Mobility and friction characterized the interactions in the hinterland of the island of Manila in the eighteenth century. Although historical actors portrayed the hinterland as a distinct geographical place from the coastal region, the constant movement within and beyond the hinterland showed the interconnectedness of different places on the island. Mobility and friction in the form of mutual visits, violent raids, road openings and disease transmission shaped and were shaped by the unfolding of encounters and relations. Multiple mobilities and encounters in different places provided the necessary backdrop for how various individuals and polities interacted with one another. Instead of seeing mobility as a one-directional movement from coastal Manila to the interior hinterland on the part of Spanish colonizers, the thesis views this movement as one among multiple entangled mobilities that involved indigenous actors. Spanish missionary penetration of the hinterland had a counterpart in the visits of indigenous chiefs to Manila and other colonial towns. Reciprocity manifested itself in these mutual visits that crossed apparent geographical and cultural divides, and facilitated the conversion of indigenous communities and the formation of alliances. Movements and exchanges did not only show themselves in instances of positive encounters, but also in violent raids and attacks. Opposing sides borrowed and adapted to each other’s cultural practices in warfare. A pillar of mobility and friction was the negotiation over access and the gaining of permission. Ostensibly colonial roads built by Spanish missionaries were actually founded on the willing participation of indigenous communities who granted access and controlled who could pass and who could not. The establishment of mission towns in the hinterland zone between the uplands and the lowlands not only facilitated the transmission of epidemic diseases between the two areas, but also halted mobility between them by potentially aggravating the malaria situation.