The Tausug landed elite to have merged around the thirteenth century, in the relatively populous central islands of the Sulu archipelago, when Jolo was becoming a major commercial center.
Sulu appears in Chinese sources as early as the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), and a lengthy account of a tributary mission in 1417 from Sulu to the celestial court is recorded in the Ming Annals.
In the middle of the 14th century, Tuan Masha’ika brought Islam faith in Sulu. He established the first Muslim community in the archipelago.
In 1380 Karim Makhdum noted judge and scholar from Mecca began missionary work in Sulu. He built a house for religious worship at Tubig-Indagan on the Island of Simunul and won many converts.
The Sulu sultanate was established in the mid-fifteenth century, putatively by the legendary Salip (Sharif) Abu Bakar or Sultan Shariful Hashim.
At this time Islam spread throughout the coastal and mountain areas through the conversion of the local chief to Islam. Sultanate code of laws were made and promulgated.
Historians believed that the sultanate developed as an Islamic institution as a result of the gradual Islamization of the area.
Its establishment consolidated the ascendancy of the Tausug in the Sulu Archipelago and appears it have furthered their social and economic differentiation from an earlier Bajau/Sama speaking population.
The island of Jolo then became a major center for cross-cultural trade in the history of Eastern Asia and the Sulu Sultanate flourished.
The first direct Spanish contact with Sulu was made in June 1578. Successive Spanish raids against Jolo continued through the 17th century but without decisive outcome.
Sulu Sultanate
