Spanish–Moro conflict
The Spanish initiated the conflict by conquering the Philippines and invading Moro territory in an effort to subjugate the region to their rule since the 1500s. When the Spanish conquered the Muslim Kingdom of Maynila, a vassal of the Sultanate of Brunei, the Islamic rajah, Rajah Sulayman resisted the Spanish. Manila then became the capital of the Spanish Philippines after the conquest, with the Spanish forcibly converting people to Catholicism. The Spanish–Moro Wars started with the Castille War, a war between Spaniards and the Sultanate of Brunei. (The term "Moro" at this time included Muslim Tagalogs who were ruled by the Sultanate of Brunei).
Cordillera Central (Luzon)
Spain relinquished control of the Philippines to the United States of America due to the Treaty of Paris (1898), which officially ended the hostilities of the Spanish–American War. After a short period of peace in the region after the treaty was finalized the Philippine–American War began until 1902, though pockets of fighting did not end until 1913. The result of these conflicts led to the US declaring the Philippines a protectorate, a form of colonialism with local autonomy. The United States established strategic military bases in the Philippines with the consent of the established government in Manila. During World War II, the Japanese temporarily seized control of the Philippines. A combined effort between the American armed forces and the Philippine commonwealth military managed to successfully drive out the Japanese by 1945.