In 1658, the first permanent Dutch settlement and a military fort were built at the southern coast of Kayeli Gulf, and for two centuries it was the administrative center of the island.

Accordingly, thousands of indigenous people were forcibly relocated to this area from other parts of the island, including much of the tribal nobility, and about thirteen large villages had been built around the fort.

[4] Already by the end of the 18th century, a large proportion of the population of the locals identified themselves not by the ethnicity of their ancestors that they belonged to, but as a separate people group, of which their own name was adopted from the name of the gulf and the largest settlement that was founded on that very coast.

[5] The presence among the ancestors of the tribal aristocracy and interaction with the Dutch colonial administration resulted in a special position of Kayeli over the next centuries, who claimed the role of indigenous elite of the island.

By the end of the 19th century, a large part of the coastal population in Kaiely Gulf; which did not lose ethnic and cultural ties with relatives, started returning to their ancestral homes and as a consequence stopped the possibility of forming a larger community of Kayeli people.

[6] So in 1880s, the leaders (rajas) of Leliali, Wae Sama and Fogi moved back a significant part of their ethnic groups; they were joined in the early 1900s by Tagalisa.

In an effort to ensure the loyalty of new settlers, the Dutch East India Company administrators signed a contract with the tribal leaders to guarantee their right to practice their Islamic religion.

During the following centuries, the Dutch colonials were to some extent adhered to this commitment, despite active proselytizing preaching in Buru Island by the European Catholic and Protestant missionaries, it did not affect the region of Kayeli.