Ternate, an island in northern Maluku, was once the seat of the most important kingdom made rich by the spice trade. The Portuguese, the Spanish and the Dutch vied with each other for influence on this island. A stronghold of Islam in the otherwise predominantly Christian province of Maluku, Ternate nevertheless carries the clear imprints of both its pre-Islamic past and its period of contact with the West, especially the Portuguese. The old sultan's palace in Ternate is now a museum. In the vicinity are the ruins of Old Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch forts. The remnants of the Dutch Fort Orange are right in town. About five kilometers west of the town, on the slopes the 1,715 meter Api Gamalama volcano is Afo, with its giant clove tree, said to be more than 360 years old and the ancestor of all cloves trees in the world.

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