The first mention of Manado comes from a world map by French cartographer

Nicolas Desliens, which shows the island of Manarow (today's Manado Tua). Before
Europeans arrived in North Sulawesi, the area was under the rule of the Sultan of
Ternate, who exacted tribute and introduced the Muslim religion among some of its
inhabitants. The Portuguese made the Sultan their vassal, taking possession of the
Minahasa and establishing a factory in Wenang.

Meanwhile, the Spanish had already set themselves up in the Philippines and
Minahasa was used to plant coffee that came from South America because of its rich
soil. Manado was further developed by Spain as a center of commerce for the Chinese
traders who traded the coffee in China. With the help of native allies the Spanish took
over the Portuguese fortress in Amurang in the 1550s and Spanish settlers also
established a fort at Manado so that eventually Spain controlled all of the Minahasa. It
was in Manado where one of the first Indo-Eurasian (Mestizo) communities in the
archipelago developed during the 16th century.[11] The first King of Manado (1630)
named Muntu Untu was in fact the son of a Spanish Mestizo.[12]

Map of Manado in 1679

Spain renounced her possessions in Minahasa by means of a treaty with the

Portuguese in return for a payment of 350,000 ducats.[13] Minahasan natives made an
alliance treaty with the Dutch and expelled the last of the Portuguese from Manado a
few years later.

The Dutch East India Company or Verenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (VOC) built a
fortress in Manado named Fort Amsterdam in 1658. As with regions in eastern
Indonesia, Manado has undergone Christianization by Dutch missionaries, including
Riedel and John Gottlieb Schwarz. The Dutch missionaries built the first Christian
church in Manado called Oude Kerk (Old church), which still stands and is now
called Gereja Sentrum. HMS Dover captured Manado in June 1810. The Javanese
prince Diponegoro was exiled to Manado by the Dutch government in 1830 for
leading a war of rebellion against the Dutch. In 1859, the English biologist Alfred
Wallace visited Manado and praised the town for its beauty.

In 1919, the Apostolic Prefecture of Celebes was established in the city. In 1961, it
was promoted as the Diocese of Manado.

The Japanese captured Manado in the Battle of Manado in January 1942.[14] The city
was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during World War II.

In 1958, the headquarters of the rebel movement Permesta was moved to Manado.
When Permesta confronted the central government with demands for political,
economic and regional reform, Jakarta responded by bombing the city in February
1958, and then invading in June 1958.