The Spice Islands are wrapped in an aromatic history of cloves, mace along with nutmeg, Kings along with Sultans, spice wars, along with the rise along with fall of invading armies.

As I travelled through the Spice Island chain, I saw massive groves of cloves along with nutmegs clinging to the perfect cone-shaped volcanic islands dotted across the Maluku Sea. inside 8th century, Chinese merchant ships sailed through the Moluccas (Maluku), along with the Arabs followed later. The spice wars involved the Portuguese, the Dutch along with the British, who fought over the lucrative trade of exotic spices.

We are reminded of This specific spice trade on the 1,000 rupiah note, which proudly displays Tidore Island next to Ternate, one of the famed Spice Islands. the idea is usually here in which I visited my first Portuguese fort.

Fort Tolluko in Ternate | Photo by David Metcalf

I leant against the old stone wall of Fort Tolukko, Ternate, soaking inside history. This specific beautifully preserved 16^th century Portuguese fort is usually protected by an impressive 10-metre tall solid stone wall. Fort Tolukko is usually located inside village of Duga Duga overlooking the Maluku Sea. the idea was built by the Portuguese to protect the clove industry of the island, which at This specific time was the only place inside earth where cloves grew. Later, seedlings were smuggled out along with found their way to Africa along with different places, where clove plantations were established.

I was impressed by the two dominant bulwarks in which stood at the front of the fort, which is usually typical of Portuguese fortress architecture. I found my visit to This specific fort was more of a reflective activity. Listening to some beguiling tales told by my guide allowed me to fall into the history of these islands along with set the tone for what was to come next.

My next stop was a visit to Alfred Russel Wallace’s house where the famous “Letter by Ternate” was written in 1858. Alfred Wallace was a naturalist along with zigzagged his way across the Indonesian archipelago collecting over 3,000 bird skins, including the famed bird of paradise, 20,000 beetles along with butterflies along with land shells.

His travels took him by Borneo, Sulawesi, Sumatra, along with Java all the way to fresh Guinea. He made between 60 along with 70 separate journeys to the islands strewn across the vast archipelago, often visiting the same island two or three times to do more collecting during different seasons.

Documenting the natural history of the region, he eventually wrote his theory of evolution to Charles Darwin, whom he admired as a leading naturalist along with geologist. The Darwinian Theory of natural selection becomes rather contentious, as the idea is usually hinted by many a scholar in which the idea was actually Alfred Wallace’s letter by Ternate along with his exhaustive research in which cracked the code, so to speak, on the ‘species question’.

Darwin had been working for 20 years on the question of how animal species came to be different. When Wallace’s letter arrived by Ternate (which took three months to get to England), the idea seems he had summed up in a mere 4,000 words the key elements of the theory of evolution. Darwin had been researching volumes of material along with had not made any public statements except to eminent scientific friends, off the record, about his theories. As Darwin approached his 50th birthday, he was still to publish his magnum opus along with was a semi-recluse living in a household with 15 servants along having a wealthy wife, who had family money by the Wedgwood Empire.

In comparison, Wallace was a lone wanderer along with not university educated. He was a field naturalist along having a very shy person, whereas Darwin was in a stronger position as he had completed many years of meticulous work. When Darwin presented his work to the Linnean Society, a society dedicated to natural history, the idea was largely Wallace’s content. He presented three documents: two letters of his own ideas on evolution written to his friends in 1842 along with again in 1844 along having a further paper which married the contents of Wallace’s letter by Ternate with his own ideas. This specific was presented without Wallace’s permission or mention of his name.

After This specific was favourably received, Darwin rushed to print along with gave the manuscript the name On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. The book was a huge success. Thirteen years along with six editions later, This specific book did not acknowledge the work of Wallace. Darwin’s name was on the book along with his theory of evolution by natural selection, or “survival of the fittest” became the most profound scientific development of the modern age.

Luckily for Darwin, when Wallace finally left Indonesia along with came home, the humble Alfred Russel Wallace was largely concerned with cataloguing his beloved insects along with bird skins, which had been shipped home inside thousands, along with proceeded to work on his own book.

the idea is usually in Wallace’s book The Malay Archipelago in which the true genius of Wallace is usually revealed. Since its publication in 1869, the book has never been out of print. Wallace was an extraordinary man who lived in Ternate by 1858 to 1861, along with as I stood at the back door of his humble house, I felt the dedication of This specific man’s work. He contributed so much to natural history along with the discovery of the origin of man.

Interesting Facts

The Maluku Islands

Ternate Islands | Photo Courtesy of David Metcalfe

Ternate Islands | Photo of David Metcalf

The name Maluku is usually thought to have been derived by the Arab trader’s term for the region, Jazirat al-Muluk or ‘the island of the kings’. What the Arab traders brought back to their home ports were exotic spices: cloves, mace, along with nutmeg. These were sold to Venetian merchants along with became known in Europe as “the nuts by Muscat”. Because of the high value of these spices in Europe along with the large profits they generated, many adventurers followed inside footsteps of the Chinese along with the Arabs; first the Portuguese along with later the Dutch followed by the British.

The Birds of Paradise

Maluku has two species of endemic birds of paradise: Red-bellied Pittas along with Wallace’s Standardwing Bird of Paradise.

Wallace’s Book

The ecology of the Maluku Islands has fascinated naturalists for centuries. Alfred Russel Wallace’s book, The Malay Archipelago, was the first significant study of the area’s natural history along with remains an important resource for studying Indonesian biodiversity.