The influence of the neighboring tribes and of the white man on the Bagobo has been considerable.  The desire for women, slaves, and loot, as well as the eagerness of individual warriors for distinction, has caused many hostile raids to be made against neighboring tribes.  Similar motives have led others to attack them and thus there has been, through a long period, a certain exchange of blood, customs, and artifacts.  Peaceful exchange of commodities has also been carried on for many years along the borders of their territory.  With the advent of the Moro along the sea coast a brisk trade was opened up and new industries introduced.  There seems to have been little, if any, intermarriage between these people, but their relations were sufficiently close for the Moro to exert a marked influence on the religious and civil life of the wilder tribe, and to cause them to incorporate into their language many new words and terms.

The friendly relations with the Moro seem to have been broken off upon the arrival and settlement of the Spaniards in Davao.  The newcomers were then at war with the followers of Mohammed and soon succeeded in enlisting the Bagobo rulers in their cause.  A Chinese plate decorated with the picture of a large blue fish was offered for each Moro head the tribesmen presented to the Spanish commander.  The desire for these trophies was sufficient soon to start a brisk trade in heads, to judge from the number of these plates still to be seen among the prized objects of the petty rulers.

After the overthrow of Moro power on the coast, Jesuit missionaries began their labors among the Bagobo, and later established their followers in several villages.  In 1886 Father Gisbert reported eight hundred converts living in five coast towns.  Following the conflict between Spain and the United States, and during the subsequent insurrection, these villages were left without protection or guidance.  As a result, large numbers of the inhabitants retired to the hills where they were again merged with their wilder brothers.  Naturally, they carried with them new ideas as well as material objects.  With the re-establishment of order under American rule many returned to the deserted villages while others were induced by Governor Bolton to form compact settlements midway between the coast and the mountain fastnesses.  The influence of the Government has become stronger each year, and following the human sacrifice at Talun in 1907, that powerful village and several of the neighboring settlements were compelled to move down near to the sea where they could be more easily controlled.

Schools have been opened in some localities and these, together with the activities of Catholic and Protestant missionaries, are causing a rapid change in the life and beliefs of the tribe.

The presence of American hemp planters, with the consequent demand for laborers, is also proving an immense factor in wiping out old tribal lines and in introducing new ideas.