Ciri Leliatu

late 15th/early 16th century) was the first Sultan of Tidore in Maluku Islands, who reigned at a time when Islam made advances in this part of Indonesia because of contacts brought about by the increased trade in spices.

According to these, the four North Malukan kingdoms Ternate, Tidore (Duko), Bacan and Jailolo were founded by the four sons of the Arab Jafar Sadik.

[1] The last of them was Matagena who, according to the chronicle Hikayat Ternate, was a Malay lord who expelled his predecessor Kolano Sele and acquired kingship over the island.

[2] According to even later sources, he was descended from a line of Muslim qadis and thus started a new royal lineage, and eventually died in Gotowasi village in Halmahera.

The Ambonese chronicle Hikayat Tanah Hitu, written in the 17th century, says that the key figure was Mahadum, who was the son of a Sultan of Samudra Pasai.

He was assisted by auxiliaries from the Halmaheran places Maba, Weda and Patani and was completely successful in defeating and subordinating Gebe.

Studies of pottery trade show that ceramic wares from Mare Island, adjacent to Tidore, were exported to Papuan lands since at least the 15th century and bartered for foodstuff that was needed in the resource-scarce North Maluku.

Al-Mansur told the Europeans that his father had been slain by the local population when he went to Buru Island, and that his body had been unceremoniously thrown into the sea.