Obviously from the beginning for his own benefit Hasanuddin's intention was to revive the fortunes of the ancient kingdom of Sunda — the rice and spice trade, especially pepper. One of his earliest decisions was to travel to southern Sumatra (today Lampung province), which had traditionally belonged to the kingdom of Sunda, and from which the bulk of the pepper sold in the Sundanese region came. He was keen to assure himself of the loyalty of these agriculturally wealthy areas as soon as possible and to guarantee supplies of pepper for his ports, since it was on this spice that all international trade was based and, hence, in which the wealth of his kingdom lay.