[2] The location selected was on the south-west coast of Ternate, near the Sultan's Court, but 7 km from the island's main reef-free harbor at Talangame.

São João Baptista commanded three narrow passages through the encircling reefs, which allowed small crafts to arrive for loading cloves, but prevented larger vessels from closing sufficiently to bombard.

In 1605, the newly arrived Dutch VOC captured Portuguese forts on Ambon and Tidore and established a trading base on Ternate.

The Spanish (in a personal union with Portugal since 1580) dispatched a strong expedition from the Philippines and recaptured Kastella, taking hostage Sultan Saidi Berkat and exiling him to Manila in March 1606.

Today the site consists of ruins spread over a large area, scattered with local houses and bisected by the main island road.