Tidore

Tidore is a volcanic cone across a narrow strait from Ternate, and the two sultanates were rivals through the spice centuries - Ternate allied with the Portuguese and later the Dutch, Tidore with the Spanish, and the pair divided much of eastern Indonesia between their claims, with Tidore's extending nominally over parts of Halmahera and the Papuan coast. The island is quieter than Ternate: the sultan's palace at Soasio was rebuilt in the 1990s and holds regalia, Spanish and Dutch fort remains stand at Tahula and Torre above the town, and Kie Matubu, the volcano, rises to over seventeen hundred metres and is climbed. The clove and nutmeg smallholdings are still worked.

History

Tidore was the centre of a spice-funded sultanate that arose in the 15th century, long in the shadow of Ternate, with which it had a dualistic relationship, and Islam spread here around the late 15th century. Its sultans ruled most of southern Halmahera and at times Buru, East Ceram and many islands off New Guinea, and in the 16th century they allied with the Spanish, who built several forts on the island (Wikipedia, Tidore).

The main sights

• A rival sultanate seat - the palace at Soasio, rebuilt in the 1990s with the regalia.
• Spanish and Dutch forts - Tahula and Torre standing above the town.
• Kie Matubu - the volcano over seventeen hundred metres, climbed from the villages.
• Spice smallholdings - clove and nutmeg still grown across the island.

When to go

September to March. Two days.

Before you go

Facilities are limited and quieter than Ternate's. Fort interpretation is thin. Maluku's seasons run against Java's. Getting here means Ternate first, then a boat.

Nearby

Ternate is across the strait; Halmahera is east.