Maitara Is., with Tidore in the background (viewed from Ternate)

North Maluku, Indonesia

Fuji S2 digital, Nikon 12-24

There are more than a thousand islands in the Moluccas (Maluku), which has now been divided into two provinces. North Maluku, with its temporary capital on Ternate, consists primarily of remote and undeveloped Halmahera, along with the string of volcanic islands ranging off Halmahera's western coast, plus a few separate island chains.

Ternate and Tidore sit only one kilometer apart, with the .small cone of Maitara wedged in between. Ternate and tidore were ( together with the Bandas, the source of nutmet) the Spice Islands, The seats of rival sultanates since the late 15th C., Ternate and Tidore were once the world's only source of cloves.