Maluku

(2002 est pop. 2.3 million). Maluku (Moluccas), a region of Indonesia formerly known as the Spice Islands, was once the source of cloves and nutmeg, spices highly valued for their aroma, preservative ability, and use in medicine before people learned how to cultivate the plants in other parts of the world. Maluku is a cluster of about one thousand islands totaling 74,504 square kilometers, forming part of the Malay Archipelago in eastern Indonesia near New Guinea. The region is divided into two provinces, Maluku (2002 estimated population 1.4 million), with its capital in Ambon, and North Maluku (2002 estimated population 913,000), with its capital in Ternate; other important islands in the group include Halmahera, Seram, and Buru.

Maluku lies in the transition zone between Asiatic and Australian flora and fauna and has a tropical climate. Maluku's flora include meranti trees and many kinds of orchids; distinctive fauna include cuscuses, birds of paradise, wild goats, and parrots. The economy is based on subsistence agriculture, especially sago (the sago palm, producing a starch used in food), and on the export of such products as spices, cacao, coffee, coconuts, fish, and minerals. Important indigenous groups include the Ambonese.

The Portuguese reached Maluku in 1511, but the region was later colonized by the Dutch, who arrived in 1599. In recent times, there has been conflict between the large Ambonese Christian minority and the Muslim majority.

Andaya, Leonard Y. (1993) The World of Maluku: Eastern Indonesia in the Early Modern Period. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Ricklefs, Merle Calvin. (2001) A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1200. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave.