How did they call the Moluccas Islands before?

The Moluccas Islands are truly a heavenly place on earth, characterized by a picturesque nature in all its diversity. Landscapes of the Moluccas islands are distinguished by a unique beauty peculiar only to these places: picturesque coves, shallow calm straits, coral reefs, mountain slopes with dense evergreen forests.

How did they call the Moluccas Islands before?

Located in the Malay Archipelago (its eastern part), between the island of Sulawesi and New Guinea, previously these territories were called "islands of spices". Indeed, before the beginning of the 21st century, the Moluccas were the main supplier of such expensive spices, as nutmeg, pepper, cloves, cinnamon. They grow here on huge plantations.

How did they call the Moluccas Islands before? In Arabic, their name literally means "land of kings". The islands of spices (Moluccas) are 74,505 square kilometers in area. Km with a total length of about 1300 km from north to south-east and south.

Religious skirmishes in the Moluccas Islands

For a long time a group of numerous islands, which number 1027, was closed to foreign guests. This is due to the conflicts arising from time to time on religious grounds. Thus, in 1950, the inhabitants of the Christian faith proclaimed the independent Republic of Maluku Selithan in the southern part of the Moluccas. The attempt of secession was immediately stopped by Indonesian forces using force.

The climax between Muslims and Christians, which developed into an armed confrontation, reached its apogee in 1998-2000. And the beginning of everything was a household quarrel with a bus driver. According to experts, this was the most brutal civil war in recent decades; The region was forced to leave about 80 thousand people.

After these events on the islands, at last the world and peace reigned, which caused a huge influx of tourists from all over the world, geologists and scientists who wanted to study the archipelago in more depth.

Administrative division

The Moluccas island group is divided into provinces: Northern Maluku with the islands of Ternate, Halmahera, Sula and South Maluku with the Ambon, Buru, Seram islands. And today in the waters of Ternate, which was the arena of fierce fighting during the Second World War, there is a huge number of sunken aircraft and ships.

The tourist pearl of the islands, called "the land of thousands of beaches," is the island of Ambon with the same city. Founded in 1574 by the Portuguese navigators, in his appearance he saved the traces of the bygone times, although he lost most of the buildings of the colonial period as a result of brutal military bombings. The most striking landmark of Ambon is Fort Victoria, a military fortification reminiscent of a distant military past. To the south-east of the city is Mount Syrimachu with the village of Soja on one of its slopes. Of the attractions that cause a genuine interest of tourists - the residence of the former rajah and the Dutch church built in 1817. Nearby are several ancient settlements, each of which has its own megalithic structures.

About the population of the Moluccas Islands

The approximate population size, which is heterogeneous both in the mass and in terms of culture, 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 most populated islands are Ambon and Ternate, a small number of inhabitants are observed on the largest islands - Halmahera, Buru and Seram.

Previously, around 130 languages were distributed in the region; Over time, there was a mixture of many of them. The most popular were the local dialects of Ambonese and Ternat.

A bit of history

The first European settlements on the Moluccas Islands arose in 1512 and were founded by Portuguese seafarers. It was they who established the export of spices to Europe. In 1663, valuable possessions became the property of the Netherlands, and during the Napoleonic wars, the Moluccas, whose old name was "island of spice," were captured by Britain, which controlled their treasures from the late 18th to early 19th centuries. In the midst of World War II, "islands of spices" were occupied by the Japanese. After its termination (1945), these territories became part of the educated state of Indonesia.

The area of the archipelago is mostly mountainous; Mount Binaya, located on the island of Syram, is the highest point of the archipelago; Its height is 3019 meters.

On the islands - a large number of volcanoes, about a dozen acts. Therefore, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are frequent enough; For example, over the past 50 years in the region there have been more than 70.

On the climate of the Moluccas Islands

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 "spice islands"

Most of the territory is occupied by ficus, palm, bamboo forests, at an altitude of about 1200 meters, mostly deciduous and coniferous tree species, as well as groves of cayaputa - tea tree, which is a source of essential oil used for aromatherapy. In the lower reaches, tree ferns, shrub thickets and various herbs are predominantly found. The animal world is characterized by high endemicity; Here you can meet the kinds of animals peculiar only to these territories: cockatoos, crocodiles, boas, bats, climbing marsupials, tree frogs, paradise birds.

For many centuries, it was these lands from all the Indonesian islands that were considered the most expensive real estate, as they had the exclusive right to grow expensive spices. Huge plantations of cinnamon, pepper, clove, palm (sago and coconut), nutmeg cause sincere delight with its scale.