Bangsamoro (Filipino Rehiyong Awtonomo ng Bangsamoro sa Muslim Mindanao, English Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, abbreviated BARMM; Eng. Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) is an autonomous region in the southern Philippines formed in January 2019 from the former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which includes Muslim-majority areas on the island of Mindanao and the islands of the Sulu archipelago.
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Bangsamoro is composed of Malay bangsa, "nation" and Spanish moros, (cf. "Moors"), German derived Moroland. The region is the successor to the historic Sultanate of Maguindanao in the center and west of Mindanao Island and the Sulu Archipelago. Islamist groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) or the Moro National Liberation Front understand Bangsamoro to mean the creation of an independent Islamic state that goes beyond the existing Muslim district on Mindanao and is intended to encompass other surrounding islands and parts of Borneo.
The term "Bangsamoro" is also used in other media, often as an expression for very insecure regions, implying that the Philippine central government does not have full state authority and a monopoly on the use of force, and is thus synonymous with areas at risk of violence and kidnapping.
The Spanish pejorative word "Moro" is used in Spain and in the Philippines by Christians as a disparaging term for Muslims. However, Muslims in the southern Philippine islands proudly chose this name as their own.
The territory claimed by the MILF includes Muslim-inhabited areas in Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, southern Palawan, Basilan and their neighboring islands. Muslims make up about 5 percent of the total population of the island nation.
Muslim agitation in the southern Philippine islands is partly the result of the ideology of Islamic expansion, partly the result of Spanish and American colonization, and partly the result of centrist-oriented policies with the result that the disparity between Manila and ARMM is very wide.
On March 27, 2014, Philippine President Benigno Aquino and MILF leader Murad Ebrahim signed a peace treaty that ended decades of fighting for the territory's independence. It also provides for the establishment of an autonomous region of Bangsamoro.
