Ternate

Ternate is an Indonesian island in the Moluccas in the province of North Maluku ( Maluku Utara ).

Geography

Together with other volcanic islands it lies off the west coast of the island of Halmahera and extends from about 0 ° 45 'to 0 ° 52 ' north latitude and 127 ° 17 ' to 127 ° 23' east longitude. The island is from east to west about 11 kilometers from north to south about 13 kilometers in size; its area is 112.3 km ².

Ternate consists of the uppermost region of the ocean floor a total of around 4300 meters rising volcano Gamalama, which as an active stratovolcano 1715 m from the sea rises and last erupted in October 2012. The basaltic and andesitic volcanic rocks of this volcano are weathered on the coasts to fertile soils. Except for a larger gap off the north west coast and two spaces in front of the north-east and south coast of Ternate is surrounded all around by coral reefs.

Population

The island had about 176,000 inhabitants in 2010. Approximately 161.300 people live in the capital of Ternate, which is located in the southeast of the island, and in suburban areas, over 10 kilometers from the airport Babullah in the north extending to the place Bastiong on the south coast.

The language spoken in Ternate is closely related to those on Tidore and Northeast Halmahera and is one of the Papuan. She served in the sphere of influence of the former Sultanate as the lingua franca. In the capital, however, is Malay Ternate, a separate dialect of Malay, common.

History

The Sultanate of Ternate ruled off the island of Ternate half of the south island of Tidore Moti. The North Halmahera ( the kingdom in the north- west of Ternate Jailolo was annexed with the help of Portugal ), the island of Ambon, Ceram and the east of the north-east Sulawesi painted over an area of ​​46,000 km ². The Portuguese Francisco Serrão was the first European to visit Ternate. 1513 a Portuguese trading post was established. Later there were sailors who briefly came over on November 6, 1521 at the first circumnavigation of Ferdinand Magellan from the nearby island of Tidore. Ternate was the most important allies of Portugal in the region. The Sultan allowed in 1522 to build a Portuguese fort on Ternate and allowed the Portuguese to trade in his kingdom, which is why in some sources incorrectly the entire realm is listed as a Portuguese possession. The situation is similar with Tidore, the major competitors Ternates, who had allied with Spain. Tidore ruled addition to its own island yet the greater part of Halmahera, the other part of Moti, the island Makian and parts of the west of New Guinea. These areas are often listed as Spanish, although 1527-1534 and 1544-1545 only an alliance between Tidore and Spain existed. The Treaty of Zaragoza, Spain renounced Although 1529 activities in the Moluccas in favor of Portugal, but Spain to 1545 repeatedly tried to gain control of the region, when the army of Villalobo was defeated by the Portuguese. But Portugal was only a short time to benefit from the victory. The fort on Ternate had to be abandoned in 1575 when the Sultan against his former allies rebelled. They retreated to Ambon. During the personal union of Spain and Portugal Spain sent several military expeditions from 1583 to once again gain control of the region, but also the last assault on Ternate in 1602 was unsuccessful. 1605 the Spanish fort on Tidore was conquered by the Dutch, while the Spaniards conquered in 1606 Ternate and the Sultan and his family deported to Manila. Ternate therefore became an ally of the Dutch. 1607 established the Dutch East India Company Fort Oranje, but the Spaniard managed to hold until 1663 to Ternate. Of the Dutch population is Ternate and Tidore to the centers of the cultivation of cloves, which thrives on slopes close to the sea, as they are given in Ternate developed. At times, the East India Company tried to Ternate and Tidore a worldwide monopoly on the cultivation of cloves enforce.

Ternate remained until the Second World War, part of the Dutch colonial Empire. After the independence of Indonesia, it was initially part of the Maluku province, and since their division in 1999 part of the province of North Maluku. Along with a few other smaller islands Ternate is the province administratively reporting directly to the city ( Kota ) Ternate.