What is "Spices"? Moluccas: description, climate, indigenous people, attractions

The Moluccas are the islands that are located on the territory of Indonesia. Since ancient times they have been known as the "Spice Islands". It was here that people from all over the world came to buy rare and fragrant spices: cloves, peppers, cinnamon and many others. But the race for these spices has played an important role in world history. Thus, attempts to find a sea route to these islands hastened the beginning of the "age of discovery", and the profitable sale of spices led to the formation of the colonial empires of Europe. It was significant enough event in the development of the modern world.

The Moluccas are an unusually attractive place for travelers. People come here from all over the world to buy fragrant spices and admire local attractions.

A bit of history

The name of this island is translated from Arabic means "land of kings". Initially, the island was a link in a chain consisting of 5 small land areas - Ternate, Tidore, Moti, Mare and Macian. All of them are located close to big island Halmahera. As for the modern Moluccas, today it is a whole province. It consists of 999 small islands, including Ambon, Buru, Seram. In addition, there are tiny patches of land of Banda Island.

Local population

The indigenous inhabitants of the Moluccas are representatives of different races and cultures. The locals are the Malay-speaking population and the Alfurs. Groups close to the Melanesians also live here - they usually speak Austronesian languages. In addition, there are also Papuans (for example, Halmachers) - they speak peculiar New Guinean dialects. The indigenous people of this mini-archipelago grew high-quality cloves here, as well as many other spices.

Capital of the islands

The town of Ambron is considered the administrative center of the Moluccas. It is located on the island of the same name - Ambon. The city was founded by the inhabitants of Portugal in 1574 and has preserved the traces of past centuries, although it lost a considerable number of buildings of the colonial period due to the bombardments that occurred here during World War II.

ABOUT old times Fort Victoria tells the story best. This is an ancient military fortification that was built by the Portuguese. At the very top of the hill is the Sivalim Museum, which boasts a large collection of tribal exhibits. material culture. Not far from Ambon you can see the majestic Mount Sirimahu. On one of its bends, the colorful village of Soya is noticeable, in which there is an old Dutch church, built in this place in 1817. In addition, in these territories is the residence of the ex-raja, who once lived in this area.

Moluccas: Attractions

Right behind the village of Soya, there is a branching of the road into trails (local residents gave them the name "paths to Calvary"). These paths lead to the villages of Ema, Kilang, Naku and Hatalai, which are located in the south of the mountain. Each individual settlement has its own megalithic buildings. Outwardly, the villages have hardly changed since the time when, in the 16th century, the missionary Francisco Xavier did everything possible to convert local residents into Catholicism.

Speaking of islands like Ternate and Tidore, mention should be made of their unusual shape: they resemble a pair of volcanic cones, with a diameter of approximately 10 km and a height of about 1.7 km. For many centuries, these two pieces of land were perhaps the most valuable real estate in Indonesia, as they were famous for their monopoly on the production of cloves. The town of Ternate was formed around a post for trade, built here by the Dutch in the 17th century. On a hill that cannot be overlooked in this area is Kedaton Palace. Today, this Sultan's castle houses a museum.

Variety for travelers

Just 20 minutes on a boat that takes tourists from Ternate to the island of Tidore - and you can observe the change of landscapes, as well as get a huge amount of vivid impressions. The largest local city, Soasio, is similar to the Mediterranean fishing village. snow white houses with sharp roofs scattered in small mosaics on the slopes of the hill, are the legacy of Spanish traditions. The mountainous surface of Seram Island also has a large number of villages and ancient military fortifications, but there are very few cities and almost no roads.

The same situation is observed on the island of Buru - there are solid dense forests surrounded by reefs and swamps. To visit this island, you need to get permission the day before from the administrative center of the Moluccas.

But other islands called Banda are also quite famous all over the world - they are called "nutmeg islands". This place has a very rich history. The main city is Banda Neira. It is located on the slopes of the mountain. It is separated from the neighboring island only by a thin thread of the strait. In the city there is an opportunity to see an old Dutch Protestant church, as well as 2 military fortifications.

Flora and fauna of the islands

The Moluccas have a predominantly hot climate, but sometimes it rains. In this regard, the vegetation in this area rich enough. In the homeland of cloves there is a large number of sago palms, the fruits of which are the main food of the natives. In general, the nature here is beautiful and diverse. As for the animal world, it is also interesting, although there are very few mammals here. Marsupials are the most common, as are certain breeds of deer and babirus. But on the island of Batyan you can even see monkeys.

In the Moluccas, quite big variety birds, parrots can be found to a greater extent. However, each individual piece of land was chosen by certain species and breeds of these birds. In addition, the islands boast a wide variety of marine life, as well as beautiful unusual insects.

If you want to spend your vacation unforgettable, we recommend visiting the Molluk Islands. Beautiful nature and warm climate - what could be better for a good pastime?

Etymology of the name of the region Moluccas goes back to Arabic Jazirat al-Malik(island of kings), as merchants from the Middle East called it.

Geography and geology

The total area of ​​the archipelago of the Moluccas is 850,000 km², 90% of it is covered with water. In total, the archipelago includes 1027 islands. The two largest islands, Halmahera and Seram are barely inhabited, and the most developed small islands Ambon and Ternate.

Most of the islands are mountainous and covered with forests and mountains. The Tanimbar Islands are dry and hilly while the Aru Islands are flat and marshy. Mount Binaya (3027 m) on the island of Seram - highest point archipelago. Some of the islands have active volcanoes. Many islands similar to Ternate (1721 m) are the tops of volcanoes rising from the sea, with villages located along the coast. Over the past 500 years, more than 70 possible volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have occurred in the region.

The geology of the Moluccas is characterized by the same features and processes as for the nearest region of Nusa Tenggara. Despite the fact that the study of the geology of the region has been carried out since the colonial period, scientists have not yet formed an unambiguous picture of geological formations and processes, and theories of the geological evolution of the islands have been constantly changing in recent decades. The Moluccas are one of the most geologically complex and active regions in the world, due to the fact that they are located at the meeting point of four geological plates and two continents.

Flora and fauna

The ecology of the Moluccas has been studied by many naturalists since the discovery of the islands by Europeans; Alfred Wallace's The Malay Archipelago (English) Russian became the first scientific work that described the history of the ecology of the region, it became the most important source for the study of Indonesian biodiversity. The Moluccas are the subject of two major natural history works by George Rumphius (English) Russian : "Ambonesian Herbarium" and "Ambonesian Kunstkamera" .

Rainforests cover most of the northern and central islands of the archipelago and have been replaced on the smaller islands by plantations, including endemic clove and nutmeg trees. Tanimbar Islands and others southeastern islands arid and the vegetation on them is poor, as on nearby Timor. In 1997, the Manuzela National Park was created, and in 2004, the Aketojave Lolobata National Park, their goal is to save rare endemic species from extinction.

Despite the fact that environmental pollution affects both small and large islands, small islands have their own specific ecological problems. The influence of civilization on small islands is increasing, and the effects are not always predictable. Even though Indonesia is rich natural resources, the resources of the small islands of the Moluccas archipelago are limited and specialized; in addition, population densities are generally low on small islands.

• a large land area is affected by volcanic activity, earthquakes, landslides and destructive cyclones;
• A maritime climate prevails;
• The catchment area is small and the degree of erosion is high;
• Most of the land is the sea coast;
• High level of specialization, relatively large number of endemics;
• Society has original culture due to relative isolation;
• The population of small islands is significantly affected by economic migration.

Climate

The climate is humid. The central and southern Moluccas are dominated by dry monsoons from October to March and wet monsoons from May to August, unlike the rest of Indonesia. The average maximum temperature of dry monsoons is 30 °C, wet - 23 °C. In the northern Moluccas, wet monsoons prevail from December to March, as in the rest of Indonesia. Each island group has its own climatic variations, and on major islands characterized by dry coastal lowlands and wetter mountainous hinterland.

Story

Review

Trading with Muslim states, Venice had a monopoly on the spice road in Europe from 1200 to 1500, as it controlled the Mediterranean trade routes and ports such as Alexandria, after the Mongols and Turks appeared on the hitherto common overland route. The financial incentive to open up new trade routes that could provide an alternative to the Venetian monopoly in this lucrative business was perhaps the most important factor in starting the Age of Discovery. The Portuguese took the lead in finding a way through the southern tip of Africa, opening and equipping settlements along the route, even opening the coast of Brazil in search of convenient southern currents. The success of the Portuguese and the creation of their colonial empire prompted other maritime powers in Europe, primarily Spain, France, England and the Netherlands, to create their own colonies and push the Portuguese positions.

Because of high price spices in Europe and the high profits that their trade brought, the Dutch and British soon entered into an armed conflict for a monopoly in this trade and ousting the Portuguese from it. The struggle for control of these small islands escalated in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the Dutch even gave the island of Manhattan to the British in exchange, among other things, for tiny island Ran, which gave the Dutch complete control over the production of nutmeg in the Banda archipelago. The Bandanese were the most affected side in this struggle, since most of of them was slaughtered or enslaved by European invaders. Over 6,000 people were killed during the Spice Wars.

During the search for the Spice Islands, which eventually became part of the Dutch East Indies Empire, the West Indies were accidentally discovered, which began an age-old competition between European maritime powers for control of world markets and resources. The mysterious mysticism of the Spice Islands eventually faded when the French and British successfully removed seeds and plant specimens from the islands to their colonies in Mauritius, Grenada and elsewhere, eventually leading to spices becoming a common staple these days.

Early history

The oldest archaeological evidence of human presence on the islands of the region is about 32 thousand years old, however, archaeological finds of more ancient settlements in Australia indicate that humans most likely visited the Moluccas before. Evidence of an increase in the radius of trade relations and a denser settlement of many islands has an age of 10 to 15 thousand years. Onyx beads and parts of a silver dish used as money in the Indian subcontinent around 200 B.C. e. found on several islands. In addition, local dialects use a word of Malay origin for silver, as opposed to a word with the same meaning used in the Melanesian community and which has etymological roots in Chinese, which was a consequence of the development of regional trade with China in VI and VII centuries.

The Moluccas were a cosmopolitan society in which spice traders from all over the region could live in their settlements or nearby enclaves, including Arab and Chinese merchants who visited or resided in the region. social organization was usually local and relatively even - the community council, which included elders and the most wealthy people, had power ( orang kai).

Arab merchants who intensified trade with the region in the 14th century brought Islam. Religious conversion to Islam proceeded peacefully and spread to many of the islands, mostly those that were at the center of trade, while traditional animism remained the main religion on the most remote and isolated islands. Archaeological evidence for the spread of these religions is the frequency of pig teeth being found, depending on whether the natives ate them or abstained from eating pork.

Portuguese period

Apart from some relatively minor cultural influence, the most significant lasting effects of the Portuguese presence were the disruption and reorganization of trade in South-East Asia and the advent of Christianity eastern Indonesia, including the Moluccas. The Portuguese captured the city of Malacca at the beginning of the 16th century and their influence in the Moluccas and throughout eastern Indonesia increased significantly. The Portuguese took Malacca in August 1511, "thirty years after it became Moorish" as one participant wrote in his diary, pointing to the opposition between Islamic and European influence in the region. Afonso de Albuquerque, who studied the route to the Banda Islands and other "Spice Islands", sent an exploratory expedition of three ships under the command of António de Abreu, Siman Afonso Bisagudo and Francisco Serrana. On his way back, Francisco Serrán was wrecked off Hitu (north of Ambon Island) in 1512. Here he met the local ruler, who was impressed by his military capabilities. The rulers of the rival sultanates of Ternate and Tidore also wanted to get help from the Portuguese and attract them as buyers of spices during a lull in local trade, which came due to the temporary cessation of the voyages of Javanese and Malay merchants after the events of 1511 in Malacca. The spice trade soon resumed, but the Portuguese were never able to monopolize or stop this trade.

Choosing the Sultan of Ternate as an ally, Serrán built a fortress on this small island and led a mercenary force of Portuguese sailors in the service of one of the two local sultans who controlled most of the spice trade. Service in a colony far from Europe could attract only the most desperate and greedy people, and the incorrect behavior of the Portuguese with the locals was also accompanied by weak attempts to spread Christianity, which complicated relations with the Muslim rulers of Ternate. Serran persuaded Ferdinand Magellan to join him in the Moluccas and sent him information regarding the Spice Islands. However, both Serran and Magellan died before they could meet. In 1535 Sultan Tabariji ( English) was overthrown and transported by the Portuguese to Goa. He converted to Christianity and changed his name to Dom Manuel. After the charges against him were dropped, he set out on his return journey to take his throne, but died on the way to Malacca in 1545. He bequeathed the island of Ambon to his godfather, the Portuguese Hordão da Freitas. After the assassination of Sultan Khairun by the Portuguese, the Ternats expelled the foreigners after a five-year siege in 1575.

The Portuguese first landed on Ambon in 1513, it subsequently became the new center of Portuguese activity in the Moluccas after being expelled from Ternate. European influence in the region was weak and Islam and anti-European sentiment increased in Ternate during the reign of Sultan Baab Ulla (1570-1583) and his son Sultan Said. However, the Portuguese were constantly attacked by local Muslims on the northern coast of the island, especially in Hita, which maintained trade and religious ties with the largest port cities north coast Me you. In 1521 they founded a trading post, but until 1580 its existence was not peaceful. In reality, the Portuguese never controlled the local spice trade, nor were they able to establish their influence in the Banda Islands, the center of nutmeg production.

The Portuguese missionaries did a great job, thanks to them large Christian communities were created in eastern Indonesia, which exist in our time, which contributed to the strengthening of the influence of Europeans on the inhabitants of the islands, especially on the Ambonese. In the 1560s, about 10,000 inhabitants of the region were converted to the Catholic faith, mainly on Ambon, and in the 1590s their number was already from 50,000 to 60,000, but most of the islands surrounding Ambon were Muslim. The Spanish missionary Francis Xavier made a great contribution to the spread of Christianity in the Moluccas.

Another legacy of Portuguese influence was the borrowing of Portuguese words into Indonesian, the mixture of which with Malay became lingua franca region at the beginning of the 19th century. Modern Indonesian words such as pesta("party"), sabun("soap"), bendera("flag"), meja("table"), Minggu("Sunday"), borrowed from Portuguese. Many families in the Moluccas have Portuguese surnames, including da Lima, da Costa, Dias, da Freitas, Gonzales, Mendoza, Rodriguez, and da Silva. In addition, there are Portuguese roots in romantic guitar ballads. kronkong.

Spanish period

The Spanish gained control of Tidore in 1603 and established an outpost to trade spices and counter Dutch expansion into the archipelago. The territory became part of the Spanish East Indies and was administered from Manila in the Philippine Islands. Missionary Francis Xavier preached in the Moluccas in 1546-1547 among the peoples of Ambon, Ternate and Morotai and laid the foundations of Christianity in the region. The Spanish presence lasted until 1663 when the settlers and military were taken to the Philippines. Some of these people later created a settlement near Manila called Ternate.

Dutch period

The Dutch arrived in the region in 1599 and took advantage of the dissatisfaction of the locals with the attempts of the Portuguese to monopolize their traditional trade. After the Ambonese helped the Dutch build a fort at Hitu Larna, the Portuguese launched a military campaign in response, in which the Ambonese supported the Dutch. In 1605, Frederick Gautman became the first Dutch governor of Ambon.

North Maluku Province

Maluku Province

• Ambon, which contains the administrative center of Ambon
• Aru Islands
• Babar
• Northwest Islands
• Banda Islands
• Cay Islands
• Leti Islands
• Maclan
• Saparua
• Tanimbar Islands

Demography

The population of the Moluccas is about 2 million people, less than 1% of the population of Indonesia.

The long history of trade and navigation has led to a high degree of interbreeding between the peoples of the Moluccas. Austronesian peoples began to mix with the native Melanesian population 4 thousand years ago. The largest percentage of Melanesians live on the islands of the Kei and Aru archipelagos, as well as in parts of the Seram and Buru islands. Later Indian, Arabic, Chinese and Portuguese genes were added to this Austranesian-Melanesian mixed race. Even later newcomers were Bugis, merchants from Sulawesi, and transmigrants from Java.

Economy

Cloves and nutmegs still form an important part of agricultural production, and cocoa, coffee and fruits are also grown. Fishing plays an important role in the economy, most developed around Halmahera and Bakan. Pearls are grown on the Aru Islands, Seram exports lobsters. The timber industry is of great importance for the larger islands: ironwood grows on Seram, and teak and ebony are mined on Buru.

In December 1979, the Soviet dissident Yuri Alexandrovich Vetokhin, while sailing on the excursion motor ship Ilyich along the Moluccas archipelago, in the Moluccas Sea, escaped by swimming to the island of Batsan.

Notes

1. Monk K.A. ISBN 962-593-076-0
2. Witton Patrick Indonesia. - Melbourne: Lonely Planet, 2003. - P. 818. - ISBN 1-74059-154-2
3. Monk (1996), page 9
4. Monk, K.A. The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. - Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd., 1996. - P. 9. - ISBN 962-593-076-0
5. Monk, K.A. The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. - Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd., 1996. - P. 4. - ISBN 962-593-076-0
6. Monk, K.A. The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. - Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd., 1996. - P. 1. - ISBN 962-593-076-0
7. Beller, W., P. d'Ayala, and P. Hein. 1990. Paris and New Jersey: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and Parthenon Publishing Group Inc.; Hess, A, 1990. Overview: sustainable development and environmental management of small islands. In Sustainable development and environmental management of small islands. eds W. Beller, P. d'Ayala, and P. Hein, Paris and New Jersey: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and Parthenon Publishing Group Inc. (both cited in Monk)
8. Lape, P.V. (2000). Contact and Colonialism in the Banda Islands, Maluku, Indonesia; Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin 20 (Melaka Papers, Vol.4)
9. Ricklefs M.C. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. - London: MacMillan, 1991. - P. 26. - ISBN 0-333-57689-6
10. Ricklefs M.C. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. - London: MacMillan, 1991. - P. 24. - ISBN 0-333-57689-6
11. Lach, D.F. (1994) Asia in the Making of Europe: The Century of Discovery (Vol 1), Chicago University Press
12. E. C. Abendanon and E. Heawood (December 1919). "Missing Links in the Development of the Ancient Portuguese Cartography of the Netherlands East Indian Archipelago". The Geographical Journal(Blackwell Publishing) 54 (6): 347–355. DOI:10.2307/1779411.
13. Ricklefs M.C. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. - London: MacMillan, 1991. - P. 25. - ISBN 0-333-57689-6
14. Troubled history of the Moluccas, BBC News(June 26, 2000). Retrieved May 17, 2007.
15. Monk K.A. The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. - Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd., 1996. - P. 7. - ISBN 962-593-076-0
16. IRJA.org
17. Taylor Jean Gelman Indonesia: Peoples and Histories. - New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003. - P. 5-7. - ISBN 0-300-10518-5

Literature

Most of the islands are mountainous and covered with forests and mountains. The Tanimbar Islands are dry and hilly while the Aru Islands are flat and marshy. Mount Binaya (3027 m) on the island of Seram is the highest point of the archipelago. Some of the islands have active volcanoes. Many islands similar to Ternate (1721 m) are the tops of volcanoes rising from the sea, with villages located along the coast. Over the past 500 years, more than 70 powerful volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have occurred in the region.

The geology of the Moluccas is characterized by the same features and processes as for the nearest region of Nusa Tenggara. Despite the fact that the study of the geology of the region has been carried out since the colonial period, scientists have not yet formed an unambiguous picture of geological formations and processes, and theories of the geological evolution of the islands have been constantly changing in recent decades. The Moluccas are one of the most geologically complex and active regions in the world, due to the fact that they are located at the meeting point of four geological plates and two continents.

Flora and fauna

The vegetation of these small islands is very diverse: they grow tropical rainforests, sago, rice, as well as well-known spices - nutmeg, cloves and others.

The ecology of the Moluccas has been studied by many naturalists since the discovery of the islands by Europeans; Alfred Wallace's The Malay Archipelago (English)Russian became the first scientific work that described the history of the ecology of the region, it became the most important source for the study of Indonesian biodiversity. The Moluccas are the subject of two major historical natural history works by Georg Rumphius, The Ambonesian Herbarium and The Ambonesian Kunstkamera.

Rainforests cover most of the northern and central islands of the archipelago and have been replaced on the smaller islands by plantations, including endemic clove and nutmeg trees. The Tanimbar Islands and other southeastern islands are arid and sparsely vegetated, as in nearby Timor. In 1997, the Manuzela National Park was established, and in 2004, the Aketojave Lolobata National Park, their goal is to save rare endemic species from extinction.

Although pollution affects both small and large islands, small islands also have their own specific environmental problems. The influence of civilization on small islands is increasing, and the effects are not always predictable. Although Indonesia is rich in natural resources, the resources of the small islands of the Moluccas archipelago are limited and specialized; in addition, population densities are generally low on small islands.

• a large land area is affected by volcanic activity, earthquakes, landslides and destructive cyclones;
• A maritime climate prevails;
• The catchment area is small and the rate of erosion is high;
• Most of the land is the sea coast;
• High level of specialization, relatively large number of endemics;
• Society has a distinctive culture due to relative isolation;
• The population of small islands is significantly affected by economic migration.

Climate

The climate is humid. The central and southern Moluccas are dominated by dry monsoons from October to March and wet monsoons from May to August, unlike the rest of Indonesia. The average maximum temperature of dry monsoons is 30 °C, wet - 23 °C. In the northern Moluccas, wet monsoons prevail from December to March, as in the rest of Indonesia. Each island group has its own climatic variations, and the larger islands are characterized by dry coastal lowlands and wetter mountainous hinterlands.

Story

Review

Trading with Muslim states, Venice had a monopoly on the spice road in Europe from 1200 to 1500, as it controlled the Mediterranean trade routes and ports such as Alexandria, after the Mongols and Turks appeared on the hitherto common overland route. The financial incentive to open up new trade routes that could provide an alternative to the Venetian monopoly in this lucrative business was perhaps the most important factor in starting the Age of Discovery. The Portuguese took the lead in finding a way through the southern tip of Africa, opening and equipping settlements along the route, even opening the coast of Brazil in search of convenient southern currents. The success of the Portuguese and the creation of their colonial empire prompted other maritime powers in Europe, primarily Spain, France, England and the Netherlands, to create their own colonies and push the Portuguese positions.

Due to the high price of spices in Europe and the high profits that trade in them brought, the Dutch and British soon entered into armed conflict for a monopoly in this trade and ousting the Portuguese from it. The struggle for control of these small islands escalated in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the Dutch even gave the island of Manhattan to the British in exchange for, among other things, the tiny island of Run, which gave the Dutch complete control over the production of nutmeg in the Banda archipelago. The Bandanese were the most affected side in this struggle, since most of them were massacred or enslaved by the European invaders. Over 6,000 people were killed during the Spice Wars.

While searching for the Spice Islands, which would eventually become part of the Dutch East Indies Empire, the West Indies were accidentally discovered, starting an age-old competition between European maritime powers for control of the world's markets and resources. The mysterious mysticism of the Spice Islands eventually faded when the French and British successfully removed seeds and plant specimens from the islands to their colonies in Mauritius, Grenada and elsewhere, eventually leading to spices becoming a common staple these days.

Early history

The oldest archaeological evidence of human presence on the islands of the region is about 32 thousand years old, however, archaeological finds of more ancient settlements in Australia suggest that people most likely visited the Moluccas before. Evidence of an increase in the radius of trade relations and a denser settlement of many islands has an age of 10 to 15 thousand years. Onyx beads and parts of a silver dish used as money in the Indian subcontinent around 200 B.C. e. found on several islands. In addition, local dialects use a word of Malay origin for silver, as opposed to a word with the same meaning used in the Melanesian community and which has etymological roots in Chinese, which was a consequence of the development of regional trade with China in VI and VII centuries.

The Moluccas were a cosmopolitan society in which spice traders from all over the region could live in their settlements or nearby enclaves, including Arab and Chinese merchants who visited or resided in the region. The social organization was usually local and relatively even - the community council, which included the elders and the wealthiest people, had power ( orang kai).

Arab merchants who intensified trade with the region in the 14th century brought Islam. Religious conversion to Islam proceeded peacefully and spread to many of the islands, mostly those that were at the center of trade, while traditional animism remained the main religion on the most remote and isolated islands. Archaeological evidence for the spread of these religions is the frequency of pig teeth being found, depending on whether the natives ate them or abstained from eating pork.

Portuguese period

Some relatively minor cultural influence aside, the most significant lasting effects of the Portuguese presence were the disruption and reorganization of trade in Southeast Asia and the introduction of Christianity in eastern Indonesia, including the Moluccas. The Portuguese captured the city of Malacca at the beginning of the 16th century and their influence in the Moluccas and throughout eastern Indonesia increased significantly. The Portuguese took Malacca in August 1511, "thirty years after it became Moorish" as one participant wrote in his diary, pointing to the opposition between Islamic and European influence in the region. Afonso de Albuquerque, who studied the route to the Banda Islands and other "Spice Islands", sent an exploratory expedition of three ships under the command of António de Abreu, Siman Afonso Bisagudo and Francisco Serrana. On his way back, Francisco Serrán was wrecked off Hitu (north of Ambon Island) in 1512. Here he met the local ruler, who was impressed by his military capabilities. The rulers of the rival sultanates of Ternate and Tidore also wanted to get help from the Portuguese and attract them as buyers of spices during a lull in local trade, which came due to the temporary cessation of the voyages of Javanese and Malay merchants after the events of 1511 in Malacca. The spice trade soon resumed, but the Portuguese were never able to monopolize or stop this trade.

Choosing the Sultan of Ternate as an ally, Serrán built a fortress on this small island and led a mercenary force of Portuguese sailors in the service of one of the two local sultans who controlled most of the spice trade. Service in a colony far from Europe could attract only the most desperate and greedy people, and the incorrect behavior of the Portuguese with the locals was also accompanied by weak attempts to spread Christianity, which complicated relations with the Muslim rulers of Ternate. Serran persuaded Ferdinand Magellan to join him in the Moluccas and sent him information regarding the Spice Islands. However, both Serran and Magellan died before they could meet. In 1535 Sultan Tabariji ( English) was overthrown and transported by the Portuguese to Goa. He converted to Christianity and changed his name to Dom Manuel. After the charges against him were dropped, he set out on his return journey to take his throne, but died on the way to Malacca in 1545. He bequeathed the island of Ambon to his godfather, the Portuguese Hordão da Freitas. After the assassination of Sultan Khairun by the Portuguese, the Ternats expelled the foreigners after a five-year siege in 1575.

The Portuguese first landed on Ambon in 1513, it subsequently became the new center of Portuguese activity in the Moluccas after being expelled from Ternate. European influence in the region was weak and Islam and anti-European sentiment increased in Ternate during the reign of Sultan Baab Ulla (1570-1583) and his son Sultan Said. However, the Portuguese were constantly attacked by local Muslims on the northern coast of the island, especially in Hita, which maintained trade and religious ties with the largest port cities of the northern coast of Java. In 1521 they founded a trading post, but until 1580 its existence was not peaceful. In reality, the Portuguese never controlled the local spice trade, nor were they able to establish their influence in the Banda Islands, the center of nutmeg production.

The Portuguese missionaries did a great job, thanks to them large Christian communities were created in eastern Indonesia, which exist in our time, which contributed to the strengthening of the influence of Europeans on the inhabitants of the islands, especially on the Ambonese. In the 1560s, about 10,000 inhabitants of the region were converted to the Catholic faith, mainly on Ambon, and in the 1590s their number was already from 50,000 to 60,000, but most of the islands surrounding Ambon were Muslim. The Spanish missionary Francis Xavier made a great contribution to the spread of Christianity in the Moluccas.

Another legacy of Portuguese influence was the borrowing of Portuguese words into Indonesian, the mixture of which with Malay became lingua franca region at the beginning of the 19th century. Modern Indonesian words such as pesta("party"), sabun("soap"), bendera("flag"), meja("table"), Minggu("Sunday"), borrowed from Portuguese. Many families in the Moluccas have Portuguese surnames, including da Lima, da Costa, Dias, da Freitas, Gonzales, Mendoza, Rodriguez, and da Silva. In addition, there are Portuguese roots in romantic guitar ballads. kronkong.

Spanish period

The Spanish gained control of Tidore in 1603 and established an outpost to trade spices and counter Dutch expansion into the archipelago. The territory became part of the Spanish East Indies and was administered from Manila in the Philippine Islands. Missionary Francis Xavier preached in the Moluccas in 1546-1547 among the peoples of Ambon, Ternate and Morotai and laid the foundations of Christianity in the region. The Spanish presence lasted until 1663 when the settlers and military were taken to the Philippines. Some of these people later created a settlement near Manila called Ternate.

Dutch period

The Dutch arrived in the region in 1599 and took advantage of local dissatisfaction with the attempts of the Portuguese to monopolize their traditional trade. After the Ambonese helped the Dutch build a fort at Hitu Larna, the Portuguese launched a military campaign in response, in which the Ambonese supported the Dutch. In 1605, Frederick Gautman became the first Dutch governor of Ambon.

The long history of trade and navigation has led to a high degree of interbreeding between the peoples of the Moluccas. Austronesian peoples began to mix with the native Melanesian population 4 thousand years ago. The largest percentage of Melanesians live on the islands of the Kei and Aru archipelagos, as well as in parts of the Seram and Buru islands. Later Indian, Arabic, Chinese and Portuguese genes were added to this Austronesian-Melanesian mixed race. Even later newcomers were Bugis, merchants from Sulawesi, and transmigrants from Java.

Administrative division

Administratively, the Moluccas from 1950 to 1999 represented one province of Indonesia. In 1999, the northern islands (Halmahera, Ternate and the Sula Islands and others) became part of North Maluku Province, the provincial capital being Ternate. The population of this province is mostly Muslim, with the exception of a small Christian enclave in the north of Halmahera.

The rest of the archipelago remained in Maluku Province, the most important islands which are Ambon , Seram , Buru , as well as the Banda , Aru and Tanimbar archipelagos . The provincial capital is the city of Ambon.

North Maluku Province

Maluku Province

• Ambon, which contains the administrative center of Ambon

Economy

Cloves and nutmegs still form an important part of agricultural production, and cocoa, coffee and fruits are also grown. Fishing plays an important role in the economy, most developed around Halmahera and Bachan. Pearls are grown on the Aru Islands, Seram exports lobsters. The timber industry is of great importance for the larger islands: ironwood grows on Seram, and teak and ebony are mined on Buru.

In December 1979, the Soviet dissident Yuri Alexandrovich Vetokhin, while sailing on the excursion motor ship Ilyich along the Moluccas archipelago, in the Moluccas Sea, escaped by swimming to the island of Bachan.

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Notes

1. Monk K.A.
2. Witton Patrick. Indonesia. - Melbourne: Lonely Planet, 2003. - P. 818. - ISBN 1-74059-154-2.
3. Monk (1996), page 9
4. Monk, K.A. The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. - Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd., 1996. - P. 9. - ISBN 962-593-076-0.
5. Monk, K.A. The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. - Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd., 1996. - P. 4. - ISBN 962-593-076-0.
6. Monk, K.A. The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. - Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd., 1996. - P. 1. - ISBN 962-593-076-0.
7. Beller, W., P. d'Ayala, and P. Hein. 1990. Paris and New Jersey: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and Parthenon Publishing Group Inc.; Hess, A, 1990. Overview: sustainable development and environmental management of small islands. In Sustainable development and environmental management of small islands. eds W. Beller, P. d'Ayala, and P. Hein, Paris and New Jersey: United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and Parthenon Publishing Group Inc. (both cited in Monk)
8. Lape, P.V. (2000). ; Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin 20 (Melaka Papers, Vol.4)
9. Ricklefs M.C. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. - London: MacMillan, 1991. - P. 26. - ISBN 0-333-57689-6.
10. Ricklefs M.C. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. - London: MacMillan, 1991. - P. 24. - ISBN 0-333-57689-6.
11. Lach, D.F. (1994) Asia in the Making of Europe: The Century of Discovery (Vol 1), Chicago University Press
12. E. C. Abendanon and E. Heawood (December 1919). "". The Geographical Journal(Blackwell Publishing) 54 (6): 347–355. DOI:.
13. Ricklefs M.C. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. - London: MacMillan, 1991. - P. 25. - ISBN 0-333-57689-6.
14. , BBC News (26 June 2000). Retrieved May 17, 2007.
16. Taylor Jean Gelman. Indonesia: Peoples and Histories. - New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003. - P. 5-7. - ISBN 0-300-10518-5.
17. Monk K.A. The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. - Hong Kong: Periplus Editions Ltd., 1996. - P. 7. - ISBN 962-593-076-0.
18. Shatravka A./ Alexander Shatravka - Liberty Publishing House, Inc, 2010.

Literature

An excerpt characterizing the Moluccas

Most of the islands are mountainous and covered with forests and mountains. The Tanimbar Islands are dry and hilly, while the Aru Islands are flat and swampy. Mount Binaya (3027 m) on the island of Seram is the highest point of the archipelago. Some of the islands have active volcanoes. Many islands similar to Ternate (1721 m) are the tops of volcanoes rising from the sea, with villages located along the coast. Over the past 500 years, more than 70 powerful volcanic eruptions and earthquakes have occurred in the region.

The geology of the Moluccas is characterized by the same features and processes as for the nearest region of Nusa Tenggara. Despite the fact that the study of the geology of the region has been carried out since the colonial period, scientists have not yet formed an unambiguous picture of geological formations and processes, and theories of the geological evolution of the islands have been constantly changing in recent decades. The Moluccas are one of the most geologically complex and active regions in the world, due to the fact that they are located at the meeting point of four geological plates and two continents.

Flora and fauna

The vegetation of these small islands is very diverse: tropical rainforests, sago, rice grow on them, as well as well-known spices - nutmeg, cloves and others.

The ecology of the Moluccas has been studied by many naturalists since the discovery of the islands by Europeans; Alfred Wallace's Malay Archipelago (English) Russian became the first scientific work that described the history of the ecology of the region, it became the most important source for the study of Indonesian biodiversity. The Moluccas are the subject of two major historical natural history works by George Rumphius, The Ambonesian Herbarium and The Ambonesian Kunstkamera.

Rainforests cover most of the northern and central islands of the archipelago and have been replaced on the smaller islands by plantations, including endemic clove and nutmeg trees. The islands of Tanimbar and the other southeastern islands are arid and sparsely vegetated, as in nearby Timor. In 1997, the Manuzela National Park was created, and in 2004, the Aketojave Lolobata National Park, their goal is to save rare endemic species from extinction.

Although pollution affects both small and large islands, small islands also have their own specific environmental problems. The influence of civilization on small islands is increasing, and the effects are not always predictable. Although Indonesia is rich in natural resources, the resources of the small islands of the Moluccas archipelago are limited and specialized; in addition, population densities are generally low on small islands.

• a large land area is affected by volcanic activity, earthquakes, landslides and destructive cyclones;
• The maritime climate prevails;
• The catchment area is small and the degree of erosion is high;
• Most of the land is the sea coast;
• High level of specialization, relatively large number of endemics;
• Society has a distinctive culture due to relative isolation;
• The population of small islands is significantly affected by economic migration.

Climate

The climate is humid. The central and southern Moluccas are dominated by dry monsoons from October to March and wet monsoons from May to August, unlike the rest of Indonesia. The average maximum temperature of dry monsoons is 30 °C, wet - 23 °C. In the northern Moluccas, wet monsoons prevail from December to March, as in the rest of Indonesia. Each island group has its own climatic variations, and the larger islands are characterized by dry coastal lowlands and wetter mountainous hinterlands.

Story

Review

Trading with Muslim states, Venice had a monopoly on the spice road in Europe from 1200 to 1500, as it controlled the Mediterranean trade routes and ports such as Alexandria, after the Mongols and Turks appeared on the hitherto common overland route. The financial incentive to open up new trade routes that could provide an alternative to the Venetian monopoly in this lucrative business was perhaps the single most important factor in starting the Age of Discovery. The Portuguese took the lead in finding a way through the southern tip of Africa, discovering and equipping settlements along the route, even opening the coast of Brazil in search of convenient southern currents. The success of the Portuguese and the creation of their "colonial" empire prompted other maritime powers in Europe, primarily Spain, France, England and the Netherlands, to create their own colonies and push the Portuguese positions.

Due to the high price of spices in Europe and the high profits that trade in them brought, the Dutch and British soon entered into armed conflict for a monopoly in this trade and ousting the Portuguese from it. The struggle for control of these small islands escalated in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the Dutch even gave the island of Manhattan to the British in exchange for, among other things, the tiny island of Run, which gave the Dutch complete control over the production of nutmeg in the Banda archipelago. The Bandanese were the most affected side in this struggle, since most of them were massacred or enslaved by the European invaders. Over 6,000 people were killed during the Spice Wars.

While searching for the Spice Islands, which eventually became part of the Dutch East Indies Empire, the West Indies were accidentally discovered, starting a century-old competition between European maritime powers for control of world markets and resources. The mysterious mysticism of the Spice Islands eventually faded when the French and British successfully removed seeds and plant specimens from the islands to their colonies in Mauritius, Grenada and elsewhere, eventually leading to spices becoming a common staple these days.

Early history

The oldest archaeological evidence of human presence on the islands of the region is about 32 thousand years old, however, archaeological finds of more ancient settlements in Australia suggest that people most likely visited the Moluccas before. Evidence of an increase in the radius of trade relations and a denser settlement of many islands has an age of 10 to 15 thousand years. Onyx beads and parts of a silver dish used as money in the Indian subcontinent around 200 B.C. e. found on several islands. In addition, local dialects use a word of Malay origin for silver, as opposed to a word with the same meaning used in the Melanesian community and which has etymological roots in Chinese, which was a consequence of the development of regional trade with China in VI and VII centuries.

The Moluccas were a cosmopolitan society in which spice traders from all over the region could live in their settlements or nearby enclaves, including Arab and Chinese merchants who visited or resided in the region. The social organization was usually local and relatively even - the community council, which included the elders and the wealthiest people, had power ( orang kai).

Arab merchants who intensified trade with the region in the 14th century brought Islam. Religious conversion to Islam proceeded peacefully and spread to many of the islands, mostly those that were the center of trade, while traditional animism remained the main religion on the most remote and isolated islands. Archaeological evidence for the spread of these religions is the frequency of pig teeth being found, depending on whether the natives ate them or abstained from eating pork.

Portuguese period

Some relatively minor cultural influence aside, the most significant lasting effects of the Portuguese presence were the disruption and reorganization of trade in Southeast Asia and the introduction of Christianity in eastern Indonesia, including the Moluccas. The Portuguese captured the city of Malacca at the beginning of the 16th century and their influence in the Moluccas and throughout eastern Indonesia increased significantly. The Portuguese took Malacca in August 1511, and as one of the participants in the event wrote in his diary, "thirty years after it became Moorish", pointing to the opposition between Islamic and European influence in the region. Afonso de Albuquerque, who studied the route to the Banda Islands and other "Spice Islands", sent a research expedition of three ships under the command of António de Abreu, Siman Afonso Bizagudo and Francisco Serrana. On the way back, Francisco Serrán was wrecked off Hitu (north of Ambon Island) in 1512. Here he met the local ruler, who was impressed by his military capabilities. The rulers of the rival sultanates of Ternate and Tidore also wanted to get help from the Portuguese and attract them as buyers of spices during a lull in local trade, which came due to the temporary cessation of the voyages of Javanese and Malay merchants after the events of 1511 in Malacca. The spice trade soon resumed, but the Portuguese were never able to monopolize or stop this trade.

Choosing the Sultan of Ternate as an ally, Serrán built a fortress on this small island and led a mercenary force of Portuguese sailors in the service of one of the two local sultans who controlled most of the spice trade. Service in a colony far from Europe could attract only the most desperate and greedy people, and the incorrect behavior of the Portuguese with the locals was also accompanied by weak attempts to spread Christianity, which complicated relations with the Muslim rulers of Ternate. Serran persuaded Fernand Magellan to join him in the Moluccas and sent him information regarding the Spice Islands. However, both Serran and Magellan died before they could meet. In 1535 Sultan Tabariji (English) was overthrown and transported by the Portuguese to Goa. He converted to Christianity and changed his name to Dom Manuel. After the charges against him were dropped, he set out on his return journey to take his throne, but died on the way to Malacca in 1545. He bequeathed the island of Ambon to his godfather, the Portuguese Hordão da Freitas. After the assassination of Sultan Khairun by the Portuguese, the Ternats expelled the foreigners after a five-year siege in 1575.

The Portuguese first landed on Ambon in 1513, it subsequently became the new center of Portuguese activity in the Moluccas after being expelled from Ternate. European influence in the region was weak and Islam and anti-European sentiment increased in Ternate during the reign of Sultan Baab Ulla (1570-1583) and his son Sultan Said. However, the Portuguese were constantly attacked by local Muslims on the northern coast of the island, especially in Hita, which maintained trade and religious ties with the largest port cities of the northern coast of Java. In 1521 they founded a trading post, but until 1580 its existence was not peaceful. In reality, the Portuguese never controlled the local spice trade, nor were they able to establish their influence in the Banda Islands, the center of nutmeg production.

The Portuguese missionaries did a great job, thanks to them large Christian communities were created in eastern Indonesia, which exist in our time, which contributed to the strengthening of the influence of Europeans on the inhabitants of the islands, especially on the Ambonese. In the 1560s, about 10,000 inhabitants of the region were converted to the Catholic faith, mainly on Ambon, and in the 1590s their number was already from 50,000 to 60,000, but most of the islands surrounding Ambon were Muslim. The Spanish missionary Francis Xavier made a great contribution to the spread of Christianity in the Moluccas.

Another legacy of Portuguese influence was the borrowing of Portuguese words into the Indonesian language, the mixture of which with Malay became lingua franca region at the beginning of the 19th century. Modern Indonesian words such as pesta("party"), sabun("soap"), bendera("flag"), meja("table"), Minggu("Sunday"), borrowed from Portuguese. Many families in the Moluccas have Portuguese surnames, including da Lima, da Costa, Dias, da Freitas, Gonzales, Mendoza, Rodriguez, and da Silva. In addition, there are Portuguese roots in romantic guitar ballads. kronkong.

Spanish period

The Spanish gained control of Tidore in 1603 and established an outpost to trade spices and counter Dutch expansion into the archipelago. The territory became part of the Spanish East Indies and was administered from Manila in the Philippine Islands. Missionary Francis Xavier preached in the Moluccas in 1546-1547 among the peoples of Ambon, Ternate and Morotai and laid the foundations of Christianity in the region. The Spanish presence lasted until 1663 when the settlers and military were taken to the Philippines. Some of these people later created a settlement near Manila called Ternate.

Dutch period

The Dutch arrived in the region in 1599 and took advantage of local dissatisfaction with the attempts of the Portuguese to monopolize their traditional trade. After the Ambonese helped the Dutch build a fort at Hitu Larna, the Portuguese launched a military campaign in response, in which the Ambonese supported the Dutch. In 1605, Frederick de Houtman became the first Dutch governor of Ambon.

The long history of trade and navigation has led to a high degree of interbreeding between the peoples of the Moluccas. Austronesian peoples began to mix with the indigenous Melanesian population 4 thousand years ago. The largest percentage of Melanesians live on the islands of the Kei and Aru archipelagos, as well as in parts of the Seram and Buru islands. Later Indian, Arabic, Chinese and Portuguese genes were added to this Austronesian-Melanesian mixed race. Even later newcomers were Bugis, merchants from Sulawesi, and transmigrants from Java.

Administrative division

Administratively, the Moluccas from 1950 to 1999 represented one province of Indonesia. In 1999, the northern islands (Halmahera, Ternate and the Sula Islands and others) became part of the province of North Maluku, the administrative center of the province is Ternate. The population of this province is mostly Muslim, with the exception of a small Christian enclave in the north of Halmahera.

The Moluccas are a group of islands in the eastern part of the Malay Archipelago, between the islands of Sulawesi and New Guinea.

The name "Moluccas" (derived from the Arabic word Maluku, meaning "land of kings") originally referred to a chain of five small islands - Ternate, Tidore, Moti, Mare and Macian, stretching very close to west coast the largest island of the archipelago - Halmahera.

Known as "spice islands", they grow naturally here (on small volcanic islands). In the past, the Moluccas were the main suppliers of this product to the world market.

Plantations of sago and coconut palms, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper.

The area is 83.7 thousand km2, the population is about 2.1 million people.

Stretched from north to south and southeast for 1300 km.

The largest islands are Halmahera, Seram, Buru.

Administratively, the island group is divided into the provinces of Maluku and Maluku-Utara.

The most important islands of the first province located in the south are Ambon, Seram, Buru and the Banda, Kei, Aru and Tanimbar archipelagos.

TO northern islands include Halmahera, Moluccas (Ternate, Tidore, etc.) and the Sula Islands.

Nature

The islands are mountainous (up to 3019 m high - the city of Binay on Seram Island), located in a seismic zone, earthquakes are frequent. Numerous volcanoes (including about 10 active ones).

The climate is equatorial, in the south - subequatorial; the air temperature fluctuates near the coast from 25 to 27 °C.

Precipitation in the lower parts of the slopes is from 800 to 2000 mm per year, higher - up to 4000 mm or more.

Over 80% of the territory of the Moluccas is occupied by equatorial forests of palms, ficuses, dipterocarps, bamboos; above 1200 m, deciduous and coniferous species (casuarina, dammar pine and others) predominate, as well as cayeput groves (the Myrtle family), which gives valuable essential oil.

In the lowlands, thickets of shrubs, tree ferns and alang-alang grasses are frequent.

The fauna of the archipelago is characterized by a combination of East Asian and Australian species: climbing marsupials (cuscus), bats, cassowaries, cockatoos (white and pink cockatoos are found on almost all major islands, black - on the Aru Islands), birds of paradise (pennant bird of paradise, etc.), crocodiles, boas, tree frogs.

Plantations of sago and coconut palms, cloves, nutmeg, pepper (spice).

Population

The population is heterogeneous in racial and cultural terms - it consists of the Malay-speaking population and Alfurs. Significant groups are close to Melanesians (Austronesian languages) and Papuans (Halmachers and others), who speak special New Guinean languages.

Alfury

Some Austronesian Moluccan languages ​​are considered transitional from the western (Indonesian) group of languages ​​to the oceanic (Polynesian and Melanesian) languages.

On Serama, Buru, and the Ambon Islands, immigrants from Sulawesi and Java also live.

The main city and port is Ambon (Ambon island).

A high percentage of Christians (about 40%) in the population of the islands. The largest and most developed people of the region are the Ambonians. Part of the Ambonese also lives in the west of New Guinea, Java, and the Netherlands.

In 1950, the Christian part of the population (as well as part of the Muslim elite of the region, connected, like the Christian one, with the spice trade) proclaimed in the southern Moluccas independent republic Maluku Selatan. However, the separation attempt was forcibly suppressed by the Indonesian army.

The idea of ​​Moluccan independence is still alive among part of the population of the region (Moluccan Independence Front - FKM), which contributed to maintaining tense relations between Christians and Muslims. The crisis escalated into a phase of armed confrontation in 1998 (1998-2004) on Ambon Island, when 80,000 people from Sulawesi fled the region, and about 500,000 people were forced to change their place of residence. Moreover, the impetus was a banal domestic quarrel between a bus driver and a passenger.

The situation worsened when militants from the Islamist organization Laskar Jihad began to arrive on the islands from other parts of Indonesia, "coming to the defense of the Muslims" of the Moluccas and continuing religious pogroms with renewed vigor.

According to some experts, this was the most violent Civil War in the world in recent decades: the number of victims per capita here exceeded that in Bosnia.

Many small islands completely changed their confessional composition, and the capital of the province, the city of Ambon, was divided into two parts (Muslim and Christian).

Attractions

The landscapes of the Moluccas are of exceptional beauty.

Calm shallow straits with coral shallows, picturesque bays, mountain slopes covered with evergreen forests.

The rich history of the archipelago is also reflected in the appearance of many islands.

For centuries, these patches of land remained the most valuable real estate in all of Indonesia, as they had a natural monopoly on the cultivation of cloves and nutmeg.

The city of Ternate, which has the same name as the island, grew up around a fortified trading post, which was built by the Dutch in the early 17th century. On the hill overlooking the city stands the Kedaton Sultan's Palace, which currently houses a museum.

Soasio, the main town of the island of Tidore, resembles a Mediterranean fishing village. The whitewashed houses with Iberian gabled roofs that climb the hillside behind the port are a legacy from Spanish times.

The Banda Islands - the famous "nutmeg islands" - literally breathe history.

Their main city, Banda Neira, located on a mountain slope descending into the waters of the sea, is separated from neighboring island just a narrow strait.

In the city center you can see an old Dutch Protestant church and two military fortifications: Fort Belgica and Fort Nassau.