North Maluku

North Maluku (Indonesian: Maluku Utara; Indonesian pronunciation: [maˌluku (ʔ)uˈt̪ara]) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. It shares maritime borders with North Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi to the west; Maluku (province) to the south; Southwest Papua to the east; and Palau to the north. The provincial capital is Sofifi, mostly part of the city of Tidore Islands on the largest island of Halmahera, while the largest city is the island city of Ternate. The population of North Maluku was 1,038,087 in the 2010 census, making it one of the least-populous provinces in Indonesia, but by the 2020 Census the population had risen to 1,282,937, and the official estimate as at mid 2025 was 1,373,820 (comprising 704,000 males and 669,820 females).

North Maluku was originally the centre of the four largest Islamic sultanates in the eastern Indonesian archipelago—Bacan, Jailolo, Tidore and Ternate—known as the Moloku Kië Raha (the Four Mountains of Maluku). Upon Europeans' arrival at the beginning of the 16th century, North Maluku became the site of competition between the Portuguese, Spanish and the Dutch to control trade. In the end, the Dutch emerged victorious, beginning three centuries of Dutch rule in the region. The Japanese invaded the region during World War II, and Ternate actually became the center of the Japanese rule of the Pacific region. Following Indonesian independence, the region became a part of the province of Maluku.