COTABATO CITY
Cotabato is one of the most interesting places in Mindanao, not only as the land of the Magindanaos and the scene of a formidable resistance against Spanish power in Mindanao but also as the government-initiated settlement destination for countless Filipinos under the “land for the landless’ scheme. Furthermore, as the starting point of the Mindanao conflict of the modern times, Cotabato assumes special significance in both historical and socio-cultural studies.

Cotabato covered a vast area of some 8,800 square miles of which a quarter was level valley land; a half undulating plateau lands at an average elevation of about 300 meters; and a quarter mountainous land which was covered by virgin forest in the early part of the 20th century.

 on the degree of importance of Cotabato in Mindanao affairs in the bygone days. Mindanao comes from the root word danao that means “inundation by a river, lake or sea”(Saleeby 1904: 13). This phenomenon is attached to the Pulangi River, called by the Spaniards the Rio Grande de Mindanao. This is further clarified by the Magindanao scholar, Michael Mastura, who said that “for more than 10 miles from the sea the Rio Grande, aided by the rise of the tide periodically overflows its banks and flows all the adjacent lands” (Mastura 1979: 5). Similar reference to the great river was given by the seventeenth century Spanish writer Francisco Combes, who gave the meaning of Mindanao as “movement of the lake” (Combes 1897: iv). The Englishman William Dampier, who stayed for six months at the Magindanao sultanate’s capital in Cotabato in the latter half of 1686, was more direct by using the word Mindanao in reference to Cotabato.

The Royal Decree of July 30, 1860 created the politico-military government of Mindanao with the following politico-military districts, namely: first district, Zamboanga; second district, Misamis; third district, Surigao; fourth district, Davao; and the fifth district, Cotabato. Moreover, the present SOCSKSARGEN area (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General.

Tourists spot

                                       GREAT GOLDEN MOSQUE OF COTABATO CITY

                                                          COTABATO CITY HALL

                                                              PINK MOSQUE