Moro people

Moro people
Bangsamoro people

Flag of Bangsamoro
Moro people of Mindanao playing a traditional Maguindanaon pair of agung (large hanging gongs in the kulintang ensemble) using "balu" (rubber-tipped wooden beaters).
Total population
5 - 10.7 million[1][2]
Regions with significant populations
Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei
Languages
Filipino, English Maguindanao, Maranao, Tausug, Yakan, Sama, Iranun, and other Philippine languages
Religion
Sunni Islam[3]

The Moro people or Bangsamoro people are the 13 Muslim-majority ethnolinguistic Austronesian groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, native to the region known as the Bangsamoro (lit. Moro nation or Moro country).^[4] As Muslim-majority ethnic groups, they form the largest non-Christian population in the Philippines,^[5] and comprise about 5% of the country's total population, or 5 million people.^[1][2]

Most Moros are followers of Sunni Islam of the Shafiʽi school of fiqh. The Moros were once independent under a variety of local states, including the Sultanate of Sulu, the Sultanate of Maguindanao, and the Confederation of sultanates in Lanao; withstanding repeated Spanish invasions, the Moro states remained de facto independent up until the Moro Rebellion of the early 20th century. Upon Philippine independence in 1946, the Moros continued their struggle for self-determination against a predominantly–Christian Philippines, culminating in a decades-long insurgency of armed rebel groups, chief among them the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), against the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The Moro people are guaranteed an autonomous region by the Constitution of the Philippines; the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao however did not satisfy the demands of rebel groups. A ceasefire and successful peace talks between the Philippine government and the MILF led to the creation in 2018 of a region with greater political autonomy and powers, known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Today, outside of the Bangsamoro autonomous region, the Moro people are a significant minority in other nearby provinces in Southern Mindanao and in the province of Palawan, Samar, Bicol Region, and are a visible and integrated minority in various urban centers of the country, such as Manila, Cebu, and Davao. Outside of the Philippines, some Moros remain in areas once controlled by the Sulu Sultanate along the eastern coast of Sabah; others emigrated to neighboring Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei in the late 20th century due to the Moro conflict in Mindanao. Newer communities can be found today in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, and Semporna in Sabah, Malaysia,^[6] North Kalimantan in Indonesia, and in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.