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The commercial development of Maluku under the Dutch created numerous opportunities for immigrants from China, who became a favored minority and helped to support Dutch colonial rule. While many Chinese immigrants and their descendants adopted Dutch lifestyles by the late 19th century, others continued to identify with China and maintained Chinese customs and traditional dress.
This Dutch woodcut depicts Ternate mosque (far left) and the palace of Ternate in the foreground. The illustration was first published in the Dutch journal, Het Tweede Boeck.
Ternate is the major island of the Maluku Islands (Moluccas), which were known to Europeans as the Spice Islands. Together with neighbor Tidor, Ternate was the single largest producer of cloves in the world. Previously administered by warring Muslims sultans, the Spice Islands were first landed by shipwrecked Portuguese sailors in 1512. The fort was built in 1522, and Portugal fought constant battles with Ottoman-backed sultans, the Spanish, the British, and the Dutch to maintain control of the lucrative clove trade. In the 18th century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) took governership of the islands. The demand for exotic spices finally waned in the 19th century, and Ternate was abandoned by the colonial Europeans.
This is the first edition, published in Madrid in 1609, of a work that recounts in detail the struggle among Portugal, Spain, and local kings and sultans for control of the Maluku (Moluccan) Islands in the 16th century. Also called the Spice Islands, the Maluku are part of present-day Indonesia. Among the individuals who figure in the story are the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the English privateer Sir Francis Drake, and King Tabariji of Ternate. The author of this work, Bartolome Leonardo de Argensola (1562-1631), was a priest who served as a royal chaplain and the rector of Villahermosa, Spain. Known for its elegant style, the work includes discussions of the natural history, language, manners, and customs of the native peoples of the islands.