It wasn't difficult it just didn't have the same conditions as Luzón for the process of Hispanisation, so it stayed “less Spanish”, but it was under Spanish control.
-Spain initially had little interest in Mindanao or any large territory in Asia, East Asia was Portuguese and the main purpose of the settlement was being able to tade with China, which was the initial purpose of Colombus's trip all along. For that the kingdom of Manila was enough, there was no concept of the Philippines, Mindanao was not seen as attached to Luzón, they were separate islands with separate kingdoms which were very different from each other (as a start Mindanao was largely Muslim and Luzón wasn't).
As Mindanao's sultanates start to pose a threat to Spanish trade with China very early, Spain starts to conquer the island and finally conquers the entire island in the 17th century under the campaign of Hurtado de Corcuera which conquers the area of Lanao where Muslims were.
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Answer:
It wasn't difficult it just didn't have the same conditions as Luzón for the process of Hispanisation, so it stayed “less Spanish”, but it was under Spanish control.
-Spain initially had little interest in Mindanao or any large territory in Asia, East Asia was Portuguese and the main purpose of the settlement was being able to tade with China, which was the initial purpose of Colombus's trip all along. For that the kingdom of Manila was enough, there was no concept of the Philippines, Mindanao was not seen as attached to Luzón, they were separate islands with separate kingdoms which were very different from each other (as a start Mindanao was largely Muslim and Luzón wasn't).
As Mindanao's sultanates start to pose a threat to Spanish trade with China very early, Spain starts to conquer the island and finally conquers the entire island in the 17th century under the campaign of Hurtado de Corcuera which conquers the area of Lanao where Muslims were.
Source: https://www.quora.com/Why-was-it-difficult-for-the-Spaniards-to-colonize-Mindanao
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