 From the first Spanish encounters with Jolo island, the Spanish–Moro conflict met firm and organised resistance from the Sultanate of Sulu.Miguel López de Legazpi had established a colony in Cebu in May 1565, however the initial focus of the Spanish conquest to establish the Spanish East Indies was northwards.In June 1578 Francisco de Sande, Governor-General of the Spanish East Indies, dispatched captain Esteban Rodríguez de Figueroa and the Jesuit priest Juan del Campo and the coadjutor Gaspar Gómez to Jolo, resulting in a negotiated compromise where the Sulu sultan paid a regular tribute in pearls.