Nation Defined

The concept of "nation" is something recent in the history of mankind. Before the last century people were not aware of this chauvinistic term, as it is felt and understood today. Therefore, as a first step, let us endeavor to understand and define what a "nation" is before we can move on to ascertain whether the Moro constitutes a nation. The Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines a nation as, among other related meanings: (1) a community of people composed of one or more nationalities and possessing a more or less defined territory and government; and (2) a territorial division containing a body of people of one or more nationalities and usually characterized by a relatively large size and independent status.  Another authority has opined that a nation has several basic ingredients such as a common or related blood, common language, common religion, common historical tradition, and, above all, common customs and habits.' And in its perfect form, it is a group of people having a common racial origin, speaking the same language, having a common civilization, common customs and traits of character, a common literature. and common traditions. There is, however, a very pragmatic view on this subject. Two noted Filipino authors, Jose Aruego and Gloria Aruego-Torres, father and daughter, said that a nation exists where its component atoms believe it to be a nation.3 They concluded that despite the lack of a common religion or a common language a nation can exist. With these definitions at our disposal, we may be able to conceptualize and hope to settle this issue once and for all.	_