Map - Bau-Bau (Kota Baubau)

Baubau is a city in Southeast Sulawesi province, Indonesia. The city is located on the southwest coast of Buton island. Baubau attained city status on 21 June 2001, based on Indonesian Law Number 13, for the year 2001. It covers an area of 294.98 km2, including about 30 km2 of water area, and had a population of 136,991 at the 2010 Census and 159,248 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 161,354.

The port of Murhum serves the city's sea transportation, with a ferry terminal operated by the Indonesian state-owned sealiner, Pelni.

During the fifteenth century (1401–1499), Baubau was the center of the Buton (or Wolio) kingdom. There were no historical records known from this kingdom, except from a description in the Nagarakretagama text, an Old Javanese eulogy written by Mpu Prapanca during the Majapahit Kingdom. Mpu Prapanca described a village called Buton, or Butuni, with its garden and irrigation system, and noted that there was a king who ruled in the area.

The kingdom of Buton was originally established by Mia Patamiana, a musketeer from a group of four, acting as a chieftain; the four musketeers were known as Sipanjonga, Simalui, Sitamanajo, and Sijawangkati, based on a historical record Semenanjung Tanah Melayu (or the Malay peninsula record) written in the thirteenth century. They arrived on the island and founded the village of Wolio, appointing small district leaders known as Limbo. Later, they united into the Kingdom of Buton and appointed Wa Kaa Kaa as the first queen in 1332; she was the wife of one of the descendants of a Majapahit ruler.

In 1542, the Kingdom of Buton transformed itself into sultanate when Islam entered the area. The first sultan of Buton was Lakilaponto, titled as Sultan Murhum Kaimuddin Khalifatul Khamis. The last sultan, the 38th, was Muhammad Falihi Kaimuddin in 1960.