Jailolo

Jailolo, on the western coast of Halmahera, was the seat of a sultanate whose rivalry with Ternate drew it into the struggles of Iberian powers in the Moluccas. Its royal centre at Gamlamo stood within a coastal landscape of fortified positions. Archaeological study distinguishes this centre from places such as Sahu, which protected its approaches, and frontier positions associated with the sultanate's contested territory.

In the sixteenth century, Jailolo's dealings with the Spanish increased Portuguese suspicion, while Sultan Hairun of Ternate had his own reasons to weaken a neighbouring ruler. Portuguese forces and Ternate therefore joined against Jailolo in 1551. The defeat reduced its sultan to dependence on Ternate and broke the power of a previously independent rival. The history of this shore belongs to the contest between neighbouring island courts as well as to European intervention: the alliance of 1551 brought those interests together at Jailolo's expense.