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Information About

Maguindanao





Philippine Information

  Infoboxtitle Province of Maguindanao
  Sealfile
  Region Autonomous Region In Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)
  Capital Shariff Aguak
  Founded
  Pop2000 801,102
  Pop2000rank 28th largest
  Popden2000 163
  Popden2000rank 30th highest
  Areakm2 4,9001
  Arearank 21st largest
  Hucities 0
  Componentcities 0
  Municipalities 28
  Barangays 472
  Districts 2
  Languages Maguindanaoan
  Governor Datu Andal S Ampatuan



ECONOMY


GEOGRAPHY


Political

Maguindanao is subdivided into 28 Municipalities and 1 City . While Cotabato City is found within the bounderies of Maguindanao, it is independent of the province. Though it is the regional center of the Autonomous Region In Muslim Mindanao , the city is actually part of the SOCCSKSARGEN region.


City



Municipalities







Physical


TOURIST ATTRACTIONS



HISTORY

Shariff Mohammed Kabungsuwan of Johore introduced Islam in the area at the end of the 15th century. He subsequently married a local princess and established the Sultanate Of Maguindanao . The Cotabato Valley formed the sultanate´s heartland but its influence extended from the Zamboanga Peninsula to Sarangani Bay and Davao.

The Spaniards launched expeditions to subdue the area througout the colonial era but they never gained control of the region until the middle of the 19th century.

During the American period, Cotabato became a district of the Moro Province created in 1903 and a province of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu in 1914.

The old province of Cotabato was subsequently divided first into Cotabato and South Cotabato in 1966 and later, Cotabato into 3 more provinces which were Maguindanao was created in November 22, 1973, along with North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat .

Maguindanao is the only Muslim province of the four created out of the former Cotabato Province. In 1989, the province opted to join the Autonomous Region In Muslim Mindanao but Cotabato City did not, which ironically serves as the capital of the Autonomous Region In Muslim Mindanao .


PEOPLE AND CULTURE


Maguindanao province is home to a fascinating culture that revolves around Kulintang music, a specific type of gong music, found among both Muslim and non-Muslim groups of the Southern Philippines. Kulintang music functions as main community unifier, where all of the community can come to engage in events such as weddings, birthday celebrations and festivals to dignitary engagements and pilgrimages to and from Mecca . At home, such music unifies and solidifies family ties as family members take to playing after dinner. Kulintang music also plays a vital role as the accompaniment to healing dances, as long-distance communication between members (They have the ability to use the Gandingan , also known as the ‘talking gongs,’ to communicate from far away long before the invention of the telephone), and as a social conduit for young people (Interactions between opposite sexes were not allowed except though such instruments).

Kulintang ensembles among those of the Southern Philippines are usually composed of five pieces of instrumentation. Among the Maguindanao, this would include: the Kulintang (strung out horizontally on a stand, serving as the main melody instrument of the ensemble), the Agung (the largest gongs of the ensemble providing much of the lower beats, either coming in a pair of two or just one alone), the Gandingan (four large vertical gongs aligned front to back, used as a secondary melodic instrument), the Dabakan (an hour-glass shaped drum covered in goat/lizard skin) and the Babendil (a singular gong used as the timekeeper of the entire ensemble).


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