"Spice Islands" redirects here. For other uses, see Spice Islands (disambiguation).
For the Indonesian provinces administering the archipelago, see North Maluku and Maluku (province).
Maluku Islands
February 2013 map of the Maluku Islands
Geography
Location
Southeast Asia, Melanesia
Coordinates
03°S129°E / 3°S 129°E / -3; 129
Total islands
~1000
Major islands
Halmahera, Seram, Buru, Ambon, Ternate, Tidore, Aru Islands, Kai Islands, Lucipara Islands
Area
78,897[1] km2 (30,462 sq mi)
Highest elevation
3,027 m (9931 ft)
Highest point
Binaiya
Administration
Indonesia
Provinces
Maluku
North Maluku
Largest settlement
Ambon
Demographics
Population
3,131,860[2] (2020)
Ethnic groups
Ambonese, Alfur, Nuaulu, Bugis
The Maluku Islands (/məˈluːkuː,mæˈluːkuː/; Indonesian: Kepulauan Maluku) or the Moluccas (/məˈlʌkəz/) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located east of Sulawesi, west of New Guinea, and north and east of Timor. Lying within Wallacea (mostly east of the biogeographical Weber Line), the Moluccas have been considered a geographical and cultural intersection of Asia and Oceania.
The islands were known as the Spice Islands because of the nutmeg, mace, and cloves that were exclusively found there, the presence of which sparked European colonial interests in the 16th century.[3]
The Maluku Islands formed a single province from Indonesian independence until 1999, when they were split into two provinces. A new province, North Maluku, incorporates the area between Morotai and Sula, with the arc of islands from Buru and Seram to Wetar remaining within the existing Maluku Province. North Maluku is predominantly Muslim, and its capital is Sofifi on Halmahera island. Maluku province has a larger Christian population, and its capital is Ambon. Though originally Melanesian,[4] many island populations, especially in the Banda Islands, were massacred in the 17th century during the Dutch–Portuguese War, also known as the Spice War. A second influx of immigrants primarily from Java began in the early 20th century under the Dutch 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.[5]
^"Moluccas | islands, Indonesia | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
^"Jumlah Penduduk Hasil SP2020 menurut Wilayah dan Jenis Kelamin (Orang), 2020" (in Indonesian). Badan Pusat Statistik. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
^"Welcome to Maluku". Lonely Planet. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
^IRJA.org Archived 14 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
^"IV. THE CONFLICT". Indonesia:The Violence in Ambon. Human Rights Watch. March 1999. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
The MalukuIslands (/məˈluːkuː, mæˈluːkuː/; Indonesian: Kepulauan Maluku) or the Moluccas (/məˈlʌkəz/) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia...
North Maluku (Indonesian: Maluku Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the MalukuIslands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to...
The MalukuIslands (formerly the Moluccas) are a group of islands within Indonesia. The region is administered under two provinces: Maluku and North Maluku...
The islands of Indonesia, also known as the Indonesian Archipelago (Indonesian: Kepulauan Indonesia) or Nusantara, may refer either to the islands composing...
The MalukuIslands sectarian conflict was a period of ethno-political conflict along religious lines, which spanned the Indonesian islands that compose...
Kai Islands (also Kei Islands) of Indonesia are a group of islands in the southeastern part of the MalukuIslands, located in the province of Maluku. The...
South Maluku, also South Moluccas, officially the Republic of South Maluku, is an unrecognised secessionist republic that originally claimed the islands of...
The Aru Islands Regency (Indonesian: Kabupaten Kepulauan Aru) is a group of about 95 low-lying islands in the MalukuIslands of eastern Indonesia. It also...
Maluku in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Maluku may refer to: MalukuIslands, an archipelago that is part of Indonesia List of the MalukuIslands Maluku...
administrative district (kecamatan) within the Central Maluku Regency in the Indonesian province of Maluku. The islands rise out of 4-to-6-kilometre (2.5 to 3.7 mi)...
Ambon Island is part of the MalukuIslands of Indonesia. The island has an area of 743.37 km2 (287.02 sq mi) and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile...
The Lesser Sunda Islands, also known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (Indonesian: Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly Kepulauan Sunda Kecil), are an archipelago...
Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the MalukuIslands. It was the de facto provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby...
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...
Tanimbar Islands, also called Timur Laut, are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is...
indigenous to the MalukuIslands (also called the Moluccas), Eastern Indonesia. The region was historically known as the Spice Islands, and today consists...
domesticated descendant of Artocarpus camansi originating in New Guinea, the MalukuIslands, and the Philippines. It was initially spread to Oceania via the Austronesian...
Ternate and southwest of Halmahera. The islands are administered by the South Halmahera Regency of North Maluku Province. They formerly constituted the...
The Barat Daya Islands (Indonesian: Kepulauan Barat Daya) are a group of islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The Indonesian phrase barat daya...
Islands") is a city, island, and archipelago in the MalukuIslands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. Part of North Maluku...
all subdivisions of North Maluku and Riau Islands were made from parts of the defunct North Maluku Regency and Riau Islands Regency, respectively. All...
recruited to guide them through Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands and the Ambon Island to Banda Islands, where they arrived in early 1512. There they remained...
Kalimantan North Sulawesi North Maluku Central Sulawesi Gorontalo ↓ West Sulawesi South Sulawesi Southeast Sulawesi Maluku Southwest Papua West Papua Central...
Eucalyptus deglupta is a species of tall tree, commonly known as the rainbow eucalyptus, Mindanao gum, or rainbow gum that is native to the Philippines...
Lesser Sunda Islands, and Sulawesi. Eastern Indonesia Time (Waktu Indonesia Timur, WIT) is nine hours ahead (UTC+09:00), used in the MalukuIslands and Western...
as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the MalukuIslands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital...
MalukuIslands were reached, and had kept contact with Francisco Serrão who was living there. Magellan developed the theory that the MalukuIslands were...
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