Tabariji or Tabarija (c. 1518–1545) was the Sultan of

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the we ...

in Maluku, whose realm also included

Makian Makian (also Machian), known to local people as Mount Kie Besi, is a volcanic island, one of the Maluku Islands within the province of North Maluku in Indonesia. It lies near the southern end of a chain of volcanic islands off the western coast ...

and other east Indonesian islands. He reigned from 1533 to 1535, when he was deposed by the dominant

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and exiled to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He later became a convert to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

under the name Dom Manuel.

Reign

Tabariji was the son of Sultan

Bayan Sirrullah Bayan Sirrullah (d. 1521) was the second Sultan of Sultanate of Ternate, Ternate in Maluku Islands, Maluku. He is also known as Abu Lais (in Portuguese sources, Boleife) or Kaicili Leliatu. He ruled from perhaps 1500 to 1521, and is important as t ...

(also known as Abu Lais) and his first and primary wife, Nyaicili Boki Raja. Nyaicili was the daughter of the King of

Tidore Tidore ( id, Kota Tidore Kepulauan, lit. "City of Tidore Islands") is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. Part of North Maluku Province, the city includes the island ...

; her brother

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

ruled that kingdom after the death of their father in 1526, which gave her increased political leverage. The

had previously arrived from

Melaka Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has bee ...

in order to secure the spice trade and built a fort on Ternate in 1522-1523. They soon came to dominate the Ternatan court and manipulated the succession. All this led to great resentment among the Ternatan elite. The Portuguese captain Vincente de Fonseca and the Ternatan regent Pati Sarangi planned to assassinate the boy king Dayal who however managed to flee to Tidore. Now Dayal's half-brother Tabariji was placed on the throne by Fonseca. His step-father Pati Sarangi acted as regent since the Sultan was barely 15 years old. After two years an incident occurred where Ternatan forces, opposing the interests of the Portuguese, attacked a newly Christianized settlement on

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Hal ...

. This motivated the new captain Tristão de Ataide to depose Tabariji in favor of another half-brother,

Hairun Sultan Hairun Jamilu (c. 1522 – 28 February 1570) was the 6th Muslim ruler of Ternate in Maluku, reigning from 1535 to 1570. During his long reign, he had a shifting relation to the Portuguese who had a stronghold in Ternate and tried to domin ...

in 1535. The ex-sultan was exiled to the center of Portuguese power in Asia,

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

Baptism and death

While in Goa he befriended the Portuguese official Jordão de Freitas who influenced him in his conversion to Catholic Christianity. His baptismal name was Dom Manuel which he henceforth used. In 1544 Freitas was appointed new captain in Ternate by the authorities in Goa. When he sailed for Southeast Asia to take up his new position, he brought Tabariji with him. The idea was to depose Sultan Hairun and reinstall Tabariji. With a Christian ruler over the leading Malukan kingdom, the conversion of Maluku would apparently be facilitated. Leaving Tabariji in Melaka, Freitas proceeded to Ternate where he imprisoned Hairun and the Kapita Laut (sea lord) Samarau and persuaded the notables of the kingdom to accept Tabariji back. Hairun was brought to Melaka, but just as he approached the city, Tabariji suddenly passed away on 20 October 1545. According to a rumour, Hairun had him poisoned. In his will he gave over his realm to the King of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, including Ternate and the dependent islands and territories

Moti Moti or MOTI may refer to: Names * Mordecai (disambiguation), a Hebrew given name, abbreviated Moti * Motilal (disambiguation), an Indian given name often abbreviated Moti People * Moti (DJ) (Timotheus "Timo" Romme, born 1987), Dutch DJ and mu ...

Kayoa Kayoa (also Kaioa), or in the native language Pulau Urimatiti, is a group of 66 islands, part of the Maluku Islands. It is located in South Halmahera Regency, part of North Maluku Province of Indonesia. Geography The Kayoa Islands are near the ...

and Moro.Leonard Andaya (1993), p. 124-5. The will was later used by the Portuguese to argue that the Ternate rulers were their lawful vassals.

References

Sources

*Moffett, Samuel Hugh (2014) ''A History of Christianity in Asia'', Vol. 2. Orbis Press. .
Taylor, Jean Gelman. ''Indonesia: peoples and histories''. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004) p. 137.
{{end 1510s births 1545 deaths Ternate Sultanate Sultans of Ternate Ternate Sultans Converts to Roman Catholicism from Islam Indonesian former Muslims Indonesian Roman Catholics People from Maluku Islands 16th-century Indonesian people