Sulu Islands

Sulu Islands, an archipelago stretching from Borneo north-eastwards to the Philippines, in the south-east of Asia. The group, numbering 162 islands in all, most of them mountainous and all covered with luxuriant vegetation, has a total area of 948 sq. m. and a total pop. of 75,000. The inhabitants, Malays by race and Mohammedans by religion, were the terror of the neighbouring seas, owing to their bold piracy, until the Spaniards conquered them in 1876; they now direct their energies chiefly to the collection of edible birds’-nests and pearl-fishing, what trade there is being principally in the hands of Chinese. The town of Sulu has been fortified by the Spaniards since they captured it.