Place:Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, Region in Muslim Mindanao, Philippines

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Marawi, officially known as the Islamic City of Marawi (Maranao: Inged a Marawi; ), is a 4th class component city and capital of the province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 207,010 people.

Marawi is located upon the shores of Lake Lanao. It is primarily inhabited by the Maranao people. The city is also called the "summer capital of the south" due to its higher elevation and cooler climate, a nickname it shares with Malaybalay.

On May 23, 2017, the city suffered extensive damage during the Battle of Marawi as militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant invaded the city and engaged in a massive urban gunfight. The ensuing battle lasted until October 23, 2017, when Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced the ending of the battle. Major damage of the city was mostly caused by airstrikes carried out by the Philippine Air Force in an attempt to eliminate the militants.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Municipality of Dansalan

Marawi was founded as Dansalan in October 1639 by the Spaniards led by conquistador Francisco Atienza who came from Iligan and were attempting to conquer the entire Lake Lanao area. However, it was abandoned later the same year when thousands of Maranao warriors invested the then-fortifying settlement, pressing the Spaniards hard and thus they returned to Iligan, having failed in their quest. The Spaniards only returned to the area when they began the conquest of the Sultanate of Maguindanao in the late 19th century, only to be abandoned once again when the Americans came there in 1900. It served as the capital of the undivided Lanao province from 1907 to 1940. Dansalan in Meranaw is a place where ships berth – a port of entry.

A tribal leader of Marawi before Spanish colonization was "Datu Buadi Sa Kayo". He collected taxes in his era.

Granting of charter (1940) and change of name to Marawi (1956)

Dansalan became a charted city in 1940. Later, in 1956, Republic Act No. 1552 amended the charter and changed the official name of the city from Dansalan to Marawi.

The renaming of the city as the "Islamic City of Marawi" was proposed by Parliamentary Bill No. 261 in the defunct Batasang Pambansa, the former parliament of the Philippines during the Marcos regime, reportedly to attract funds from the Middle East.^[1]

Siege of Marawi (2017)

On May 23, 2017, a pro–Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group called the Maute group attacked the city. The battle of Marawi—also known as the Marawi siege, the Marawi clash, and the Marawi crisis—started on May 23. CNN Philippines reported that the militants had over 500 men. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law on the island of Mindanao, where the fighting was taking place, initially until December 31, 2017, but was later extended to the end of 2018 and then again to the end of 2019.^[2] The city was liberated from militant control on October 17 and battle operations officially ended on October 23.

Post-battle period

On January 30, 2018, it was announced that a 10-hectare military base will be established in the city to prevent the reentry of terrorists.

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