The Origins of Christianity in the Philippines

The Philippines  is a predominantly Christian country with around 85% of it's inhabitants being christian. It is one of only two countries in Asia that is predominantly Catholic and it has the 3rd most number of Catholics in the world.This all came about because of the Spanish conquest of the Philippines and the conversion of the natives to Catholicism.

It all started when Ferdinand Magellan first arrived in an island called Cebu where he was able to convert the local inhabitants. He unfortunately didn't have many men and he died on the island. The country for the most part stayed either Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist until another Spanish expedition led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi came and conquered much of the Philippines

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi eventually arrives in the Philippines and sets up the first permanent Spanish settlement in Cebu in 1565. He was able to easily conquer much of Luzon and Visayas and in turn  was able to convert many of the local inhabitants from Islam to Roman Catholicism. The Spanish ruled over the Philippines for over 300 years so it is easy to see why it is the predominant religion even until today. The Spaniards for the most part also had little trouble converting them because the clerical garbs, images, prayers and the liturgy attracted the very rural populace who had never seen anything like it before.

He and the Spanish Governors after him however were never really able to subjugate the people of Mindanao. Islam had already been well established in that area and had existed around 300 years prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. They had tried, but failed to convert these people and today Mindanao remains predominately Muslim and the Islamic faith accounts for about 10% of the Philippine population.


Sources
http://asiasociety.org/religion-philippines
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_Philippines#History
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/russell/christianity.htm