The Moluccas are truly a heavenly place on earth, characterized by the most picturesque nature in all its diversity.
The landscapes of the Moluccas Islands stand out for their unique beauty, peculiar only to these places: picturesque coves, shallow calm straits, coral reefs, mountain slopes with dense evergreen forests.
What was the Moluccas used to be called?
Located in the Malay Archipelago (its eastern part), between the island of Sulawesi and New Guinea, these territories were previously called the "Spice Islands". Indeed, until the beginning of the 21st century, the Moluccas were the main supplier of such expensive spices as nutmeg, pepper, cloves, and cinnamon. They grow here on huge plantations.
What was the name of the Moluccas before? Translated from Arabic, their name literally means "land of kings." The Spice Islands (Moluccas) are 74,505 sq. km with a total length of about 1300 km fromnorth to southeast and south.
Religious clashes in the Moluccas
For a long time, a group of numerous islands, of which there are 1027, was closed to foreign guests. This is due to the conflicts that arose there from time to time on religious grounds. So, in 1950, the inhabitants of the Christian faith proclaimed an independent republic of Maluku Selitan in the southern part of the Moluccas. The attempted secession was immediately stopped by Indonesian troops, who used force.
Clashes between Muslims and Christians, which grew into an armed confrontation, reached their peak in 1998-2000. And the beginning of everything was a domestic quarrel between a passenger and a bus driver. According to experts, it was the most brutal civil war in decades; about 80 thousand people were forced to leave the region.
After these events, peace and tranquility finally reigned on the islands, which led to a huge influx of tourists from all over the world, geologists and scientists who wanted to study the archipelago in more depth.
Administrative divisions
The Moluccan island group is divided into provinces: North Maluku with the islands of Ternate, Halmahera, Sula and South Maluku with the islands of Ambon, Buru, Seram. And today, in the waters of Ternate, which were the scene of fierce battles during the Second World War, there are a huge number of sunken aircraft and ships.
The tourist gem of the islands, called"land of a thousand beaches" is the island of Ambon with the city of the same name. Founded in 1574 by Portuguese navigators, in its appearance it preserved the traces of bygone times, although it lost most of the buildings of the colonial period as a result of brutal military bombardments. The most striking attraction of Ambon is Fort Victoria - a military fortification, reminiscent of a distant military past. To the southeast of the city is Mount Sirimahu with the village of Soya on one of its slopes. Of the sights that cause sincere interest of tourists are the residence of the former rajah and the Dutch church built in 1817. There are several ancient settlements nearby, each with their own megalithic structures.
About the population of the Moluccas
The approximate population, heterogeneous both in mass and cultural terms, is 2.1 million people. Religiously, the inhabitants of the islands are divided approximately equally; Christianity is mostly proclaimed in the south, Islam - in the north. The islands of Ambon and Ternate are the most populated, with a small number of inhabitants observed on the largest islands - Halmahera, Buru and Seram.
There used to be approximately 130 languages spoken in the region; over time there has been a mixture of many of them. The local dialects of Ambonese and Ternat received the greatest popularity.
A bit of history
The first European settlements in the Moluccas originated in 1512 and were founded by Portuguese navigators. It was they who established the export of spices to Europe. In 1663, valuable possessions began to belong to the Netherlands, and during the Napoleonic wars, the Moluccas, whose old name is the “Spice Islands”, were captured by Great Britain, which disposed of their treasures from the late 18th to early 19th centuries. At the height of World War II, the Spice Islands were occupied by the Japanese. After its completion (1945), these territories became part of the established state of Indonesia.
The archipelago is mostly mountainous; Mount Binaya, located on the island of Siram, is the highest point in the archipelago; its height is 3019 meters.
There are a large number of volcanoes on the islands, about a dozen are active. Therefore, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are quite frequent phenomena; for example, more than 70 have occurred in the region over the past 50 years.
About the climate of the Moluccas
The climate on the islands is humid. The central and southern part from autumn to spring is dominated by dry winds, in summer the islands are attacked by wet monsoons. The average air temperature near the coast is from +25 to +27 degrees.
Flora and fauna of the "Spice Islands"
Most of the territory is occupied by ficus, palm, bamboo forests, at an altitude of about 1200 meters, deciduous and coniferous trees grow for the most part, as well as groves of kayaput - a tea tree, which is a source of essential oil used for aromatherapy. In the lower reaches, tree-like ferns are predominantly found,bushes and various herbs. The fauna is characterized by high endemicity; here you can find animal species that are unique to these territories: cockatoo parrots, crocodiles, boas, bats, climbing marsupials, tree frogs, birds of paradise.
For many centuries, these lands of all the Indonesian islands were considered the most expensive real estate, as they had the exclusive right to grow expensive spices. Huge plantations of cinnamon, pepper, cloves, palms (sago and coconut), nutmeg cause sincere delight in their scale.
