During the golden era of the spice trade, from the 15th to 19th centuries, South Sulawesi served as the gateway to the Maluku Islands.

The king of Makassar, Sultan Hasanuddin was forced to sign a treaty that greatly reduced the power of Bungaya Gowa.

The archaeological remains of the earliest inhabitants were discovered in caves near limestone hills around Maros, about 30 km northeast of Makassar.

Pebble and flake stone tools have been collected from the river terraces in the valley of Walanae, among Soppeng and Sengkang, including the bones from giant pig and elephant species that are now extinct.

[10] The increase in commerce due to the rise of external demand for South Sulawesi rice encouraged major agricultural expansion and political centralization in the early 14th century.

[11][12] Swidden agriculture was increasingly replaced with intensive wet rice cultivation, leading to a rise in population density.

[13] These changes accompanied the rise of new interior agricultural policies, such as the Bugis chiefdoms of Boné and Wajoq,[13] as well as the Makassar polity of Gowa.

[23] By the early 17th century, however, Gowa and Talloq had become the dominant powers in South Sulawesi as they supported international commerce and embraced Islam.

[24][25] The Dutch East India Company (VOC) began operating in the region in the 17th century and saw the Kingdom of Gowa as an obstacle to its desire to control the spice trade in this area.

Before the proclamation of the Republic of Indonesia, South Sulawesi consisted of several independent kingdoms territory and was inhabited by four ethnic groups namely the Buginese, Makassarese, Mandarese, and Torajan.

The province comprises three of Indonesia's 84 national electoral districts to elect members to the People's Representative Council.

The South Sulawesi I Electoral District consists of 5 regencies (Bantaeng, Jeneponto, Takalar, Gowa, and Selayar Islands), together with the city of Makassar, and elects 8 members to the People's Representative Council.

The South Sulawesi II Electoral District consists of 8 regencies (Bulukumba, Sinjai, Maros, Pangkajene and Islands, Barru, Bone, Soppeng, and Wajo), together with the city of Parepare, and elects 9 members to the People's Representative Council.

The locations of the largest rice production are in the Bone regency, in Soppeng, in Wajo, in Sidrap, in Pinrang, and Luwu (Bodowasipilu Area).

In addition to corn, the South Sulawesi region also produces cassava, sweet potatoes, green beans, peanuts, and soybeans.

Some luxuries such as hybrid coconuts, cocoa, coffee, pepper, vanilla, tea, cashews, and cotton are also produced.

The Tata Guna Horan Agreement (TGHK) of 2004 protects a lot of the forest in South Sulawesi creating a limited output of timber-related products.

Ports include Soekarno-Hatta (Makassar), Tanjung Ringgit (Palopo), Nusantara, (Pare-Pare) and Pattumbukang (Selayar).

In this case, the Bugis-Makassar tribe, whose numbers dominate in representing dance styles in South Sulawesi.

The rest are tribes of Duri, Pattinjo, Maiwa, Endekan, Pattae, and Ammatoa Kajang, who also paint the distinctive art of South Sulawesi.

It was mainly built by the Konjo tribe, a sub-ethnic group but was, and still is used widely by the Buginese and Makassarese, mostly for inter-insular transportation, cargo, and fishing purposes within the Indonesian archipelago.

Coastal areas of South Sulawesi eat Bolu (milkfish), Shrimp, Sunu (grouper), and Crab.

[36] As with other blades in the Malay Archipelago, traditionally-made badik are believed to be imbued with a supernatural force during the time of their forging.