Jolo (Tausūg: Sūg) is a 1st class municipality on the island of Jolo, and the capital and largest town of the province of Sulu. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 87,998 people in 12,814 households. Part of its population is of Chinese descent, mainly from Singapore. Of the population, 90% are Muslim, the remaining 10% are Christian.

Jolo was the center of the government of the Sulu Sultanate. While Manila was just a small settlement, Jolo was already a thriving international commercial port.

The town of Jolo is located on the northwest side of the Jolo Island, which is located southwest of the tip of Zamboanga Peninsula on Mindanao island. The island is situated between the provinces of Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, bounded by Sulu Sea to the north and Celebes Sea to the south.

Jolo is a volcanic island, which lies at the center of the Sulu Archipelago covering 890 square kilometres (340 sq mi). The Sulu Archipelago is an island chain in the Southwest Philippines between Mindanao and Borneo, which is made up of 900 islands of volcanic and coral origin covering an area of 2,688 square kilometres (1,038 sq mi). There are numerous volcanoes and craters around Jolo with the last known activity (an earthquake assumed resulting from a submarine eruption from an undetermined location) taking place on September 21, 1897 causing devastating tsunamis in the archipelago and western Mindanao.

Joló (Tausūg: Sūg) is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines. It is located in the Sulu Archipelago, between Borneo and Mindanao, and has a population of approximately 300,000 people.

Jolo is also the name of the town on the island which serves as the capital of the province of Sulu, within the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. About a third of the island's population live in the municipality of Jolo.

The island is part of the Jolo Group of volcanoes, and contains numerous volcanic cones and craters, including the active Bud Dajo cinder cone.

After a series of less-than-successful attempts during the centuries of Spanish rule in the Philippines, Spanish forces captured the city of Jolo, the seat of the Sultan of Sulu, in 1876.

On that year, the Spanish launched a massive campaign to occupy Jolo. Spurred by the need to curb slave raiding once and for all and worried about the presence of other Western powers in the south (the British had established trading centers in Jolo by the 19th century and the French were offering to purchase Basilan Island from the cash strapped government in Madrid), the Spanish made a final bid to consolidate their rule in this southern frontier. On 21 February of that year, the Spaniards assembled the largest contingent against Jolo, consisting of 9,000 soldiers, in 11 transports, 11 gunboats, and 11 steamboats. Headed by Admiral Jose Malcampo captured Jolo and established a Spanish settlement with Capt. Pascual Cervera appointed to set up a garrison and serve as military governor; He served from March 1876 to December1876 followed by Brig.Gen. Jose Paulin (December 1876-April 1877), Col Carlos Martinez (Sept 1877-Feb 1880), Col. Rafael de Rivera (1880–1881), Col. Isidro G. Soto (1881–1882), Col. Eduardo Bremon, (1882), Col. Julian Parrrado (1882–1884), Col. Francisco Castilla (1884–1886), Col. Juan Arolas (1886-18930, Col. Caesar Mattos (1893), Gen. Venancio Hernandez (1893–1896) and Col. Luis Huerta (1896–1899).

Sulu (Tausūg: سوگ, Sūg) is an autonomous island province of the Philippines located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Its capital is Jolo and occupies the middle group of islands of the Sulu Archipelago, between Basilan and Tawi-Tawi. It is home to the historical Sultanate of Sulu.

The peaceful advent of Islam around 1138 through merchants and traders had a distinct influence on Southeast Asia. The coming of Arabs, Persians and other Muslims paved the way for the arrival of religious missionaries, traders, scholars and travelers to Sulu and Mindanao in the 12th century.

A landmark born of the social process was the founding of the principality of Buansa Sumatra, who settled there and married the daughter. A decade earlier (1380), Karim-ul-Mahkdum, an Arab religious missionary and learned judge, reinforced the Islamic foundation of Rajah Baguinda’s polity (1390–1460) and that of the Sultanate of Sayid Abubakar, princely scholar from Arabia who married Paramisuli, the daughter of Rajah Baguinda. Sayid Abubakar eventually inherited the rule of Rajah Baguinda, established the Sultanate and became the first Sultan of Sulu. To consolidate his rule, Sayid Abubakar united the local political units under the umbrella of the Sultanate. He brought Sulu, Zamboanga Peninsula, Palawan and Basilan under its aegis.

Jamalul D. Kiram III is the current Sultan of Sulu in Sulu, southern Philippines. He was a candidate for senator in the 2007 Philippine Elections.

Born on July 16, 1938 in Maimbung, Sulu, he is the eldest son of the late Sultan Punjungan Kiram and Sharif Usna Dalus Strattan (both parents are Sulu royalties). He's from the direct lineage of the first Sultan of Sulu, Sultan Shariful Hashim from the Banu Hashem tribe, the direct descendants of Muhammad.

He studied in Jolo Central Elementary School from 1946-1951. He finished high school at the Sulu High School in 1955 and took-up pre-law from 1956-1958 at Notre Dame of Jolo. He received a Bachelor of Law degree from Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU) in 1964.

He is married to Dayang Hadja Fatima Celia H. Kiram.

He's a member of the Ruma Betchara (Council of the Sultan) during the reign of his late uncle, Sultan Esmail Kiram (1962–1974). He acted as "Interim Sultan" during the absence of his father Sultan Punjungan Kiram while in Sabah (1974–1981) and proclaimed in 1984 as 33rd Sultan of Sulu and was crowned on June 15, 1986 in Jolo, Sulu.