The pre-Islamic rulers of Ternate lorded over the leading spice-producing kingdom in the Maluku Islands in present-day Indonesia.

[3] In 1505 Ludovico di Varthema claims to have visited "Monoch" which probably means Ternate and was the center for clove production.

[4] Though Ternate, also known as Gapi, is not explicitly mentioned in pre-1500 sources it was the leading local kingdom in Maluku since the beginnings of documented history, and attracted traders from afar.

[5] Victor Lieberman writes that the foreign demand for spices was initially so modest "that the people of Ternate and Tidore may not have appreciated cloves' commercial value until Chinese traders arrived in the 14th century.

"[6] While the elite of the island is known to have embraced Islam in the late 15th century due to contacts with foreign merchants,[7] tradition tells of a long line of pre-Islamic rulers with the title Kolano.

[8] As there are no early written sources, the names and details about the Kolanos cannot be ascertained, and the various king lists show some variations.

[9] According to Valentijn, a number of migrant groups from Halmahera settled in Ternate in the mid-13th century to escape the oppressive rule by the King of Jailolo.

When going out to tap a sugar palm to make tuak he found a golden mortar and pestle which he brought back to the village.

As Momole Matiti also soon found himself disturbed by all the curious persons, he in turn gave the objects to Cico, the leader of Sampalu village by the coast.

The others realized that their own lives were in danger and fled to a village on Tidore that was headed by chief Malonga who gave them protection.

While the first four kings had only local power on Ternate island, the influence of the Ternatans in the region now began to expand.

He therefore brought Abderama along on a trip towards the opposite coast in the middle of the night, and then pushed him overboard to drown in the waves.

The grandees of the kingdom made him promise to change the rules of succession, so that a Kolano must be succeeded by a brother or some other relative from a side-branch.

During his reign many Javanese and Arabs began to settle in Ternate for the clove trade or other purposes, and commerce flourished.

Obi also brought forward a king of its own, though he was not powerful enough to be counted among the four Malukan rulers (Ternate, Tidore, Jailolo and Bacan).

After a while the four kings of Maluku held a meeting on Moti Island where they decided to henceforth live in peace and make a bond.

Sidang Hasan hastily fled to the mountains, until Tolu-ma-lamo found himself forced to return to Ternate.

After these feats he fell into opium abuse due to his contacts with Javanese and Malay people and died in 1347, leaving two daughters and a son.

He stood in close contact with an Arab immigrant and this enhanced his reputation as a holy man who bonded spirits and angels.

Moreover, Gapi Baguna's two daughters were married in Tidore; the elder with the ruler Hasan Syah, and the younger to the latter's brother and heir Rampala.

Peace was then concluded by a marriage alliance, since the King of Bacan married the second daughter of the Ternate ruler.

Komalo Pulu moreover conquered some villages in Halmahera from the King of Jailolo and forced the latter to cede his position of precedence to him.

In contravention to earlier practice, Komalo Pulu had managed to make the grandees accept his son as the right heir.

The king himself was nominally converted, but the first truly Muslim ruler was his son and successor Zainal Abidin (1486-1500) who undertook a journey to Java and received instruction in the new religion.

During the next reign, of Sultan Bayan Sirrullah (1500-1521), European seafarers showed up and began to interfere in local politics.

[32] Several Ternatan king-lists leave out Marhum and say that Zainal Abidin was the son and successor of Gapi Baguna II.

[33] Valentijns account is the most detailed, but there are other king-lists, some of which start with the tale of Jafar Sadik, an Arab who came to Maluku and sired four sons with a heavenly nymph.

[36] Some details in the lists are historically problematic; names such as Boheyat (Abu Hayat) and Sidang Arif are Muslim and rather unlikely to have been in use before the second half of the 15th century when the Malukan kingdoms were islamized.

On the other hand, archaeological excavations on Banda, a center of spice trade, have revealed that Islam probably had a certain presence there since c. 1200, so that Muslim impulses may in fact have reached the region much earlier than previously assumed.

The earliest ruler mentioned by near-contemporary sources is Tidore Wonge alias Zainal Abidin (late 15th century).