Tidore
Tidore, in Indonesia's Maluku Islands, west of Halmahera, was a significant regional political and economic power in pre-colonial times and a fierce rival of nearby Ternate, just to the north. The island is a large stratovolcano rising to a height of 1,730 metres at the south end. A caldera on the northern side contains two smaller volcanic cones.
As the centre of a spice-funded sultanate that arose after Islam spread into the area in the 15th century, Tidore spent much of its history in the shadow of Ternate. When Ternate forged alliances with the Portuguese and later the Dutch, Tidore's sultans aligned themselves with the Spanish after they arrived in the archipelago. Despite several Spanish forts on the island, a sense of mutual distrust lingered between the Tidorese and their allies. However, this alliance helped Tidore resist incursions by the Ternateans and their Dutch allies. For the Spanish, it was a check against Dutch expansion, safeguarding their interests in the region and providing a strategic base next to the centre of Dutch power. It also granted them access to spices for trade.
After the Spanish departed in 1663, Tidore became one of the region's most robust independent states, resisting direct control by the Dutch East India Company and using payments for spices for gifts to strengthen traditional ties with territories on the periphery. This strategic manoeuvring earned Tidore widespread respect and reduced its reliance on foreign military assistance. In contrast, Ternate frequently depended on Dutch military aid.
Tidore remained independent until the late eighteenth century when a 1780 treaty with the VOC reduced the sultanate to a Dutch vassal. However, like Ternate, Tidore had allowed the Dutch to carry out their spice eradication program in the sultanate's periphery. The program, intended to strengthen the Dutch spice monopoly by restricting production to a few places, weakened Tidore's control over its periphery. After the treaty was signed, the discontented Prince Nuku left Tidore, beginning a lengthy guerilla war. British support as part of their campaign against the Dutch in the Moluccas helped Nuku take Tidore in 1797. After Dutch forces expelled his successor, Zainal Abidin, in 1806, Tidore was firmly under colonial rule.
Links:
Dutch East India Company
Prince Nuku
Zainal Abidin
