Moluques

In fact the Moluques (in Indonésien Maluku ) producing of spices attracted Europeans in the archipelago Indonesia N. Their name comes from Jazirat Al Muluk , " the island of the rois" , that gave them the Arab merchants.

This archipelago of the east of the Indonesia form a territory of 74 500 km ² for approximately 2,1 million inhabitants.

Administrative divisions

The archipelago is divided since 1999 into 2 distinct provinces:

the province of Moluques themselves, whose capital is Ambon (or Amboine), in the homonymous island
the province of the Moluques of North ( Maluku Utara ), whose capital is Sofifi, on the island of Halmahera.

History

The names of Ambon, the Gorong islands, Maluku and Seram are attested as of XIVe century after J. - C. the Nagarakertagama , poem epic writes in 1365 pennies the reign (1350-89) of king Hayam Wuruk of Majapahit in the east of the island of Java, mentions " Ambwan" , " Gurun" , " Maloko" and " Seran" among some hundred " regions tributaires" kingdom. Actually, the territory controlled by Majapahit did not extend that on part of the east and center of Java. " regions tributaires" were in fact of the counters forming a sales network whose Majapahit was the center. Majapahit sent to it dignitaries of which the role was to make sure that these counters were not devoted to a private trade which would escape the kingdom.

In his Historia das Molucas lost, the Portuguese Antonio Galvão for its part writes towards 1544 who it is with China that Moluques must have their first maritime relations.

About 1460, under the influence of the Moslem principality of Gresik to Java, the island of Ternate is the first region of Moluques to be Islamized.

In 1511, a Portuguese fleet, started from Goa to India under the command of the viceroy Afonso de Albuquerque, seizes Malacca, which had become the largest wearing of Southeast Asia. Immediately, the Portuguese settle then in Moluques. The destruction of the Javanese fleet at the time of the catch of Malacca resulted in a decline of the Javanese and Malayan trade. The small rival kingdoms of Ternate and Tidore thus endeavor each one to attract the interest of the Portuguese. The latter are combined in Ternate, where they build a fort in 1522. The king yields Ambon to the Portuguese. Those are expelled of Ternate in 1575. They are reinstalled in Tidore, where they build a fort in 1578 again.

François Xavier, cofounder about the Jesuits with Ignace de Loyola, throws the bases of a mission with Ambon, Morotai and Ternate in 1546 and 1547, marking the beginning of the establishment of the Catholicisme in Indonesia. In 1562, the Dominican ones undertake the christianization of Solor.

The rise of the Moslem kingdom of Demak in Java during the 15th century supports the Islamization of the archipelago. The principality of Giri in the east of Java follows an independent policy. Hitu in particular, on the northern coast of the island of Ambon, is under its influence.

In 1602, the Dutchmen found the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (" Dutch Company of the Eastern Indies ") or VOC. This one seizes Ambon in 1605, which becomes its seat. The Portuguese are definitively expelled of Moluques in 1636. The Dutchmen grant a counter to the English with Ambon, then expel some too.

In 1619 Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the new governor-general of the VOC, the fort of Jayakarta in the west of Java attacks and expels of it the garrison of Banten. On the ruins, it rebuilds Batavia, where the VOC moves its seat.

The VOC has evil to impose its monopoly on the production and the trade of spices like the Clove, the Poivre, the Muscade, that the European market requires whereas the Asian market stagnates. Having taken Malacca with the Portuguese in 1641, the Dutchmen can now concentrate their forces on the east of the archipelago. The resistance of the principality of Hitu in the north of Ambon is definitively broken in 1646. At that time, Ambon produces more clove than the world cannot consume some. The VOC thus undertakes to destroy the production of the other islands.

With the tender of the sultanate of Gowa in the south of Célèbes, the position of the VOC in the east of the archipelago is from now on assured. Until the end of the 18th century, its economic activities will remain nevertheless limited to Moluques and the northern coast of Java, which it completely controls with the end of the Javanese wars of succession in 1755. The decline of the VOC and its bankruptcy in 1799 make pass Moluques in the second plan.

A big part of the recruitment of the colonial army Dutchwoman, the KNIL, will be done at Amboinais. For period of the military and diplomatic confrontation, of 1945 to 1949, they will be soldiers amboinais who will fight the republican troops. In 1946, an agreement is signed, by which the Dutchmen recognize sovereignty de facto of the Republic of Indonesia on Java, Madura and Sumatra. The agreement envisages the creation of a Federal state in which the Republic would be only one component. The Dutchmen create States fantoches, of which the Negara Indonesia Timur or NIT (" State of Indonesia orientale"). In 1949, the Kingdom of the Netherlands accepts finally the transfer of sovereignty to the Republic of Indonesia. Amboinais are in their majority hostile with integration in Indonesia.

In April 1950, the arrival of the troops indonésiennes of the confrontation burst with Makassar (Southern Célèbes) between soldiers amboinais of the KNIL and the army indonésienne. Amboinais, Dr. Soumokil, Minister for the Justice of the NIT, proclaims the independence of the République of Moluques of the South (RMS). The republican troops unload in July in Moluques. In November, the rebellion is crushed. The government of the RMS leaves in exile to the Netherlands.

In the years 1970, the Soeharto mode encourages the transmigrasi , a policy of voluntary departure of Java and Bali over-populated towards the other islands of Indonesia, initiated in 1905 by the colonial government. Moluques see the arrival of Moslem immigrants coming from Célèbes, who take the control of the local economy gradually. This situation creates tensions between the local population and the immigrants. In January 1999, an incident causes confrontations between the two communities, which transform themselves quickly into violences between Moslems and Christians who in 4 years make more than 12.000 dead and cause the displacement of several hundreds of thousands of people. The conflict ends as from 2002 gradually, following the agreements of Malino. However the archipelago knows sometimes briefs renewals of violence.

Languages

One speaks various languages in Moluques.

The majority belong to the sub-group Eastern of the group known as " exchange-Eastern " Austronesian branch of the Languages austronésiennes. One speaks also a dialect Malayan, the bahasa Melayu Ambon (" Malayan of Ambon ").

One finds also languages of the family known as " Western Papou e" Languages papoues, in particular in the north of Halmahera, with Ternate and Tidore.

Portuguese presence in Moluques, it remains initially a linguistic influence on the Malayan vocabulary: will bendera (" drapeau" , of will bandeira ), meja (" table" , of mesa ), pesta (festival) etc

Catholicism with Florès and Timor east another heritage of the Portuguese presence.

Violences inter-nuns

Since centuries, the Islam, from Java to XVe century, and the Protestantism imposed by the Dutchmen on the XVIIe century, cohabit in Moluques. According to the official statistics, the Moslems accounted for 49,9% of the population of the archipelago in 1971 and were thus very slightly minority.

From years 1970 occurs a spontaneous immigration coming from the south of the island of Célèbes and the island close to Buton. These Bugis, Buton and Makassar (which one will indicate by the initials of " BBM") are Moslem. Credits and undertaking, they dominate soon the trade and the small company. Moslems, they modify religious balance. Always according to the statisic official ones, the Moslems account for 55% of the population of Moluques into 1980,56,8% in 2000.

This demographic imbalance will be worsened by a policy of " preference musulmane" implemented in the years 1990 by the Soeharto mode, under the pressure of ICMI (Ikatan Cendekiawan Muslimin Indonesia, " association of the Moslem intellectuals of Indonésie") created in 1991.

Others

" formerly was called; Crab of Moluques" the Limule (although this one is not a Crustacé).

Sources

Feillard, Andree and Madinier, Rémy, end of innocence? Islam indonésien vis-a-vis the radical temptation of 1967 to our days, the Erudite Indies, 2006

Simple: Maluku Islands

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