Mudafar Syah I

He reigned during an important transitional phase, when the Dutch East India Company gained ascendency in the Maluku Islands and began to regulate the commerce in spices.

However, the young Prince Modafar with a number of supporters hid in Halmahera where they found protection with his brother-in-law, King Doa of Jailolo.

There was an important commercial aspect with the contract, since Mudafar undertook to only sell cloves produced on the island to the VOC for a fixed price.

As all visits by other European and Asian trading vessels were forbidden, the VOC were not able to bring in sufficient foodstuff (such as rice) and other necessities to meet the needs of the locals.

The system therefore led to a comprehensive smuggling from the outside, where Javanese, Malays and Makassarese seafarers braved the European restrictions and paid much higher prices for the spices than the VOC did.

The Governor of the Philippines, Juan de Silva, brought Mudafar's exiled father Saidi with him on an expedition in 1611, trying to reconcile with the Ternatans.

Furthermore, the Dutch strengthened their grip on Ambon, parts of which were also Ternatan dependencies, through the equally notorious Amboyna massacre that eliminated English influence.

[8] Though Mudafar Syah presided over a formally independent realm, the Dutch and Spanish regarded their respective Ternatan and Tidorese allies as mere auxiliaries whose wishes were subordinated to those of the Europeans.

Kapita Laut Ali was the Ternatan sea lord and was remembered by historical tradition as a forceful figure who maintained the wide influence of the Ternate kingdom.