Early history Maluku is mentioned in
Nagarakretagama. The term originally denoted the spice-producing islands of North Maluku, of which Ternate became the dominant one. The Ternate Kingdom was previously known as the Kingdom of Gapi. Moluccan tradition says that there was an exodus of people moving out of
Halmahera around 1250 due to political conflicts.:4 The settlement founded by people from Halmahera was first situated close on the hillside of the
Gamalama mountain and named Tobona. During this time, Tobona was ruled by a tribal chief with the title of
Momole. The peak of the Ternate sultanate's power came near the end of the 16th century under Sultan
Baabullah, when it exerted influence over most of the eastern part of Sulawesi, the Ambon and
Ceram area, the
Banda Islands,
Solor Islands,
Mindanao, and parts of Papua. It engaged in a fierce competition for control of its periphery with Tidore. According to historian
Leonard Andaya, Ternate's "dualistic" rivalry with Tidore was a dominant theme in the early history of the Maluku Islands. As a result of its trade-dependent culture, Ternate was one of the earliest places in the region to which
Islam spread, originating from Java in the late 15th century, though Islamic influence in the area can be traced further back to the late 14th century. The faith was restricted to Ternate's small ruling family before spreading to the rest of the population. Relations between the Ternateans and Portuguese were strained from the start; an outpost far from Europe generally only attracted the most desperate and avaricious figures. The 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. When Sultan
Hairun was murdered and his head displayed on a pike in 1570, the Muslim Ternateans rebelled against the Portuguese who were besieged in their castle. Their captain was Dom Álvaro de Ataíde, and
Belchior Vieira de Ternate distinguished himself in the defense until the garrison was forced to capitulate to Sultan
Babullah in 1575, who made the castle his palace. In 1579, the sultan entertained the English adventurer and circumnavigator
Francis Drake, who had little interest in buying cloves, as his ship, the
Golden Hind, was too full of gold that he had raided from
Spanish treasure ships to carry cloves. a city which the Spanish captured from the
Sultanate of Brunei by siding with the subjugated
Kingdom of Tondo, the state which Manila displaced when Brunei invaded
Luzon. The Spanish set up Manila as a captaincy-general under the Mexico-based
Viceroyalty of New Spain, and Spanish Ternate in turn was ruled under the governor-general based in Manila. In 1607, the Dutch came back to Ternate and built a fort in Malayo with the locals' help. The Spaniards occupied the southern part of the island where they had their main settlement, Ciudad del Rosario. The island was divided between the two powers: the Spaniards were allied with Tidore and the Dutch with Ternate. and
Bugis soldiers, European illustration from the 17th century For the Ternatean rulers, the Dutch were a useful, if not particularly welcome, presence that gave them military advantages against Tidore and the Spanish. Ternate expanded its territory and strengthened its control over the periphery particularly under
Hamzah's rule (r. 1627–1648). Dutch influence over the kingdom was limited, though Hamzah and his successor, Sultan
Mandar Syah (r. 1648–1675) ceded some regions to the
Dutch East India Company (VOC) in exchange for helping control rebellions. The Spanish abandoned Ternate and Tidore in 1663; when they abandoned Ternate, some of the people accompanied the Spanish in their retreat to the Philippines; about 200 families of mixed Mexican-Filipino-Spanish and Papuan-Indonesian-Portuguese descent left. In the Philippines, they settled in
Ermita, Manila; San Roque,
Cavite;
Tanza, Cavite; and
Ternate, Cavite, which they named after their homeland. Some mixed people chose to stay in Ternate, Indonesia, though they were persecuted and went through
Islamization by a resurgent sultanate. 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, and the region was less central to the Netherlands colonial state, but the Dutch maintained a presence in the region 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
captured and occupied by the
British in 1810 before being returned to Dutch control in 1817. In 1824, it became the capital of a residency (administrative region) covering Halmahera, the entire west coast of
New Guinea, and the central east coast of Sulawesi. By 1867 all of Dutch-occupied
New Guinea had been added to the residency, but its region was gradually transferred to Ambon (Amboina) before being subsumed into it in 1922.
20th century–present Like the rest of Indonesia, Ternate was occupied by
Japanese 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 who intended to return Indonesia to Dutch control. After World War 2, Ternate gained city status on 10 December 1946, Ternate became part of
Maluku when Indonesia became independent. There was some violence in Ternate during the
1998–2000 sectarian conflict across the Maluku islands. ==Geography==