INTRODUCTION 9 
certainty and without being forced to draw too heavily 
on imagination. 
The first of these layers, the most continuous, and by 
far the most important politically and economically, 
may be called the Christian one. Since their conquest 
by Legazpi in 1564-71, the most fertile, accessible, and 
populous parts of the Philippines were under Spanish 
rule for more than three centuries. Wherever Spanish 
power was at all firm, the natives were promptly, and in 
the main thoroughly, converted to Christianity. Near 
the centers of population they came also to live under 
economic conditions approximating those of European 
countries. A good deal was done for education; enough, 
at any rate, for the first American census, made only a 
few years after the taking over of the islands from Spain, 
to show that nearly one-half of the population was in 
some measure literate. Certain classes had become as 
thoroughly cultivated, in the European sense, as 
Europeans. The mass of the population retained many 
of the older customs; but the dominant aspects of their 
life were western and Christian. Nearly nine-tenths of 
the inhabitants of the Philippines are today in this 
condition. | ; 
In the extreme south of the archipelago, in and about 
the great island of Mindanao, followers of Mohammed 
had begun to establish themselves about 1380, less than 
two centuries before the coming of the Spaniards. Still 
later, they had obtained a foothold farther north in the 
islands, as on Mindoro, and on Manila Bay, where 
ruler and court were Mohammedan when the Spaniards 
arrived. In this district, Mohammedanism quickly 
yielded to Christianity without leaving a trace; but in 
the south it long resisted Spanish encroachment by 
force of arms, and even at the present day maintains 
its sway over several hundred thousand natives. On 
