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).
Heads of state and government of the Philippines
The Royal Governor-General of the Philippines ruled the Spanish colony that is today the Republic of the Philippines except a two-year British occupation of Manila. This territory was also called the Captaincy-General of the Philippines and thus the governor also held the title of Captain General, a military rank conferred by the Spanish Cortes Generales. The men that held this position governed the Philippines and the rest of the Spanish East Indies from 1565 to 1821, on behalf of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.