Bacan further to the south, and Jailolo on Halmahera, were also commonly included in Maluku Proper, the four kingdoms forming a ritual quadripartition with connotations to local cosmology.

[12] The region was first settled by Melanesians at least 40,000 years ago, collectively now known as the Alifuru tribes.These people are the indigenous inhabitants of Maluku, along with the later Austronesian migration.

Groeneveldt, titled Gunung Dupa, Maluku, is described as a green mountainous region filled with cloves – an oasis in the middle of the southeastern sea.

[13] Before the arrival of European colonials, the Maluku islands had been ruled by several sultanates that played an important role in the spice trade, especially cloves and nutmeg.

Like Ternate, Tidore developed a formidable maritime power and had extensive diplomatic relations, including with areas in the Southern Philippines.

Tidore had a strong military tradition and often formed alliances with kingdoms in the northern region to face external threats, especially from European powers such as Portugal and Spain.

[21] These four sultanates, through the Moloku Kie Raha system, demonstrated a bond of unity in the face of external threats and in managing the economic and cultural potential of Maluku.

Although Ternate and Tidore often stand out in the role of trade and resistance to foreign powers, Jailolo and Bacan remain an important part of this structure, both as a balancing force and as a symbol of Maluku's cultural diversity.

Their cooperation and competition illustrate the complexity of local politics that helped maintain Maluku's identity and sovereignty for centuries, making this region a unique center of the spice trade in the world.

[22] The era of the sultanate began to change drastically with the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 16th century, followed by the Spanish, Dutch, and then the British.

European penetration in the region led to the weakening of local power and major changes in the political and economic structure of Maluku.

In 1605, the Dutch managed to force the Portuguese to surrender their defenses in Ambon to Steven van der Hagen and at Tidore to the Sebastiansz Cornelisz.

Moluccan people of the Ambon Islands rose up and took up arms under the leadership of Thomas Matulessy who was given the title Kapitan Pattimura, a former major sergeant of the British army.

On May 15, 1817, an attack was launched against Fort Duurstede on Saparua island, resulting in the death of Resident Johannes Rudolph van den Berg and his family.

On December 16, 1817, Pattimura and his colleagues were sentenced to death on the gallows, at Fort Niew Victoria, Ambon, while Martha Christina Tiahahu[26] died on the boat during her voyage to Java and her body was released into the Banda Sea.

The main stronghold of the RMS on Ambon was defeated by Indonesian forces in November 1950, while a smaller scale guerilla struggle continued on Seram Island until 1962.

On May 8, 1958, CIA pilot Allen Pope raided the Indonesian Air Force base at Liang in the northeast of the island, damaging the runway and destroying a Consolidated PBY Catalina.

[32] Pope and his Indonesian radio operator bailed and were captured,[33] which immediately exposed the level of CIA support for the Permesta rebellion.

Embarrassed, the Eisenhower administration quickly ended CIA support for Permesta and withdrew its agents and remaining aircraft from the conflict.

[35] Inter-communal fighting broke out between Christian and Muslim communities in January 1999, cascading into what could be described as all out warfare and atrocities against the civilian population committed by both sides.

[36] The main belligerents were therefore religious militia from both faiths,[37] including the well organised Islamist Laskar Jihad,[38] and Indonesian government military forces.

Leading up to the Malino agreement, the International Crisis Group estimated that 700,000 people had been displaced by the four years of fighting in the Moluccas which is thought to have claimed a minimum of 5,000 lives.

[41] The duration of the conflict is generally dated from the start of the Reformasi era in early 1999 to the signing of the Malino II Accord on February 13, 2002.

Using a landscape approach, Buru district is classified above, the coastal hills of the plains and mountains include varieties of highlands and slopes.

Thus the province of Maluku is currently divided into nine regencies (kabupaten) and the two cities (kota) of Ambon and Tual, which form the tenth and eleventh regency-level administrative divisions.

[45] Since ancient times, many of the Maluku people already had mixed blood with other ethnic groups, namely with Chinese, Indians, Persians, Europeans (generally the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain), then the Arabs were very common considering this area had been controlled by foreign nations for 2,300 years and gave birth to new descendants, which is no longer a pure Melanesian race but still inherits and lives with the Melanesian-Alifuru style.

[citation needed] Because of this mixture of culture and race with Chinese, Indians, Persians, Europeans and Arabs, Maluku is the only Indonesian territory that is classified as an area that has the largest multiracial population other than East Nusa Tenggara.

The spread of Islam was carried out by the Sultanates of Iha, Saulau, Hitu, and Hatuhaha and Arab traders who visited Maluku.

In 2017 the company to start the Pre FEED phase and hold a joint workshop with SKK Migas to prepare an offshore development plan for project of Block Masela.

There are many famous Moluccan singers in both Indonesia and the Netherlands, such as Broery Pesulima, Daniel Sahuleka, Ruth Sahanaya, Eric Papilaya, Glen Fredly, etc.