The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...
in the eastern part of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
.
Tectonically
Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons.
These processes ...
they are located on the
Halmahera Plate within the
Molucca Sea Collision Zone
The Molucca Sea Collision Zone is postulated by paleogeologists to explain the tectonics of the area based on the Molucca Sea in Indonesia, and adjacent involved areas.
Tectonics
The tectonic relationship of the Sangihe plate, Halmahera plate, ...
. Geographically they are located in West Melanesia. Lying within
Wallacea
Wallacea is a biogeography, biogeographical designation for a group of mainly list of islands of Indonesia, Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australia (continent), Australian continental shelf, continental ...
(mostly east of the
biogeographical Weber Line
Max Carl Wilhelm Weber van Bosse or Max Wilhelm Carl Weber (5 December 1852 – 7 February 1937) was a Germans, German-Dutch people, Dutch zoology, zoologist and biogeography, biogeographer.
Weber studied at the University of Bonn, then at t ...
), the Moluccas have been considered a geographical and cultural intersection of
Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
and
Oceania
Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...
.
The islands were known as the Spice Islands because of the
nutmeg
Nutmeg is the seed, or the ground spice derived from the seed, of several tree species of the genus '' Myristica''; fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg ('' M. fragrans'') is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fru ...
,
mace, and
clove
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...
s that were exclusively found there, the presence of which sparked European colonial interests in the 16th century.
The Maluku Islands formed a single
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
from Indonesian independence until 1999, when they were split into two provinces. A new province,
North Maluku
North Maluku (; ) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. It shares marit ...
, incorporates the area between
Morotai and
Sula, with the arc of islands from
Buru
Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon Island, Ambon and Seram Island, Seram island ...
and
Seram
Seram (formerly spelled Ceram; also Seran or Serang) is the largest and main island of Maluku province of Indonesia, despite Ambon Island's historical importance. It is located just north of the smaller Ambon Island and a few other adjacent i ...
to
Wetar
Wetar is a tropical island which belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku and is the largest island of the Maluku Barat Daya Islands (literally ''Southwest Islands'') Regency of the Maluku Islands. It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, ...
remaining within the existing
Maluku Province
Maluku is located in Eastern Indonesia and geographically located in West-Melanesia, between Sulawesi and Western New Guinea, and comprises the central and southern regions of the Maluku Islands. It is directly adjacent to North Maluku, South ...
. North Maluku is predominantly Muslim, and its capital is
Sofifi
Sofifi is a town on the west coast of the Indonesian island of Halmahera, and since 2010 has been the capital of the province of North Maluku. It straddles between the North Oba (''Oba Utara'') District of the city of Tidore Islands as well part ...
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 Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...
island. Maluku province has a larger Christian population, and its capital is
Ambon. Though originally
Melanesian, many island populations, especially in the
Banda Islands
The Banda Islands () are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java (island), Java, and constitute an administrative district (''kecamatan'') within the Central Maluku ...
, were massacred in the 17th century during the
Dutch–Portuguese War
The Dutch–Portuguese War (; ) was a global armed conflict involving Dutch forces, in the form of the Dutch East India Company, the Dutch West India Company, and their allies, against the Iberian Union, and after 1640, the Portuguese Empire. Beg ...
, also known as the Spice War. A second influx of immigrants primarily from Java began in the early 20th century under the
Dutch
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
** Dutch people as an ethnic group ()
** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship ()
** Dutch language ()
* In specific terms, i ...
and continues in the Indonesian era, which has also caused a lot of controversy as the transmigrant programs are thought to be a contributing factor to the
Maluku Riots.
Etymology
The etymology of the word ''Maluku'' is unclear and has been a matter of debate for many experts.
The first recorded word that can be identified with ''Maluku'' comes from
Nagarakertagama
The ''Nagarakretagama'' or ''Nagarakṛtāgama'', also known in Bali as ''Desawarnana'' or ''Deśavarṇana'', is an Old Javanese eulogy to Hayam Wuruk, a Javanese king of the Majapahit Empire. It was written on lontar as a ''kakawin'' by ...
, an
Old Javanese
Old Javanese or Kawi is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language and the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was natively spoken in the central and eastern part of Java Island, what is now Central Java, Special Region o ...
eulogy of 1365. Canto 14 stanza 5 mentioned ''Maloko'', which Pigeaud identified with
Ternate
Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the
List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...
or Moluccas.
A theory holds that ''Maluku'' comes from the phrase ''Moloko Kie Raha'' or ''Moloku Kie Raha''. In
the Ternate language, ''raha'' means "four", while ''kie'' here means "mountain". ''Kie raha'' or "four mountains" refers to
Ternate
Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the
List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...
,
Tidore
Tidore (, 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 of Tidore (with three sm ...
,
Bacan
The Bacan Islands (; ), formerly also known as the Bachans, Bachians, and Batchians, are a group of islands in the Moluccas in Indonesia. They are mountainous and forested, lying south of Ternate and southwest of Halmahera. The islands are adm ...
, and
Jailolo (the name ''Jailolo'' has been used in the past to refer to
Halmahera
Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...
island), all of which have their ''kolano'' (a local title for kings rooted in
Panji tales
The Panji tales are a cycle of Javanese stories, centred around the legendary prince of the same name (actually a title) from East Java, Indonesia. Along with the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the tales are the basis of various poems, sculpture and ...
).
It is unclear what the meaning of ''Moloko'' or ''Moloku'' is. One possible meaning is in
Ternate language
Ternate is a language of northern Maluku, eastern Indonesia. It is spoken by the , who inhabit the island of Ternate, as well as many other areas of the archipelago. It is the dominant indigenous language of North Maluku, historically important ...
, it meant "to hold or grasp", in which case ''Moloko Kie Raha'' could be understood to mean "''Confederation of the Four Mountains''". Another possibility is that the word originates from the word ''maloko'', which is a combination of the
particle
In the physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscle in older texts) is a small localized object which can be described by several physical or chemical properties, such as volume, density, or mass.
They vary greatly in size or quantity, from s ...
''ma-'' and the
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...
''loko'' in
North Halmahera languages
The North Halmahera (NH) languages are a family of languages spoken in the northern and eastern parts of the island of Halmahera and some neighboring islands in Indonesia. The southwestern part of the island is occupied by the unrelated South H ...
means the variety of words relating to the location of mountains, in which case "Maloko Kie Raha" in the phrase "Ternate se Tidore, Moti se Mara ''Maloko Kie Raha''" means "Ternate, Tidore, Moti, and Mara ''the place of the four mountains''" or with the shifting of pronunciation of ''loko'' towards ''luku'', means "Ternate, Tidore, Moti, and Mara ''the world of the four mountains''".
History
Early history
Australo-Melanesians were the first people to inhabit the islands at least 40,000 years ago. A later migration of Austronesian speakers arrived around 2000 BC.
Archaeological finds in Ternate include a
Parvati
Parvati (, , IPA: /Sanskrit phonology, pɑɾʋət̪iː/), also known as Uma (, , IPA: Sanskrit phonology, /ʊmɑː/) and Gauri (, , IPA: /Sanskrit phonology, gə͡ʊɾiː/), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the Devi, ...
statue with lotus flowers on the bottom, which indicate the statue is from the
Majapahit
Majapahit (; (eastern and central dialect) or (western dialect)), also known as Wilwatikta (; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia based on the island o ...
era and indicate the early period of
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
and
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
.
Other archaeological finds showed possible Arab merchants began to arrive in the fourteenth century, bringing
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. The
conversion
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* ...
to Islam occurred in many islands, especially in the centres of trade, while aboriginal
animism
Animism (from meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in ...
persisted in the hinterlands and more isolated islands.
Archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
evidence here relies largely on the occurrence of pigs' teeth, as evidence of pork eating or abstinence therefrom.
Remnants of
Majapahit
Majapahit (; (eastern and central dialect) or (western dialect)), also known as Wilwatikta (; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia based on the island o ...
expeditions were also found in oral as well as archaeological sites. A story from Letvuan on the island of
Kai Kecil
Kai Kecil (Little Kai Island) is a part of the Kai Islands group of the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. Its area is . The other main island in the group is Kai Besar (Great Kai Island). It contains the town of Tual
Tual (Indonesian: ''Kota Tual'') ...
tells of a Balinese envoy of Gajah Mada by the name of Kasdev, his wife Dit Ratngil, and eight of their children. Archaeological sites of ancient tombs found in Sorbay Bay, south of Letvuan, seem to support the story, as well as some cultural practices of Kei of Balinese origin.
Other archaeological finds in the
Kei Islands
The Kai Islands (also Kei Islands) of Indonesia are a group of islands in the southeastern part of the Maluku Islands, located in the province of Maluku. The Moluccas have been known as the Spice Islands due to regionally specific plants such ...
include a
Shiva
Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...
statue from the island of
Kei Besar.
An oral story reports of a 14th-century Majapahit expedition to Negeri Ema,
Ambon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south, and three districts (''k ...
, by an envoy named Nyi Mas Kenang Eko Sutarmi alongside 22 people among her retinue and a spear-bearer trying to form an alliance and trading relationship with Negeri Ema's leader by the name of ''Kapitan'' Ading Adang Anaan Tanahatuila. The meeting was facilitated by ''Malessy'' Soa Lisa Maitimu; however, it failed to reach an agreement. As Sutarmi failed, she decided to stay in exile while her retinues settled and married locals of Ema, and her spear bearer settled on the coast but was killed later by Gunung Maut troops. Archaeological finds relating to this expedition include a water source with
Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
symbols with nine rays, and heirlooms of spears and
Totobuang kept by the Maitimu family and village office of Negeri Ema, alongside many potteries.
Portuguese

In August 1511 the
Portuguese conquered the city-state of Malacca. The most significant lasting effects of the Portuguese presence were the disruption and reorganization of the Southeast Asian trade, and in eastern Indonesia—including Maluku—the introduction of Christianity.
One Portuguese diary noted, "It is over thirty years since they became
Moors
The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a s ...
".
Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa ( – 16 December 1515), was a Portuguese general, admiral, statesman and ''conquistador''. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across ...
learned of the route to the
Banda Islands
The Banda Islands () are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java (island), Java, and constitute an administrative district (''kecamatan'') within the Central Maluku ...
and other 'Spice Islands', and sent an exploratory expedition of three vessels under the command of
António de Abreu
Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popul ...
, Simão Afonso Bisigudo, and
Francisco Serrão
Francisco Serrão (died 1521) was a Portuguese explorer and a possible cousin of Ferdinand Magellan. His 1512 voyage was the first known European sailing east past Malacca through modern Indonesia and the East Indies. He became a confidant of S ...
. On the return trip, Serrão was shipwrecked at
Hitu
Hitu is an Austronesian language of the Central Malayo-Polynesian subgroup spoken on Ambon Island in eastern Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean ...
island (northern
Ambon) in 1512. There he established ties with the local ruler who was impressed with his martial skills. The rulers of the competing island states of
Ternate
Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the
List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...
and
Tidore
Tidore (, 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 of Tidore (with three sm ...
also sought Portuguese assistance and the newcomers were welcomed in the area as buyers of supplies and spices during a lull in the regional trade due to the temporary disruption of
Javanese and
Malay sailings to the area following the 1511 conflict in Malacca. The spice trade soon revived but the Portuguese would not be able to fully monopolize or disrupt this trade.
Allying himself with Ternate's ruler, Serrão constructed a fortress on that tiny island and served as the head of a
mercenary
A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...
band of Portuguese seamen under the service of one of the two local feuding sultans who controlled most of the
spice
In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...
trade. Both Serrão and
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...
, however, perished before they could meet one another.
The Portuguese first landed in Ambon in 1513, but it only became the new centre for their activities in Maluku following the expulsion from Ternate. European power in the region was weak and Ternate became an expanding, fiercely Islamic, and anti-European state; the
Portuguese-Ternate wars raged throughout the reigns of Sultan
Baab Ullah (r. 1570–1583) and his son Sultan
Saidi Berkat (r. 1583–1606).
Following Portuguese missionary work, there have been large Christian communities in eastern Indonesia through to contemporary times, which has contributed to a sense of shared interest with Europeans, particularly among the Ambonese.
Dutch
The Dutch arrived in 1599 and competed with the Portuguese in the area for trade. The
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...
in the course of
Dutch–Portuguese War
The Dutch–Portuguese War (; ) was a global armed conflict involving Dutch forces, in the form of the Dutch East India Company, the Dutch West India Company, and their allies, against the Iberian Union, and after 1640, the Portuguese Empire. Beg ...
allied with the
Sultan of Ternate
This is a list of rulers of Maluku from proto-historical times until the present. The four sultanates of Sultanate of Ternate, Ternate, Sultanate of Tidore, Tidore, Sultanate of Jailolo, Jailolo, and Sultanate of Bacan, Bacan were considered desce ...
and conquered
Ambon and
Tidore
Tidore (, 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 of Tidore (with three sm ...
in 1605, expelling the Portuguese. A Spanish counterattack from the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
restored Iberian rule in parts of
North Maluku
North Maluku (; ) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. It shares marit ...
up to 1663. However, the Dutch monopolized the production and trade of spices through a ruthless policy. This included the
genocidal conquest of the nutmeg-producing Banda Islands in 1621, the
elimination of the English in Ambon in 1623, and the subordination of Ternate and Tidore in the 1650s. An anticolonial resistance movement led by a Tidore prince, the
Nuku Rebellion, engulfed large parts of Maluku and
Papua in 1780–1810 and co-opted the British. During the
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...
and again in the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, British forces
captured the islands in 1796–1801 and 1810, respectively, and held them until 1817. In that time they uprooted many of the spice trees for
transplantation throughout the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
.
After Indonesian independence
With the declaration of a single republic of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
in 1950 to replace the federal state, a
Republic of South Maluku
South Maluku, also South Moluccas and officially the Republic of South Maluku, was an unrecognised secessionist state that claimed the islands of Ambon, Buru, and Seram, which currently make up most of the Indonesian province of Maluku.
The ...
(Republik Maluku Selatan, RMS) was declared and attempted to secede, led by
Chris Soumokil (former Supreme Prosecutor of the Eastern Indonesia state) and supported by the Moluccan members of the Netherlands
KNIL
The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (; KNIL, ; ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its Dutch colonial empire, colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The KNIL's air arm ...
special troops. This movement was defeated by the Indonesian army and by special agreement with the Netherlands the Moluccan troops were ordered to move to the Netherlands. Decades later, descendants of these Moluccan KNIL soldiers participated in the
1975 Dutch train hostage crisis
On 2 December 1975, seven South Moluccans seized a train with about 50 passengers on board in open countryside near the village of Wijster, halfway between Hoogeveen and Beilen in the northern part of the Netherlands. The hijacking lasted fo ...
, the
1977 Dutch train hijacking, and the
1977 Dutch school hostage crisis to bring attention to their plight for an independent Republic of South Maluku.
Maluku is one of the first provinces of Indonesia, proclaimed in 1945 and lasting until 1999 when the Maluku Utara and Halmahera Tengah Regencies were split off as a separate province of
North Maluku
North Maluku (; ) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. It shares marit ...
. Its capital used to be
Ternate
Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the
List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...
, on a small island to the west of the large island of
Halmahera
Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...
, but has been moved to
Sofifi
Sofifi is a town on the west coast of the Indonesian island of Halmahera, and since 2010 has been the capital of the province of North Maluku. It straddles between the North Oba (''Oba Utara'') District of the city of Tidore Islands as well part ...
on Halmahera itself. The capital of the remaining part of Maluku province remains at
Ambon.
1999–2003 inter-communal conflict
Religious and ethnic conflict erupted across the islands in January 1999. The subsequent 18 months were characterized by fighting between local groups of Muslims and Christians against jihadist groups from Java and the Indonesian military backing them leading to the destruction of thousands of houses, the displacement of approximately 500,000 people, the loss of thousands of lives, and the segregation of Muslims and Christians.
Geography
The Maluku Islands have a total area of , 90% of which is sea.
There are an estimated 1027 islands.
The largest two islands,
Halmahera
Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...
and
Seram
Seram (formerly spelled Ceram; also Seran or Serang) is the largest and main island of Maluku province of Indonesia, despite Ambon Island's historical importance. It is located just north of the smaller Ambon Island and a few other adjacent i ...
, are sparsely populated, while the most developed,
Ambon and
Ternate
Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the
List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...
, are small.
[
The majority of the islands are forested and mountainous. The ]Tanimbar Islands
The Tanimbar Islands (; ), also called ''Timur Laut'' (literally, "North East"; ), are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the sout ...
are dry and hilly, while the Aru Islands Aru or ARU may refer to:
Education
* Alpha Rho Upsilon, a defunct fraternity in the United States
* Anglia Ruskin University, a university in England
* Ardhi University, a Tanzanian public university
Places
* Aru Islands Regency, a group of i ...
are flat and swampy. Mount Binaiya
Mount Binaiya (Indonesian: Gunung Binaia) is the highest point on the Indonesian island of Seram (or Ceram) and the highest mountain in the province of Maluku. With an elevation of , it is the 88th most topographically prominent peak on Earth. ...
() on Seram is the highest mountain. Several islands, such as Ternate () and the TNS islands, are volcanoes emerging from the sea with villages sited around their coasts. There have been over 70 serious volcanic eruptions in the last 500 years and earthquakes are common.[
File:Línea de Wallace.jpg, Map of ]Wallacea
Wallacea is a biogeography, biogeographical designation for a group of mainly list of islands of Indonesia, Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australia (continent), Australian continental shelf, continental ...
; upper right corner facing north. The red line denotes the western border of Wallacea. The eastern border corresponds to the light Australia–New Guinea shelf.
File:Ternate Island.jpg, Ternate
Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the
List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...
Island, as seen from Halmahera
Geology
The geology of the Maluku Islands shares much similar history, characteristics, and processes with the neighbouring Nusa Tenggara region. There is a long history of geological study of these regions since Indonesian colonial times; however, the geological formation and progression are not fully understood, and theories of the island's geological evolution have changed extensively in recent decades.[Monk (1996), page 9] The Maluku Islands comprise some of the most geologically complex and active regions in the world, resulting from their position at the meeting point of four geological plates and two continental blocks.
Ecology
Biogeographically, all of the islands apart from the Aru group lie in Wallacea
Wallacea is a biogeography, biogeographical designation for a group of mainly list of islands of Indonesia, Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australia (continent), Australian continental shelf, continental ...
, the region between the Sunda Shelf
Geology, Geologically, the Sunda Shelf () is a south-eastern extension of the continental shelf of Mainland Southeast Asia. Major landmasses on the shelf include the Indonesia, Indonesian islands of Bali, Borneo, Java, Madura Island, Madura, an ...
(part of the Asia block), and the Arafura Shelf (part of the Australian block). More specifically, they lie between Weber's Line
Max Carl Wilhelm Weber van Bosse or Max Wilhelm Carl Weber (5 December 1852 – 7 February 1937) was a German- Dutch zoologist and biogeographer.
Weber studied at the University of Bonn, then at the Humboldt University in Berlin with the z ...
and Lydekker's Line and thus have a fauna that is rather more Australasian than Asian. Malukan biodiversity and its distribution are affected by various tectonic activities; most of the islands are geologically young, being from 1 million to 15 million years old, and have never been attached to the larger landmasses. The Maluku islands differ from other areas in Indonesia; they contain some of the country's smallest islands, coral island reefs scattered through some of the deepest seas in the world, and no large islands such as Java
Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
or Sumatra
Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...
. Flora and fauna immigration between islands is thus restricted, leading to a high rate of endemic biota evolving.
The ecology of the Maluku Islands has fascinated naturalists for centuries; Alfred Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...
's book, ''The Malay Archipelago
''The Malay Archipelago'' is a book by the English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace which chronicles his scientific exploration, during the eight-year period 1854 to 1862, of the southern portion of the Malay Archipelago including Malaysia, S ...
'', was the first significant study of the area's natural history and remains an important resource for studying Indonesian biodiversity. Maluku is the subject of two major historical works of natural history by Georg Eberhard Rumphius
Georg Eberhard Rumphius (originally: Rumpf; baptized c. 1 November 1627 – 15 June 1702) was a German-born botanist employed by the Dutch East India Company in what is now eastern Indonesia, and is best known for his work ''Herbarium Amboinense ...
: the ''Herbarium Amboinense'' and the ''Amboinsche Rariteitkamer''.
Rainforest covered most of northern and central Maluku, which, on the smaller islands has been replaced by plantations, including the region's endemic cloves
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or fragrance in consumer products, ...
and nutmeg
Nutmeg is the seed, or the ground spice derived from the seed, of several tree species of the genus '' Myristica''; fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg ('' M. fragrans'') is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fru ...
. The Tanimbar Islands
The Tanimbar Islands (; ), also called ''Timur Laut'' (literally, "North East"; ), are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the sout ...
and other southeastern islands are arid and sparsely vegetated, much like nearby Timor
Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...
.[ In 1997 the Manusela National Park, and in 2004, the Aketajawe-Lolobata National Park, were established, for the protection of endangered species.
Nocturnal ]marsupials
Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a ...
, such as cuscus
Cuscus ( or ) is the common name generally given to the species within the four genera of Australasian possum of the family Phalangeridae with the most tropical distribution:
* '' Ailurops''
* '' Phalanger''
* '' Spilocuscus''
* '' Strigocu ...
and bandicoots, make up the majority of the mammal species and introduced mammals include Malayan civets and feral pigs.[ Bird species include approximately 100 endemics with the greatest variety on the large islands of Halmahera and Seram. North Maluku has two species of endemic birds of paradise.][ Uniquely among the Maluku Islands, the ]Aru Islands Aru or ARU may refer to:
Education
* Alpha Rho Upsilon, a defunct fraternity in the United States
* Anglia Ruskin University, a university in England
* Ardhi University, a Tanzanian public university
Places
* Aru Islands Regency, a group of i ...
have a purely Papuan fauna including kangaroos, cassowaries, and birds of paradise.[
While many ecological problems affect both small islands and large landmasses, small islands suffer their particular problems. Development pressures on small islands are increasing, although their effects are not always anticipated. Although Indonesia is richly endowed with natural resources, the resources of the small islands of Maluku are limited and specialised; furthermore, human resources, in particular, are limited.]
General observations about small islands that can be applied to the Maluku Islands include:
*A higher proportion of the landmass will be affected by volcanic activity
Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. It is caused by the presence of a he ...
, earthquakes, landslips, and cyclone damage;
*Climates are more likely to be maritime
Maritime may refer to:
Geography
* Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps
* Maritime Region, a region in Togo
* Maritime Southeast Asia
* The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...
influenced;
*Catchment area
A catchment area in human geography, is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
s are smaller and the degree of erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...
higher;
*A higher proportion of the landmass is made up of coastal areas;
*A higher degree of environmental specialisation, including a higher proportion of endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
species in an overall depauperate community;
*Societies may retain a strong sense of culture having developed in relative isolation;
*Small island populations are more likely to be affected by economic migration.
Climate
Central and southern Maluku Islands experience the dry monsoon between October and March and the wet monsoon from May to August, which is the reverse of the rest of Indonesia. The dry monsoon's average maximum temperature is while the wet's average maximum is . Northern Maluku has its wet monsoon from December to March in line with the rest of Indonesia. Each island group has its climatic variations, and the larger islands tend to have drier coastal lowlands and their mountainous hinterlands are wetter.[
]
Demographics
Religion
Population
The population of Maluku Province in 2020 was 1,848,923 and that of North Maluku Province was 1,282,937. Hence the total population of the Maluku Islands as a region in 2020 was 3,131,860.
Ethnic groups
A long history of trade and seafaring has resulted in a high degree of mixed ancestry in Malukans.[ ]Austronesian peoples
The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Southeast Asia, parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melan ...
added to the native Melanesian population around 2000 BCE. Melanesian features are strongest in the islands of Kei and Aru and amongst the interior people of the islands Seram
Seram (formerly spelled Ceram; also Seran or Serang) is the largest and main island of Maluku province of Indonesia, despite Ambon Island's historical importance. It is located just north of the smaller Ambon Island and a few other adjacent i ...
and Buru
Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon Island, Ambon and Seram Island, Seram island ...
. Later added to this Austronesian-Melanesian mix were some Indian and Arab strain. More recent arrivals include Bugis
The Bugis people, also known as Buginese, are an Austronesian ethnic groupthe most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassarese and Torajan), in the south-western province of Sula ...
trader settlers from Sulawesi and Javanese transmigrants.[
]
Languages
Over 130 languages were once spoken across the islands; however, many have now switched to the creoles of Ternate and Ambonese, the lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...
of northern and southern Maluku, respectively.[
]
Government and politics
Administrative divisions
The Maluku Islands are divided into two provinces
A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...
: Maluku and North Maluku
North Maluku (; ) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. It shares marit ...
.
Economy
Cloves and nutmeg are still cultivated, as are cocoa, coffee and fruit. Fishing is a big industry across the islands but particularly around Halmahera and Bacan
The Bacan Islands (; ), formerly also known as the Bachans, Bachians, and Batchians, are a group of islands in the Moluccas in Indonesia. They are mountainous and forested, lying south of Ternate and southwest of Halmahera. The islands are adm ...
. The Aru Islands produce pearls, and Seram exports lobster
Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...
s. Logging is a significant industry on the larger islands with Seram producing ironwood and teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...
and ebony are produced on Buru.[
]
See also
* Folklore of the Moluccas
* Governor of Maluku
* List of rulers of Maluku
This is a list of rulers of Maluku from proto-historical times until the present. The four sultanates of Ternate, Tidore, Jailolo, and Bacan were considered descendants of a legendary figure called Jafar Sadik and formed a ritual quadripartition ...
* Maluku culture
References
Citations
General and cited references
* Andaya, Leonard Y. (1993). ''The World of Maluku: Eastern Indonesia in the Early Modern Period''. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. .
* Bellwood, Peter (1997). ''Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian archipelago''. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. .
* Donkin, R. A. (1997). ''Between East and West: The Moluccas and the Traffic in Spices Up to the Arrival of Europeans''. American Philosophical Society. .
* Milton, Giles (1999). ''Nathaniel's Nutmeg''. London: Sceptre. .
* Monk, Kathryn A., Yance De Fretes, Gayatri Reksodiharjo-Lilley (1997). ''The Ecology of Nusa Tenggara and Maluku''. Singapore: Periplus Press. .
* Van Oosterzee, Penny (1997). ''Where Worlds Collide: The Wallace Line''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. .
* Wallace, Alfred Russel (2000) 869 ''The Malay Archipelago''. Singapore: Periplus Press. .
Further reading
* Bergreen, Laurence (2003). ''Over the Edge of the World''. Morrow.
* Campo, Antonio; Juan Carlos Rey y Marco Ramerini (2022). ''The Fortresses of the Molucas Islands'' . Belagua Ediciones. .
* Miller, George, ed. (1996). ''To the Spice Islands and Beyond: Travels in Eastern Indonesia''. Oxford University Press. .
* Muller, Dr. Kal (1990). ''Spice Islands: The Moluccas''. Periplus Editions. .
* Salonia, Matteo (November 2022).
Encompassing the Earth: Magellan's Voyage from Its Political Context to Its Expansion of Knowledge
. ''International Journal of Maritime History
The ''International Journal of Maritime History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers all aspects of maritime history. The European Science Foundation's European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH) ranks it as a "Class One" journa ...
'' 34(4). .
* Severin, Tim (1997). ''The Spice Island Voyage: In Search of Wallace''. Abacus. .
External links
*
Deforestation in the Moluccas
(archived 3 March 2016)
(archived 3 March 2016)
Trajectories of the early-modern kingdoms in eastern Indonesia
��An interesting article linking British possession of Run, a Banda Island, with the history of New York]
Documentary About Moluccas: The Spice Odyssey – The Moluccas Islands
��An interesting article about the Iberian presence in the Moluccas with a documentary
Map of a Part of China, the Philippine Islands, the Isles of Sunda, the Moluccas, the Papuans
from 1760
{{Authority control
Maluku Islands,
Molucca Sea
Archipelagoes of Indonesia
Archipelagoes of Southeast Asia
Maritime Southeast Asia
Geography of Melanesia
Dutch East India Company
Former Portuguese colonies
Former Spanish colonies
Portuguese colonialism in Indonesia
Spanish East Indies
Wallacea