragon) were gaining ground in the north. In 1230, King Fernando (Ferdinand) III of Castile united the kingdoms of Castile and Leon.

The marriage of Isabel (Isabella) I of Castile and Fernando (Ferdinand) II of Aragon in 1469 paved the way for the union of their two kingdoms. Isabella I was crowned as the Queen of Castile in Segovia in 1474. Ferdinand II became the King of Aragon in 1479. The unification of Castile and Aragon formed the Kingdom of España (Spain). In 1492, the Spaniards reclaimed Granada when Emir Boabdil surrendered to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. The Moros were ordered to convert to Catholicism in 1502 and the last unconverted Moros were evicted from Spain in 1609.

While the Spaniards were fighting the Moros and their converts in the peninsula, the Arab traders and missionaries from the Middle East were introducing their religion and their political system to the animistic Austronesian islanders in the Far East. The Sultanate of Sulu was founded in 1450 by Sultan Hashim Abubakar, a son of an Arab noble. Its territory included Palawan, Zamboanga peninsula, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Sabah. The Sultanate of Maguindanao was founded in 1516 by Sultan Sharif Kabungsuwan, also a son of an Arab noble. Muslim communities were established not only in the south but also in the north such as Manila, Vigan, and Lallo in present-day Cagayan. When the Spaniards arrived in Las Islas Filipinas (The Philippine Islands), they were disappointed to encounter a strong Islamic influence in the archipelago. They called the descendants of the Arabs and their converts Moros.

The Spaniards were determined to convert the indigenous population to Catholicism. To diminish the influence of Islam, the Spaniards transformed the Islamic centers in Luzon into the hubs of their government and religion. Governor-General Miguel Lopez de Legazpi declared Manila as the capital of the colony in 1571 after Martin de Goiti defeated Rajah Sulayman in 1570. The colonizers built the walled city of Intramuros and the Real Fuerza de Santiago (Fort Santiago). Juan de Salcedo occupied and established a military settlement in Vigan in 1572 and renamed it Villa Fernandina in 1574 in honor of Prince Fernando (Ferdinand), the first son of King Felipe II (Philip II) of Spain. Juan Pablo Carreon changed the name of Lallo to Nueva Segovia in 1581. Lallo became the seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia from 1595 to 1755. The seat was transferred to Vigan in 1755.

The Spaniards made successful incursions in western Mindanao, the power base of the Moros. They founded Zamboanga City in 1635 and built the Real Fuerza de San Jose. In 1637, they captured the capital of the Sultanate of Maguindanao. The following year, they captured Jolo, the capital of the Sultanate of Sulu. However, they retreated to Manila in 1662 to defend the city against the Chinese led by Koxinga. Fortunately, the invasion never happened because Koxinga died.

The Spaniards returned to Zamboanga City in 1718, rebuilt the fort and renamed it Real Fuerza de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza (Fort Pilar). They modernized their naval force with the addition of steam boats that were faster than the vessels used by the Moros. They attacked Jolo in 1876 and forced the Sultan of Sulu to abandon the capital. In 1878, Spain extended sovereignty over Sulu while the Sultan of Sulu leased Sabah to the British North Borneo Company. Moreover, the Spaniards weakened the Sultanate of Maguindanao and built forts in the Rio Grande Valley. The last major battle happened in 1898 near Lake Lanao. The Spaniards were able to break the Moro sultanates although the Muslim warriors were using powerful weapons supplied by the Chinese.

In the Iberian Peninsula, the Spaniards fought the Moros to repossess their land. In the Philippines, the Spaniards fought the Moros to dispossess them of their land. If the Spaniards had a right to their ancestral land, the Philippine Moros (Bangsamoro) also have a right to theirs. However, the Bangsamoro territory as defined by the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) is only part of the Moroland. Therefore, the Bangsamoro Reconquista is still far from complete.