During the Spanish regime, the Subanens were a thriving tribe in the hinterlands of Western Mindanao that had not been conquered by the Spanish colonists, who had their hands full waging wars with the Moros in the South. The ancestral Subanen domains were in the Pingolis and Dumangkilas areas. In the olden times, Pingolis consisted of the areas of Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte. Dumangkilas consisted of Margosatubig up to the Dinas and Dimataling areas. The Spaniards came upon these places almost at the close of the 18th century but were never able to build a permanent settlement, only bayside watchtowers for any upcoming pirate attacks, in Margosatubig and Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur, and in the shores of Misamis, now Ozamiz City.