This action created the rift between the .
Christian and Muslim Filipinos. In addition, however, the Spanish often painted the Muslim Filipinos as being uncivilized and uncouth savages who needed to be saved and brought into civilization through conversion. This belief was enhanced through the increasingly different lives led by the two groups of Filipinos - the Christian Filipinos who inherited much of the Spanish culture, as well as their increasing involvement in the buzzing industrial and commercial cities of the country versus the "backward- Muslim Filipinos who lived in more underdeveloped regions, and still held on to traditional customs and dress.
Secondly, the Muslim resistance to the Spanish invasion was not as united as it seemed to be. The two major Muslim sultanates that the Spanish fought against were the Buayan and Magindanao sultanates, who took turns to sign peace treaties and allegiances with the Spaniards in a bid to be recognized as the ruling sultanate of the southern Philippines. Throughout the Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines, both sultanates fought with each other for prominence, while repelling the invading Spaniards in times of war as well.
The American Colonisation.
In 1899, the Spanish colonial rule was replaced by American colonial rule. The Americans professed a theory of rule that prepared the Philippines for decolonization and self-rule, a process which took 47 years to accomplish.
While the American colonial process started off similar to the Spanish, with the use of military force to subdue Filipino settlements into submission, their actions after having gained Filipino submission helped to shape the Muslim Filipino identity in less than 50 years more than the Spaniards ever did in three centuries. Believing that the southern areas were the furthest away from civilization compared to the rest of the Philippines, the Americans maintained military rule in Muslim areas until 1913 (Visayas and Luzon achieved civil rule by 1903) , During this time, much violent repression was employed, with at least three thousand Philippine Muslims killed by American forces between 1903 and 1906 .
