[1] This kingdom is located in the central part of the northern arm of the island of Sulawesi, and is flanked by two strategic waters, namely Gorontalo Bay in the south and Celebes Sea in the north.

One of the references to the entry of Islam into Gorontalo comes from the explanation of Ibrahim Polontalo, where the marriage between King (Olongia) Amai and Princess Owutango from the Palasa Kingdom.

[5] In this marriage, King Amai and his followers were required to convert to Islam and the Al-Qur'an as the main source of the order of life and customs of the Gorontalo people.

The capital of the Gorontalo Sultanate was originally located in Hulawa, present in Telaga district, precisely on the banks of the Bolango River.

[9] The government structure of the Gorontalo Sultanate consists of three institutions called Buatulo Towulongo which are interpreted as three sets of unified customs.

Later, Humalanggi had a son named Ilahudu who then embraced and united 17 small kingdoms on the slopes or foot of the mountain.

Other names for the Gorontalo Kingdom that have been found in various scientific reference sources and print media since the 1800s, include Goenong-Talo,[11] Goenong-Tello,[12] and Holontalo.

However, the origin of the name Gorontalo which is most in accordance with historical facts is that it comes from the words Huidu Totolu 'three mountains', which was then absorbed by various colonial era literature as Goenong-Talo or Goenong-Tello.