Moro people in the context of Philippine-American War

The Philippines is inhabited by more than 185 ethnolinguistic groups, many of which are classified as "Indigenous Peoples" under the country's Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997. Traditionally-Muslim minorities from the southernmost island group of Mindanao are usually categorized together as Moro peoples, whether they are classified as Indigenous peoples or not. About 142 are classified as non-Muslim Indigenous people groups. Ethnolinguistic groups collectively known as the Lowland Christians, forms the majority ethnic group.

The Muslim ethnolinguistic groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan are collectively referred to as the Moro people, a broad category that includes some Indigenous people groups and some non-Indigenous people groups. With a population of over 5 million people, they comprise about 5% of the country's total population.

The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Filipino–American War, Philippine Insurrection, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged in early 1899 following the United States' annexation of the former Spanish colony of the Philippine Islands under the terms of the December 1898 Treaty of Paris following the Spanish–American War. Philippine nationalists had proclaimed independence in June 1898 and constituted the First Philippine Republic in January 1899. The United States did not recognize either event as legitimate, and tensions escalated until fighting commenced on February 4, 1899, in the Battle of Manila.

Shortly after being denied a request for an armistice, the Philippine government issued a proclamation on June 2, 1899, urging the people to continue the war. Philippine forces initially attempted to engage U.S. forces conventionally but transitioned to guerrilla tactics by November 1899. Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo was captured on March 23, 1901, and the war was officially declared over by the US on July 4, 1902. However, some Philippine groups continued to fight for several more years. Other groups, such as the Muslim Moro peoples of the southern Philippines and quasi-Catholic Pulahan religious movements, continued hostilities in remote areas. The Moro Rebellion ended with their final defeat at the Battle of Bud Bagsak on June 15, 1913.

Islam in the Philippines is the second largest religion in the country, and the faith was the first-recorded monotheistic religion in the Philippines. Historically, Islam reached the Philippine archipelago in the 14th century, through contact with Muslim Malay and Arab merchants along Southeast Asian trade networks, in addition to Yemeni missionaries from the tribe of Ba 'Alawi sada of Yemen from the Persian Gulf, southern India, and their followers from several sultanates in the wider Malay Archipelago. The first Sunni Sufi missionaries then followed in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. They facilitated the formation of sultanates and conquests in mainland Mindanao and Sulu. Those who converted to Islam came to be known as the Moros, with Muslim conquest reaching as far as Tondo that was later supplanted by Bruneian Empire vassal-state of Maynila.

Muslim sultanates had already begun expanding in the central Philippines by the 16th century, when the Spanish fleet led by Ferdinand Magellan arrived. The Spanish referred to Muslim inhabitants of the Philippines as "Moros," after the Muslim "Moors" they had regarded with disdain in Iberia and the Maghreb. The subsequent Spanish conquest led to Catholic Christianity becoming the predominant religion in most of the modern-day Philippines, with Islam becoming a significant minority religion.

The Moro Rebellion (1902–1913) was an armed conflict between the Moro people and the United States military during the Philippine–American War. The rebellion occurred after the conclusion of the conflict between the United States and First Philippine Republic, and saw the US move to impose its authority over the Muslim states in Mindanao, Jolo and the neighboring Sulu Archipelago.

The Battle of Bud Bagsak took place during the Moro Rebellion phase of the Philippine–American War fought between June 11 and 15, 1913. The defending Moro fighters were fortified at the top of Mount Bagsak on the island of Jolo, Sulu. The attacking Americans were led by General John 'Black Jack' Pershing. The Moros were entirely annihilated, including their leader, Datu Amil.

Maranao (Filipino: Wikang Mëranaw; Jawi: باسا أ مراناو), sometimes spelled as Maranaw, Meranaw, or Mëranaw, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Maranao people in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte and their respective cities of Marawi and Iligan located in the Philippines, as well found also in Sabah, Malaysia. It is spoken among the Moros within the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

It is more closer to Iranun than to Maguindanao within the Danao subgroup.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF; Arabic: جبهة تحرير مورو الإسلامية, romanized: Jabha Taḥrīr Moro al-ʾIslāmiyya) is an Islamic armed group split from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), was founded in 1977, based in Mindanao, Philippines, which sought an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro region of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, Palawan, Basilan, and other neighbouring islands. The armed wing of the group was the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), although the name of its parent organization, the MILF, was often used to refer to the BIAF.

In July 2018, the Philippine government passed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, giving more autonomy to Muslims. In return, MILF announced that it would disarm its 30,000 fighters.

Muslim Southeast Asia refers to the areas of Southeast Asia that have significant populations of Muslims. It includes:

• Most parts of Indonesia including most of Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, Maluku Islands and Sulawesi (Java and Sumatra alone have the majority of Indonesia's population).
• Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah
• Brunei
• Southern Philippines (Bangsamoro)
• Patani region and Satun
• Westernmost parts of Myanmar, near the Bangladeshi border.

Culturally, it would also include the Malay people of Singapore (which was historically a Malay Muslim populated island), several (mainly coastal) ethnic groups of Sarawak such as Melanau, Bisaya, Narom, Seru, Miriek, Kedayan and Sarawak Malays, Cham people of Cambodia and Vietnam, and other Muslim community in Southeast Asia.