Ternate
Encyclopedia
Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands
(Moluccas) of eastern Indonesia
. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera
, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate
.
Like its neighbouring island, Tidore
, Ternate is a visually dramatic cone-shaped island. The islands are ancient Islamic sultanates with a long history of bitter rivalry. The islands were the world's single major producer of clove
s, upon which their sultans became among the wealthiest and most powerful sultans in the Indonesian region. In the precolonial era, Ternate was the dominant political and economic power over most of the "Spice Islands
" of Maluku.
Today, Ternate City
is the largest town and capital of the province of North Maluku
, within which the island constitutes a municipality (kotamadya).
Mount Gamalama
(1715 m). An 1840 eruption destroyed most houses on the island and recent eruptions include 1980, 1983, and 1994. The foothills have clove groves. Climbs to the peak can also be made.
The island now has an area of 76 square kilometres (29.3 sq mi) and held a population estimated at 145,143 in July 2003. The town is located at 0°47′N 127°22′E.
The airport lies along the north east coastline of the island.
Batu Angus is a 300 year-old magma flow on the north eastern corner of the island. Hiri island is a volcanic cone lying off the northern tip of Ternate. Crocodile infested crater Tolire Lake lies in the north west and is bordered by sheer cliffs. Ternate beaches include Sulamadaha (on the northern tip), Afetaduma and Jouburiki in the west, and the beach at the village of Kastela in the south east.
. The kota (city) of Ternate has four sub-districts (kecamatan):
(Group Lion Air
), Merpati Nusantara Airlines
, Express Air of Trigana Air. Connections are via Makassar
, Manado
via Sorong. In addition there are also direct flights to Jakarta on Batavia Air
, Sriwijaya Air
and Garuda Indonesia
. Pelni
provides ship connections.
(Indonesian: Kota Ternate) spreads 10 kilometres from the airport to Bastiong port. The commercial centre stretches 2 kilometres from the bus terminal near Fort Oranye to Ahmad Yani Port where Pelni ships arrive. It is the largest town in North Maluku province. The current Sultan's Palace, built in 1796, is now partly a museum. The large Fort Oranye
, built by the Dutch in 1607, was the home of the Dutch East Indies Company until it moved to Batavia (Jakarta
) around 1619.
completed the colonization of Maluku in the 19th century, the sultans of Ternate ruled empires that claimed at least nominal influence as far as Ambon
, Sulawesi
and Papua
.
The peak of its power came near the end of the sixteenth century, under Sultan Baabullah, when it had influence over most of the eastern part of Sulawesi, the Ambon and Seram
area, and parts of Papua. It engaged in fierce competition for control of its periphery with the nearby sultanate of Tidore. According to historian Leonard Andaya, Ternate's "dualistic" rivalry with Tidore is a dominant theme in the early history of the Maluku Islands.
In part as a result of its trade-dependent culture, Ternate was one of the earliest places in the region to which Islam
spread, probably coming from Java in the late 15th century. Initially, the faith was restricted to Ternate's small ruling family, and spread only slowly to the rest of the population.
expedition of Francisco Serrão
out of Malacca
, which was shipwrecked near Seram
and rescued by local residents. Sultan Abu Lais of Ternate heard of their stranding, and, seeing a chance to ally himself with a powerful foreign nation, he brought them to Ternate in 1512. The Portuguese were permitted to build a fort (Fort Tolukko
) on the island, construction of which began in 1522.
Relations between the Ternateans and Portuguese were strained from the start. An outpost far from Europe generally only attracted the most desperate and avaricious, such that the generally poor behaviour of the Portuguese combined with feeble attempts at Christianisation, strained relations with Ternate's Muslim ruler, as did their efforts to monopolise the spice trade and dominate local politics.
In 1535 King Tabariji
was deposed and sent to Goa by the Portuguese. He converted to Christianity and changed his name to Dom Manuel. After being declared innocent of the charges against him he was sent back to reassume his throne however he died en route in Malacca in 1545. He had though bequeathed the island of Ambon
to his Portuguese godfather Jordão de Freitas.
When Sultan Hairun was executed and his head exhibited on a pike in 1570, Muslim Ternateans rebelled against the Portuguese who were besieged in their castle until 1575 when a new Sultan made the castle his palace. Ambon became the new centre for Portuguese activities in Maluku. European power in the region was weak and Ternate became an expanding, fiercely Islamic and anti-Portuguese state under the rule of Sultan Baab Ullah (r. 1570–1583) and his son Sultan Said.
In 1580, the sultan entertained British
Francis Drake
, who much to the surprise of the Ternateans had no interest in buying cloves as his ship, the Golden Hind
, was too full of stolen Spanish-American gold to carry cloves.
As the Portuguese
battles in the Indian Ocean
against Muslim Powers raged on, Ternate became a site of interest especially for the Ottomans, who had gained much information about Maritime Southeast Asia
from the Sultanate of Aceh, and in fact Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis
the Ottoman Admiral intended to reach both Java
, Borneo
and Ternate but was engaged in pitched battle and was outnumbered against the Portuguese Fleet in Sumatra
.
Spanish and Dutch traders competing for control over the lucrative clove trade played Ternate off against Tidore. The Dutch eventually became the dominant European power although the sultanates were in place almost continually until today. Spanish
forces captured the former Portuguese fort from the Ternatese in 1606, deported the Ternate Sultan and his entourage to Manila. In 1607 the Dutch came back in Ternate where with the help of Ternateans built a fort in Malayo. The island was divided between the two powers: the Spaniards were allied with Tidore and the Dutch with their Ternaten allies. For the Ternaten rulers, the Dutch were a useful, if not particularly welcome, presence that gave them military advantages against Tidore and the Spanish. Particularly under Sultan Hamzah (r. 1627–1648), Ternate expanded its territory and strengthened its control over the periphery. Dutch influence over the kingdom was limited, though Hamzah and his son and successor, Sultan Mandar Syah (r. 1648–1675) did concede some regions to the Dutch East India Company
(VOC) in exchange for help controlling rebellions there. The Spaniards abandoned Ternate and Tidore in 1663. In the 18th century Ternate was the site of a VOC governorship, which attempted to control all trade in the northern Moluccas.
By the 19th century, the spice trade had declined substantially. Hence the region was less central to the Netherlands colonial state, but the Dutch maintained a presence in the region in order to prevent another colonial power from occupying it. After the VOC was nationalised
by the Dutch government in 1800, Ternate became part of the Government of the Moluccas (Gouvernement der Molukken). Ternate was occupied by British
forces in 1810 before being returned to Dutch control in 1817. In 1824 became the capital of a residency (administrative region) covering Halmahera, the entire west coast of New Guinea
, and the central east coast of Sulawesi
. In 1858 Alfred Russel Wallace
wrote his paper on Evolution
here, which he sent to Charles Darwin
for co-publication (The Ternate letters). By 1867 all of Dutch-occupied New Guinea
had been added to the residency, but then its region was gradually transferred to Ambon (Amboina) before being dissolved into that residency in 1922.
forces during World War II
; eastern Indonesia was governed by the Navy. After Japan surrendered in August 1945 and Indonesia declared independence, Ternate was reoccupied in early November 1945 by Allied forces intending to return Indonesia to Dutch control. It became part of Maluku
province when Indonesia became independent.
Ternate saw some violence in the 1999–2000 sectarian conflict
across the Maluku islands, not, however, to the extent of other islands such as nearby Halmahera. As of 2003, former churches and cinemas on Ternate were occupied by refugees from the Halmahera violence.
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
(Moluccas) of eastern Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera
Halmahera
Halmahera is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia.Halmahera has a land area of 17,780 km² and a population in 1995 of 162,728...
, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate
Sultanate of Ternate
The Sultanate of Ternate was originally named the Kingdom of Gapi, but later change the name base of its capital, Ternate. The sultanate is one of the oldest Muslim kingdoms in Indonesia, established by Baab Mashur Malamo in 1257...
.
Like its neighbouring island, Tidore
Tidore
Tidore is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. In the pre-colonial era, the kingdom of Tidore was a major regional political and economic power, and a fierce rival of nearby Ternate, just to the north.-Geography:Tidor...
, Ternate is a visually dramatic cone-shaped island. The islands are ancient Islamic sultanates with a long history of bitter rivalry. The islands were the world's single major producer of clove
Clove
Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...
s, upon which their sultans became among the wealthiest and most powerful sultans in the Indonesian region. In the precolonial era, Ternate was the dominant political and economic power over most of the "Spice Islands
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
" of Maluku.
Today, Ternate City
Ternate City
Ternate City is the largest town of province North Maluku in Indonesia. It is located on the islands of Ternate in the Maluku Islands....
is the largest town and capital of the province of North Maluku
North Maluku
North Maluku is a province of northeastern Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, which are split between it and the province of Maluku. Maluku province used to cover the entire group...
, within which the island constitutes a municipality (kotamadya).
Geography
Ternate is dominated by the volcanicVolcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
Mount Gamalama
Gamalama
Gamalama is a near-conical stratovolcano that comprises the entire Ternate island in Indonesia. The island lies off the western shore of Halmahera island in the north of Molucca Islands. For centuries, Ternate was a center of Portuguese and Dutch forts for spice trade, which have accounted for...
(1715 m). An 1840 eruption destroyed most houses on the island and recent eruptions include 1980, 1983, and 1994. The foothills have clove groves. Climbs to the peak can also be made.
The island now has an area of 76 square kilometres (29.3 sq mi) and held a population estimated at 145,143 in July 2003. The town is located at 0°47′N 127°22′E.
The airport lies along the north east coastline of the island.
Batu Angus is a 300 year-old magma flow on the north eastern corner of the island. Hiri island is a volcanic cone lying off the northern tip of Ternate. Crocodile infested crater Tolire Lake lies in the north west and is bordered by sheer cliffs. Ternate beaches include Sulamadaha (on the northern tip), Afetaduma and Jouburiki in the west, and the beach at the village of Kastela in the south east.
Administration
Ternate is governed as Ternate City (Kota Ternate) within the province of North MalukuNorth Maluku
North Maluku is a province of northeastern Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, which are split between it and the province of Maluku. Maluku province used to cover the entire group...
. The kota (city) of Ternate has four sub-districts (kecamatan):
- Pulau Ternate
- MotiMoti IslandMoti or Motir is a volcanic island in the western side of Halmahera island, Indonesia. The 5 km wide of island is surrounded by coral reefs. Its summit is truncated and the volcano contains a crater at the southwest side....
- North Ternate
- South Ternate.
Transportation
Sultan Babullah Airport is located on the island and is served by Wings AirWings Air
Wings Abadi Airlines, usually shortened to Wings Air, is a scheduled commuter passenger airline based in Jakarta, Indonesia, operating out of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport...
(Group Lion Air
Lion Air
Not to be confused with the Sri Lankan airline Lionair.PT Lion Mentari Airlines, operating as Lion Air, is Indonesia’s largest private carrier and Asia’s first hybrid carrier which offers both economy and business-class seating, based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Lion Air also flies to Singapore,...
), Merpati Nusantara Airlines
Merpati Nusantara Airlines
Merpati Nusantara Airlines is a commuter airline based in Central Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is a major domestic airline operating scheduled services to more than 25 destinations in Indonesia, as well as scheduled international services to East Timor and Malaysia. Its main base is...
, Express Air of Trigana Air. Connections are via Makassar
Makassar
Makassar, is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the largest city on Sulawesi Island. From 1971 to 1999, the city was named Ujung Pandang, after a precolonial fort in the city, and the two names are often used interchangeably...
, Manado
Manado
Manado is the capital of the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia. Manado is located at the Bay of Manado, and is surrounded by a mountainous area. The city has about 405,715 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in Sulawesi after Makassar...
via Sorong. In addition there are also direct flights to Jakarta on Batavia Air
Batavia Air
Batavia Air is an airline based in Jakarta, Indonesia. It operates domestic flights to around 30 destinations and international services to Singapore, China and Malaysia. Its main base is Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta...
, Sriwijaya Air
Sriwijaya Air
Sriwijaya Air is an airline based in Jakarta with headquarters in Central Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia. It offers domestic flights to major cities in Indonesia and limited International destinations...
and Garuda Indonesia
Garuda Indonesia
PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk , publicly known as Garuda Indonesia, is the flag carrier of Indonesia. It is named after the mystical giant bird Garuda of Hinduism and Buddhist mythology. It is headquartered at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, near Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia...
. Pelni
Pelni
Pelni is the national shipping company of Indonesia. It operates twenty-eight ships; twenty-five of these are passenger ships that serve a variety of routes within the archipelago, mostly on a bi-weekly or monthly schedule....
provides ship connections.
Ternate City
Greater Ternate CityTernate City
Ternate City is the largest town of province North Maluku in Indonesia. It is located on the islands of Ternate in the Maluku Islands....
(Indonesian: Kota Ternate) spreads 10 kilometres from the airport to Bastiong port. The commercial centre stretches 2 kilometres from the bus terminal near Fort Oranye to Ahmad Yani Port where Pelni ships arrive. It is the largest town in North Maluku province. The current Sultan's Palace, built in 1796, is now partly a museum. The large Fort Oranye
Fort Oranye
Fort Oranye is located at the centre of Ternate City on the island of Ternate, North Maluku province, in Indonesia's Maluku Islands. It is named after Dutch royal family, the House of Orange....
, built by the Dutch in 1607, was the home of the Dutch East Indies Company until it moved to Batavia (Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
) around 1619.
Pre-colonial history
Ternate and neighbouring Tidore were the world's major producer of cloves upon which their rulers became among the wealthiest and most powerful sultans in the Indonesian region. Much of their wealth, however, was wasted fighting each other. Up until the DutchDutch Empire
The Dutch Empire consisted of the overseas territories controlled by the Dutch Republic and later, the modern Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed Portugal and Spain in establishing an overseas colonial empire, but based on military conquest of already-existing...
completed the colonization of Maluku in the 19th century, the sultans of Ternate ruled empires that claimed at least nominal influence as far as Ambon
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 2 territories: The main city and seaport is Ambon , which is also the capital of Maluku province and Maluku Tengah Ambon Island is part of the...
, Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
and Papua
Papua (Indonesian province)
Papua comprises most of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands. Its capital is Jayapura. It's the largest and easternmost province of Indonesia. The province originally covered the entire western half of New Guinea...
.
The peak of its power came near the end of the sixteenth century, under Sultan Baabullah, when it had influence over most of the eastern part of Sulawesi, the Ambon and Seram
Seram
Seram is an island in the Maluku province of Indonesia. It is located north of Ambon Island. The chief port/town is Masohi.- Geography and geology :...
area, and parts of Papua. It engaged in fierce competition for control of its periphery with the nearby sultanate of Tidore. According to historian Leonard Andaya, Ternate's "dualistic" rivalry with Tidore is a dominant theme in the early history of the Maluku Islands.
In part as a result of its trade-dependent culture, Ternate was one of the earliest places in the region to which Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
spread, probably coming from Java in the late 15th century. Initially, the faith was restricted to Ternate's small ruling family, and spread only slowly to the rest of the population.
Europeans
The first Europeans to stay on Ternate were part of the PortuguesePortuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
expedition of Francisco Serrão
Francisco Serrão
Francisco Serrão was a Portuguese explorer and a cousin of Ferdinand Magellan. His 1512 voyage was the first known European sailing east past Malacca through Indonesia and the Indies. He became a member of the Sultan Bayan Sirrullah, the ruler of Ternate, becoming his personal advisor...
out of Malacca
Malacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
, which was shipwrecked near Seram
Seram
Seram is an island in the Maluku province of Indonesia. It is located north of Ambon Island. The chief port/town is Masohi.- Geography and geology :...
and rescued by local residents. Sultan Abu Lais of Ternate heard of their stranding, and, seeing a chance to ally himself with a powerful foreign nation, he brought them to Ternate in 1512. The Portuguese were permitted to build a fort (Fort Tolukko
Fort Tolukko
Fort Tolukko was built by the Portuguese on the island of Ternate in Indonesia's Maluku Islands. Also known as Benteng Hollandia, it was first built in 1512 in support of Portuguese efforts to monopolise the lucrative clove trade and to entrench their dominance over other European powers...
) on the island, construction of which began in 1522.
Relations between the Ternateans and Portuguese were strained from the start. An outpost far from Europe generally only attracted the most desperate and avaricious, such that the generally poor behaviour of the Portuguese combined with feeble attempts at Christianisation, strained relations with Ternate's Muslim ruler, as did their efforts to monopolise the spice trade and dominate local politics.
In 1535 King Tabariji
Tabariji
Tabariji or Tabarija was the Sultan of the Sultanate of Ternate, which also included Amboina and other islands beginning in 1532.Tabariji was the son of Sultan Abulais and his first and primary wife, Nycili Boki Raja. Nycili was the daughter of the king of Tidore and inherited that realm from her...
was deposed and sent to Goa by the Portuguese. He converted to Christianity and changed his name to Dom Manuel. After being declared innocent of the charges against him he was sent back to reassume his throne however he died en route in Malacca in 1545. He had though bequeathed the island of Ambon
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 2 territories: The main city and seaport is Ambon , which is also the capital of Maluku province and Maluku Tengah Ambon Island is part of the...
to his Portuguese godfather Jordão de Freitas.
When Sultan Hairun was executed and his head exhibited on a pike in 1570, Muslim Ternateans rebelled against the Portuguese who were besieged in their castle until 1575 when a new Sultan made the castle his palace. Ambon became the new centre for Portuguese activities in Maluku. European power in the region was weak and Ternate became an expanding, fiercely Islamic and anti-Portuguese state under the rule of Sultan Baab Ullah (r. 1570–1583) and his son Sultan Said.
In 1580, the sultan entertained British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
, who much to the surprise of the Ternateans had no interest in buying cloves as his ship, the Golden Hind
Golden Hind
The Golden Hind was an English galleon best known for its circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake...
, was too full of stolen Spanish-American gold to carry cloves.
As the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
battles in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
against Muslim Powers raged on, Ternate became a site of interest especially for the Ottomans, who had gained much information about Maritime Southeast Asia
Maritime Southeast Asia
Maritime Southeast Asia refers to the maritime region of Southeast Asia as opposed to mainland Southeast Asia and includes the modern countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, East Timor and Singapore....
from the Sultanate of Aceh, and in fact Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis
Kurtoglu Hizir Reis
Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis was an Ottoman admiral who is best known for commanding the Ottoman naval expedition to Sumatra in Indonesia .-Background and family origins:...
the Ottoman Admiral intended to reach both Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
and Ternate but was engaged in pitched battle and was outnumbered against the Portuguese Fleet in Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
.
Spanish and Dutch traders competing for control over the lucrative clove trade played Ternate off against Tidore. The Dutch eventually became the dominant European power although the sultanates were in place almost continually until today. Spanish
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
forces captured the former Portuguese fort from the Ternatese in 1606, deported the Ternate Sultan and his entourage to Manila. In 1607 the Dutch came back in Ternate where with the help of Ternateans built a fort in Malayo. The island was divided between the two powers: the Spaniards were allied with Tidore and the Dutch with their Ternaten allies. For the Ternaten rulers, the Dutch were a useful, if not particularly welcome, presence that gave them military advantages against Tidore and the Spanish. Particularly under Sultan Hamzah (r. 1627–1648), Ternate expanded its territory and strengthened its control over the periphery. Dutch influence over the kingdom was limited, though Hamzah and his son and successor, Sultan Mandar Syah (r. 1648–1675) did concede some regions to the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
(VOC) in exchange for help controlling rebellions there. The Spaniards abandoned Ternate and Tidore in 1663. In the 18th century Ternate was the site of a VOC governorship, which attempted to control all trade in the northern Moluccas.
By the 19th century, the spice trade had declined substantially. Hence the region was less central to the Netherlands colonial state, but the Dutch maintained a presence in the region in order to prevent another colonial power from occupying it. After the VOC was nationalised
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
by the Dutch government in 1800, Ternate became part of the Government of the Moluccas (Gouvernement der Molukken). Ternate was occupied by British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
forces in 1810 before being returned to Dutch control in 1817. In 1824 became the capital of a residency (administrative region) covering Halmahera, the entire west coast of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, and the central east coast of Sulawesi
Sulawesi
Sulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
. In 1858 Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
wrote his paper on Evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
here, which he sent to Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
for co-publication (The Ternate letters). By 1867 all of Dutch-occupied New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
had been added to the residency, but then its region was gradually transferred to Ambon (Amboina) before being dissolved into that residency in 1922.
20th century
Like the rest of Indonesia, Ternate was occupied by JapaneseEmpire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
forces during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
; eastern Indonesia was governed by the Navy. After Japan surrendered in August 1945 and Indonesia declared independence, Ternate was reoccupied in early November 1945 by Allied forces intending to return Indonesia to Dutch control. It became part of Maluku
Maluku (Indonesian province)
Maluku is a province of Indonesia, comprising, broadly, the central and southern parts of the Maluku Islands , which are culturally and geographically associated with Melanesia....
province when Indonesia became independent.
Ternate saw some violence in the 1999–2000 sectarian conflict
Maluku sectarian conflict
Sectarian conflict in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia between 1999 and 2002 killed thousands of people and displaced over 1/2 million.In the late 1990s, Indonesia was experiencing the devastating economic and political effects of the East Asian Financial Crisis which affected Indonesia more than...
across the Maluku islands, not, however, to the extent of other islands such as nearby Halmahera. As of 2003, former churches and cinemas on Ternate were occupied by refugees from the Halmahera violence.
Geology
Ternate lies in a very active seismic region where active volcanic activity and frequent earthquakes are common.General
- Andaya, Leonard Y (1993). The world of Maluku: eastern Indonesia in the early modern period. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1490-8
- The History of the Spanish Presence in the Moluccas (Indonesia): the Spanish Forts in Tidore Island, Maluku, Indonesia by Marco Ramerini
- Cribb, Robert (2000). Historical atlas of Indonesia. Surrey: Curson. ISBN 0-7007-0985-1.
- Hanna, Willard Anderson and Des AlwiDes AlwiDes Alwi Abubakar was an Indonesian historian, diplomat, writer and advocate of the Banda Islands. He was the adopted son of Mohammad Hatta, the first Vice President of Indonesia, whom he called "Oom Kacamata" .Alwi was born on November 17, 1927, on Banda Neira, the largest of the Banda Islands in...
(1990). Turbulent times past in Ternate and Tidore. Banda Naira: Yayasan Warisan dan Budaya. - Wallace, Alfred RusselAlfred Russel WallaceAlfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
(1858). "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type"- The famous naturalist wrote the "Ternate essay", an early discussion of natural selectionNatural selectionNatural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
, while on the island in 1858.
- The famous naturalist wrote the "Ternate essay", an early discussion of natural selection