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).
Germans in the Philippines
On 12 June, the day the Philippines declared its independence from Spain, Vice-Admiral Otto von Diederichs arrived in Manila Bay. The number of German war vessels in Philippine waters increased to three. Earlier, on 6 and 9 May, respectively, the German ships "Irene" and the "Cormoran" arrived in the bay with a separate instruction from the German government, mainly to protect German nationals in Manila. German’s interest in the Philippines was cut short with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 10 December 1898. The Philippines was finally annexed by the United States in 1899.