Ternate

Fort Oranje was built by the VOC in 1607 in Malayo on Ternate. It was a strong fortress surrounded by a moat. Various other forts were later built on Ternate, or captured from the Spanish. The VOC's military power on Ternate was mainly intended to fight the smugglers who traded with their competitors, and to maintain the clove monopoly. In 1801 Fort Oranje fell to the English. The clove-producing North Molucca Islands were divided into a number of small states, the most powerful of which was the sultanate of Ternate. The earliest contacts between the Dutch and Ternate date back as far as 1599. In 1607 the sultan of Ternate asked the VOC to provide it with assistance against an attack by the Spanish. Although it proved impossible to drive the Spaniards off the island completely, the Company did obtain an agreement granting a monopoly of the clove trade. Ternate was dependent on foreign traders to sell its cloves and import foodstuffs. The ships used in the area, known as cora-coras, were used for warfare, and were not suitable for trading transport. The VOC's trade monopoly in Ternate also made the island dependent on the Company for food imports. But because the VOC imports were insufficient to meet the demand, the inhabitants of Ternate were continually forced to violate the monopoly. The VOC did all it could to stamp out the smuggling, and often used violence. The trade agreements with the sultan were ceremonially reaffirmed regularly after they had been broken. Each time the sultan had to promise not to supply cloves to anyone other than the Company. The food shortages that plagued the population because of the Company monopoly led to revolts, which the VOC crushed with much bloodshed. In 1677 the sultan of Ternate was finally stripped of all his military power and made permanently subject to the VOC. Prior to the foundation of Batavia in 1619, the VOC's governor-generals were more or less peripatetic; taking up residence alternately on Ambon and in Fort Oranje on Ternate. After 1619 the governor of the Molucca Islands resided for a time in the fort on Ternate.