Ternate and Tidore: Where The Cloves Made The History

Since early of the last millennium, the small islands of Ternate and Tidore in the Moluccas were the only source for cloves in the world. Indian, Arab, Chinese and Javanese merchants used to call on these islands to carry home this precious cargo which sold at exorbitant prices in Europe and the Orient. Cloves, together with nutmeg and mace from the Banda islands were used to flavor and preserve food, as medicines and even as aphrodisiacs. But after the Crusades, the trade route to the Far East was blocked for…

Gamalama Mountain, North Maluku

Gamalama Mountain is located in Ternate, North Maluku Province, Indonesia. Gamalama is one of the volcanoes in North Maluku Province. In addition to this mountain, there’s Mount Gamkonora in West Halmahera District, Mount Ibu and Mount Dakona residing in North Halmahera District, and Mount Kiebesi in South Halmahera. Gamalama itself is located on the island of Ternate and has a height of about 1715 m ASL (above sea level). Gamalama Mountain, which is also often referred to as the peak of Ternate, is a stratovolkano, the volcano high and conical,…

This Is Ternate

Ternate Ternate is one autonomous city and the capital city of Noth Maluku. The city is located under the foot of the volcano Gamalama. 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 cloves, 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.…