| Abstract: | The introduction and acceptance of exotic religious institutions and identities greatly influenced the process of national development in the Philippines. The agents of Islam, largely unsupported by outside forces, were initially active in many parts of the archipelago after about the thirteenth century. Roman Catholic missionaries, arriving 200 years later but supported by an elaborate colonial edifice, introduced their faith through an expanding network of fixed mission centres. Distinctive and sometimes intricate geographies resulted from differing social and geographical strategies of conversion. The most general result was the division of Philippine societies into the Christian lowlands of Luzon; the central islands and northern Mindanao; the several Muslim areas of western Mindanao and Sulu; and the persisting local ethnic religious systems of the highlands. |
