Here goes my first, and hence probably not-very-good, TL.
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(All maps from Leonard Andaya's
The World of Maluku: Eastern Indonesia in the Early Modern Era, the virtually only source for English-language maps of the region, unless otherwise stated)
The Spice Islands. The very name itself brought with it a sort of mystique. Only in these islands at the eastern end of the world could you find the enchanting nutmeg and the delectable mace, and of course the greatest spice of all, the clove. But in the end, what are the Spice Islands? Are they simply a source of spices to be exported by faceless indigenes to the centers of the world? Yes, a European might have said. But what about the Spice Islander - or, to give his real name, the Malukan?
The Malukans loved war, the Portuguese said. Yet despite the frequency of warfare, especially before the establishment of Dutch hegemony in the mid-17th century, the two main kingdoms of Ternate and Tidore were never annexed by each other. Why? Because the Malukans did not war for total victory. North Malukan geopolitics originated in cosmological divisions of the world. The four kingdoms of Ternate, Tidore, Jailolo, and Bacan were considered the 'four pillars' of North Maluku, and their existence, even in name only, was necessary for the continued prosperity of the Malukan world. So the royal dynasty of Jailolo remained exalted guests in Ternate long after Ternate conquered Jailolo in 1551. And when the Malukan world seemed to be collapsing – like in the late 18th century – Malukans clamored to restore Jailolo, and by extension restore Maluku to its heyday.
But if Jailolo and Bacan could be conquered, the destruction of Ternate or Tidore was unimaginable. They were the joint "lords of Maluku," the two most important members of the four pillars, and Maluku would persist as long as Ternate and Tidore both existed. They also filled distinct niches. Ternate was identified with the seas and the west. It followed Islam more stringently, Islam itself being a maritime faith. For instance, Ternate was the first kingdom to become a sultanate, while the position of pre-Islamic chief priest, the
sowohi kie, ultimately vanished in Ternate. By contrast, the Sultan Tidore was the Lord of the Mountain. Associated with the mountains, the polar opposite of the oceans, Tidore had to rule the land (i.e. much of Halmahera), remained more connected to both the pre-Islamic past and the Papuan lands of the east, and as “wife-giver” (that is, Tidorese princesses regularly married Ternaten sultans but rarely vice versa) it had ritual superiority over Ternate. This land-sea dualism was reflected not only geopolitically, between Tidore and Ternate respectively, but within each kingdom as well. The Sultan, the Islamic clergy, the admiral, and others were associated with the sea, while many other high officials and village chieftains were associated with the land.
So if Ternate and Tidore warred, the ultimate goal was not a zero-sum game where one would destroy the other, but to meet the demands of the cosmological dualism between Ternate and Tidore (this isn’t to say that Ternate-Tidore wars were not also fought for practical benefits, of course). So the Ternaten and Tidorese royal houses married each other even as they warred, and despite their mutual hatred they advised each other against European activities.
But, in the end, the Malukan world shattered. The European took control, the dualism of Ternate and Tidore was finished. Could things have gone differently?