The united Sonbai (Sonba'i, Sonnebay) realm, the traditionally most prestigious polity among the Atoni people of West Timor, allied with the Portuguese in 1649-1655, and then with the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) in 1655-1658.
The central area, Mollo, was governed by co-regents of the Oematan family, and in Fatuleu further to the west a number of lesser lords dominated, among them Takaip.
[2] The relation between the Topasses and the Sonbai Besar princedom oscillated between cooperation and hostility, and did not entail a colonial rule in the conventional sense.
In the Battle of Penfui in November 1749 the attacking Topass army was crushed by the VOC-affiliated forces of Kupang, and a large part of West Timor fell under Dutch influence.
Alfonso Salema was deposed and exiled by the VOC in 1752 on suspicion of treason, and in 1782 his grandson Alphonsus Adrianus established his authority in the inland independently of the Europeans.
After his death in 1802 his son and successor Nai Sobe Sonbai II had great difficulties maintaining his position, and slowly had to assemble power anew under a long and troubled rule (1808-1867).