Sharif Kabungsuan invaded Malabang in 1475, facing armed resistance from the principality, nevertheless successfully vanquishing and subjugating it to his Islamic rule through the employment of Samal forces.

In 1945, Cotabato was recaptured from the Japanese Imperial forces by the combined Filipino and American troops together with the recognized Moro guerrilla units.

[6] The relative peace of the postwar era began to change in the last years of President Ferdinand Marcos' first term, when news about the Jabidah massacre ignited a furor in the Moro community, and ethnic tensions encouraged with the formation of secessionist movements.

[7] None of these groups had enough followers to form a viable opposition until Marcos declared Martial Law,[8] but when political parties were dissolved upon the proclamation of Martial Law in September 1972, it became easy for the armed secessionist group known as the Moro National Liberation Front to consolidate power, and the decades-long Moro conflict began in earnest.

Cotabato covers a total area of 9,008.90 square kilometres (3,478.36 sq mi)[17] occupying the northeastern tip of Region XII and is centrally located in Mindanao.

The Cotabato via Kabacan - Maramag - Kibawe, Bukidnon Sayre Highway meanwhile serves as its link to the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan City Corridor.

Cotabato stretches from the east at Mount Apo, which separates it from Davao, to the Piapayungan Range on its boundary with Lanao in the west.

[18] Between these highlands is the basin of the Pulangi River or Rio Grande de Mindanao,[18] the second longest in the Philippines at 373 kilometres (232 mi), which rises in Bukidnon and flows south to Maguindanao and Illana Bay.

According to the agreements signed by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Administration of Noynoy Aquino, Carmen will be included in Bangsamoro because of the two out of twenty-eight barangays that voted in favor of joining the Muslim region back in 2001.

Despite this, the current administration aims to establish a Federal Government, where Bangamoro will be realized into a State of the Philippines wherein Carmen will be included in Bangsamoro.

The issue was partially resolved when the second part of the plebiscite was conducted on February 6, 2019, when 63 barangay from the towns of Pigkawayan, Libungan, Midsayap, Aleosan, Carmen, Banisilan and Pikit opted to join the new administrative autonomous region of Bangsamoro after the results of the region's formation plebiscite were confirmed three days later on February 9.

The first Visayan settlers reached the town of Pikit in 1913, and since then, Christian migrants have moved and lived in Cotabato, cohabitating the province with the local indigenous groups.

71% of Cotabato's population descended from settlers who migrated from the Visayas and Luzon, while the remaining 18% belong to the communities of Magindanaons, Iranuns, Ilianens, Dulangan Manobo, Obo, Tagabawa, and Tboli.

It is a top producer of cereals, tropical fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, coconut, coffee, freshwater fish and livestock.

Apo, the country's highest peak at 9,692 feet (2,954 m) above sea level, the Pulangi River which is a major contributor to Mindanao's irrigation system and hydro-electric energy, and the vast Liguasan Marsh which not only supplies a bounty of freshwater fish and organic fertilizer but considered as a possible source as well of natural gas.

The province has a 4,131.32-kilometre (2,567.08 mi) road network connecting the major centers to each other and the outlying barangays, and communication linkage through NDD-IDD, fax, cellular phone and the internet is available.