“Mindanao is the second-largest island in the Philippines at 97,530 square kilometres and is the eighth most populous island in the world. The island is mountainous, and is home to Mount Apo, the highest mountain in the country. Mindanao is surrounded by four seas: the Sulu Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Celebes Sea to the south, and the Mindanao Sea to the north.”

“The Sulu Islands is a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the southwestern Philippines. The archipelago forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea and southern limit of the Sulu Sea. The Sulu Islands are within the Mindanao island group, consisting of the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, the remains of a land bridge between Borneo and the Philippines.”

“Archaeological findings on the Mindanao Archipelago point to evidence of human activity dating back about 10,000 years. Around 1500 BC Austronesian people spread throughout the Philippines. The Subanon are believed to have established themselves on Mindanao during the New Stone Age, the period in the development of human technology beginning around 10,000 BC.”