MALUKU UTARA

Maluku Utara is a province of northeastern Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, which are divided between it and the province of MalukuProvince, which used to cover the entire group until North Maluku was split off in 1999. The provincial capital is Sofifi, on Halmahera the largest island, but the largest population center and former capital is the island of Ternate while the largest settlement on Halmahera is Tobelo.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the islands of North Maluku were the original "Spice Islands". At the time, the region was the sole source of cloves. The Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and local sultanates including Ternate and Tidore fought each other for control of the lucrative trade in these spices. Clove trees have since been transported and replanted all around the world and the demand for clove from the original spice islands has ceased, greatly reducing North Maluku's international importance.

The population of North Maluku is 1,035,478 (according to the 2010 Census), making it one of the least populous provinces in Indonesia .

The islands of North Maluku are mostly of volcanic origin, with the volcanoes of Dukono on Halmahera, Gamalama on Ternate still active and the whole of Tidore consisting of a large stratovolcano. 

The rainforests of Halmahera, Morotai, the Obi Islands, the Bacan islands and other islands of North Maluku have been described by the World Wildlife Fund as the Halmahera rain forests ecoregion and are home to a number of unique plant and animal species unique to the islands, which are in the Wallacea transition zone containing a mixture of species of Asian and Australasian origin. The predominant trees of the forest are Anisoptera thurifera, Hopea gregaria, Hopea iriana, Shorea assamica, Shorea montigena, Shorea selanica, and Vatica rassak.

The endemic mammals found here include the Obi Mosaic-tailed Rat (Melomys obiensis), Masked Flying Fox (Pteropus personatus), and three arboreal marsupials, the Ornate (Phalanger ornatus), Rothschild's (P. rothschildi), Blue-eyed (P. matabiru) and Gebe (P. alexandrae) cuscuses. There are over two hundred different birds on the islands, twenty-six of which are endemic, a large number for this small island group. The endemics include four birds which are the only species in their genera, including the elusive Invisible Rail (Habroptila wallacii), the White-streaked Friarbird (Melitograis gilolensis), and two birds of paradise, the Paradise-crow (Lycocorax pyrrhopterus) and Wallace's Standardwing (Semioptera wallacii). The islands are also home to the largest bee in the world, Wallace's giant bee (Megachile pluto).

The islands have a tropical rainforest climate.

Most of the natural forest remains on these mountainous islands although much of the coastal and lowland areas have been cleared for clove planting since the sixteenth century, especially on the islands of Ternate and Tidore, while logging has occurred more recently on Halmahera and Morotai.

The northern part of the Maluku Islands is the location of four major sultanates, locally known as Maluku Kie Raha (Four Moluccan Mountains). While no longer hold official or political power these sultanates still hold enormous cultural respect.

• Sultanate of Ternate
• Tidore Sultanate
• Bacan Sultanate
• Jailolo Sultanate

Maluku Utara

KABUPATEN HALMAHERA BARAT
	IBU
	JAILOLO
	JAILOLO SELATAN
	LOLODA
	SAHU
KABUPATEN HALMAHERA SELATAN
	BACAN
	BACAN BARAT
	BACAN TIMUR
	GANE BARAT
	GANE TIMUR
	KAYOA
	OBI
	OBI SELATAN
	PULAU MAKIAN
KABUPATEN HALMAHERA TENGAH
	PATANI
	PULAU GEBE
	WEDA
KABUPATEN HALMAHERA TIMUR
	MABA
	MABA SELATAN
	WASILEY
	WASILEY SELATAN
KABUPATEN HALMAHERA UTARA
	GALELA
	KAO
	LOLODA UTARA
	MALIFUT
	MOROTAI SELATAN
	MOROTAI SELATAN BARAT
	MOROTAI UTARA
	TOBELO
	TOBELO SELATAN
KABUPATEN KEPULAUAN SULA
	MANGOLI BARAT
	MANGOLI TIMUR
	SANANA
	SULABESI BARAT
	TALIABU BARAT
	TALIABU TIMUR
KOTA TERNATE
	KOTA TERNATE SELATAN
	KOTA TERNATE UTARA
	PULAU MOTI
	PULAU TERNATE
KOTA TIDORE KEPULAUAN
	OBA
	OBA UTARA
	TIDORE
	TIDORE SELATAN
	TIDORE UTARA
KABUPATEN PULAU MOROTAI