[1] His reign inaugurated a period of free trade in the spices and forest products that gave Maluku a significant role in Asian commerce.

[7] Prince Baab and his brothers were apparently trained by a mubaligh (Islamic scholar) and a military expert in which they gained an understanding of the sciences of religion as well as warfare.

[14] A Ternatan-Portuguese conflict broke out in the 1560s, since Muslims in Ambon appealed for assistance from the Sultan against the Europeans, who at this time were bent on Christianizing the island.

The Portuguese authorities in Maluku understood that this would be paired with the dissemination of Islam and therefore detrimental to their position in the East Indies, and efforts were made to convert populations in Menado, Siau Island, Kaidipang, Toli-Toli, etc.

On the pretext of discussing an urgent issue, Lopes de Mesquita invited Hairun to the fortress of São João Baptista on 25 February 1570 for a meal.

[26] Some of the other Malukan Kings temporarily forgot their rivalries and joined forces under Sultan Babullah and the banner of Ternate, as did several rulers and chiefs in the larger region.

[27] According to Spanish sources, Sultan Babullah was eventually able to mobilize 133,300 soldiers under his banner, drawn from a vast area from Sulawesi to New Guinea.

Portuguese fortresses in Ternate, namely Tolucco, Saint Lucia, and Santo Pedro fell within short, leaving only the São João Baptista Citadel as the residence of Mesquita.

[29] At the behest of Babullah the Ternate forces besieged São João Baptista and severed its relationship with the outside world; the food supply was restricted to small rations of sago, so that the inhabitants of the fort could just barely survive.

[31] Although Kassingu fell in a sea battle at Cape Mamala,[32] the Ternatans managed to subjugate Hoamoal (in Ceram), Ambelau, Manipa, Kelang and Boano.

The Portuguese troops under the captaincy of Sancho de Vasconcellos could keep their fortress with great difficulty, and lost much of their grip over the trade in cloves.

Before he left Ternate in November, Drake received a message from Babullah to bring to the Queen, accompanied by a ring that symbolized his commitment to an alliance.

[43] Drake brought with him a small quantity of prime quality clove, proceeding to traverse the Indonesian islands via Sulawesi, Baratiue (in Nusa Tenggara Timur?)

Francis Drake's report describes the atmosphere of the meeting; With the departure of the Portuguese, Sultan Babullah converted São João Baptista into his own fortress which also served as a palace.

Sultan Babullah even issued a regulation requiring every European arriving in Ternate to remove his hats and shoes, just to remind them not to forget themselves.

A combination of Islamic socio-political influence, the after-effects of the Portuguese presence, and the rising clove sales, intensified royal control over territories and spices.

[51] Early in his reign, the Sultan dispatched fleets to subjugate Buru, Ceram, and parts of Ambon; and during the hongi in 1580 the chiefdoms in North Sulawesi were subordinated.

King Humonggilu of Limboto called in Ternatan assistance to defeat his adversary Pongoliwu of Gorontalo, then marrying Babullah's sister Jou Mumin.

[55] A list of dependencies drawn up by the Spaniards in c. 1590 furthermore mentions Mindanao, the Papuan Islands and the Sumbawan kingdoms Bima and Kore, though these places were probably only very loosely attached.

[56] While the outlying areas were merely tributaries, other regions were placed under deputy rulers appointed by the sultan, called Sangaji (honoured prince).

The Sultan of Tidore, Gapi Baguna, had supported Babullah after the murder of Hairun, but grew increasingly uneasy with Ternate's power ambitions.

[58] Gapi Baguna now allowed the Portuguese to build a fort on Tidore (1578), hoping to attract the clove trade and secure military backing against Ternate.

The years around 1570 witnessed a coordinated onslaught on the Portuguese possessions by the Muslim states of South India and Aceh with Ottoman backing, which was probably linked with Babullah's efforts.

[63] Babullah's envoy Kaicili Naik was dispatched to Lisbon where he met Philip II of Spain and Portugal and demanded that Hairun's murderer should be punished (though Pimentel had actually already been killed in an incident in Java[64]).

The negotiations were inconclusive; however, the main purpose of the embassy was to make alliances on the way with Islamic rulers in Brunei, Aceh and Java (apparently alluding to Banten).

[65] Persons from the Ottoman Empire stayed at the court, and the Portuguese anxiously wrote about intimate contacts with Muslim figures from Aceh, the Malay World, and even Mecca.

While the presence of Islam in Maluku had been patchy up to the mid-16th century, the age of Babullah and his successors saw a dissemination and deepening of religious observances, partly as a response to aggressive Catholic advances.

According to a late and unreliable story (told by Georg Rumphius, 1678, and François Valentijn, 1724), he was lured on board a Portuguese ship and treacherously taken prisoner.

In the face of new Spanish and Dutch advances in the early 17th century, the fabric of the Ternate polity proved too fragile to withstand colonial subordination.

However, before his death Babullah persuaded his brother Kaicili Tolu and the Sultan of Tidore to support Saidi's claim, and Mandar Syah was sidelined.