Moluccans are the
Melanesian-
Austronesian and
Papuan-speaking ethnic groups indigenous to the
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonics, Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West ...
(also called the Moluccas). The region was historically known as the
Spice Islands, and today consists of two Indonesian provinces of
Maluku and
North Maluku
North Maluku (; ) 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 marit ...
. As such, "Moluccans" is used as a blanket term for the various ethnic and linguistic groups native to the islands.
Majority follow
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
with
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
being the second major religion of most Moluccans. Despite religious differences, all groups share strong cultural bonds and a sense of common identity, such as through
Adat
Alesis Digital Audio Tape, commonly referred to as ADAT, is a magnetic tape format used for the Sound recording and reproduction, recording of eight digital audio tracks onto the same S-VHS tape used by consumer VCRs, and the basis of a serie ...
. Music is also a binding factor, playing an important role in the cultural identity, and the Moluccan capital city of
Ambon was awarded the official status of
City of Music by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
in 2019.
A small population of Moluccans (~50.000+
) live in the Netherlands. This group mainly consists of the descendants of soldiers in the
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army
The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (; KNIL, ; ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The KNIL's air arm was the Royal Netherl ...
(KNIL), who were originally brought to the Netherlands temporarily, and would have been sent back to their own independent republic, had the Dutch government not given up control of Indonesia. They and others in the world make up the
Moluccan diaspora. The remainder consists of Moluccans serving in the Dutch navy and their descendants, as well as some who came to the Netherlands from western
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
after it too was
handed over to Indonesia.
[Beets ''et al.'', ''Demografische ontwikkeling van de Molukse bevolkingsgroep in Nederland'' .]
However, the vast majority of Moluccans still live in the Moluccas and the other surrounding regions, such as
Papua,
East
East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
and
West Timor,
North Sulawesi
North Sulawesi () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is mainly located on the Minahasa Peninsula of the island of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia, but also includes various small archipel ...
and further west.
History
The indigenous inhabitants of the Maluku Islands are
Melanesian in origin and have been aboriginal to the Maluku archipelago dating back at least 30.000 BCE. However, due to later
Austronesian migration waves from around 5000 - 2000 BCE, genetic studies detail the presence of varying levels of Austronesian mitochondrial DNA in populations on different islands in Maluku. Whereas paternal genetic structure remains predominantly Melanesian in its make-up within the region. This explains a primarily
maternal Austronesian influence on the Melanesian population that influenced the development of typical socio-linguistic elements and other areas within the Moluccan culture, making
Malayo-Polynesian languages
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeas ...
dominating in most of the region, with the exception of some areas where languages belonging to the West Papuan language group are still prevalent. Later added to this were several
Dutch,
Chinese,
Portuguese,
Spanish,
Arabian
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
and
English influences, due to colonization, intermarriage with foreign traders during the Silk-route era and Middle Ages, and even with European soldiers during the World Wars. A small number of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
descendants was added to Moluccan population, especially in
Ambon, along with arrival of Protestant Missionaries since 16th century.
After the
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies
The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945.
In May 1940, Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, occupied the Netherlands, and ma ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
wanted to restore the old colonial situation. The indigenous Indonesians were against it. However, led by rebels and
Sukarno
Sukarno (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967.
Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...
, a struggle for independence broke out between 1945 and 1950.
The reconstituted
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army
The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (; KNIL, ; ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The KNIL's air arm was the Royal Netherl ...
(KNIL) was commissioned by the Dutch government to maintain order and to disarm the rebels. Moluccan professional soldiers formed an important part of this army.
The Moluccan community was thus regarded by the Dutch as allies and vice versa. The government of the Netherlands had promised the Moluccans that they would get their own free state and independence back in return for assisting the Netherlands. After international efforts could not support the Netherlands to maintain its colony, the Dutch government chose to no longer keep its promise to the Moluccans of an independent state. The Moluccans, who were seen by the Indonesians as collaborators with the Dutch, were given two options, to demobilize the military force and "temporarily" go to the Netherlands before returning to an independent Maluku, or assimilate and take on the Indonesian nationality. Most Moluccans who served in the command of KNIL would reside temporarily in the Netherlands.
The Moluccans were instead discharged from military service shortly after arriving, and housed in repurposed WWII concentration camps in the Netherlands, including the former
Westerbork transit camp
Camp Westerbork (, , Drents: ''Börker Kamp; Kamp Westerbörk''), also known as Westerbork transit camp, was a Nazi transit camp in the province of Drenthe in the Northeastern Netherlands, during World War II. It was located in the municipality ...
. Where they were isolated from Dutch society and held under extremely poor living conditions for years.

The Dutch Moluccans had repeatedly drawn the attention of the Dutch government to their claim for a free
Republic of South Maluku, which the Dutch government had promised them. However, the situation began to escalate as RMS's struggle gained notoriety in the 1970s when demonstrations and violence propelled it into the Dutch public eye. Finally, after still being ignored and denied a hearing by the government, one of the methods to gain attention on the matter was through the hijackings of
1975 Dutch train hostage crisis in
De Punt,
Wijster, where hostages were taken, and the members were killed.
Language
The Moluccans speak over a hundred different languages, with a majority of them belonging to the
Central Malayo-Polynesian language family. An important exception is the North Moluccan islands which include the island of
Halmahera
Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...
and its surrounding islands, where the majority of the population speak
West Papuan languages
The West Papuan languages are a proposed language family of about two dozen non-Austronesian languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula (Vogelkop or Doberai Peninsula) of far western New Guinea, the island of Halmahera and its vicinity, spoken by ...
(
North Halmahera branch), possibly brought through historical migration from the
Bird's Head Peninsula
The Bird's Head Peninsula ( Indonesian: , , meaning Bird's Head in Indonesian and Dutch) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai'') is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indones ...
of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
.
Another exception are the Malay-based creoles such as the
Ambonese language (also known as Ambonese Malay), spoken mainly on
Ambon and the nearby
Ceram; and
North Moluccan Malay used on the islands of
Ternate
Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the
List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...
,
Tidore
Tidore (, lit. "City of Tidore Islands") is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. Part of North Maluku Province, the city includes the island of Tidore (with three sm ...
,
Halmahera
Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...
and
Sula Islands in
North Maluku
North Maluku (; ) 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 marit ...
. Moluccans living in the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
mostly speak
Ambonese and
Buru
Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon Island, Ambon and Seram Island, Seram island ...
, as well as the national and official
Dutch language.
Religion
The Moluccans in northern Maluku (present province of
North Maluku
North Maluku (; ) 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 marit ...
) are mainly
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
s. While central and southern Maluku (present province of
Maluku) have about equal numbers of Muslim and
Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
.
The religion most often adhered to by the Moluccans in the Netherlands is
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
Christianity, and to a lesser extent Islam.
There are significant number of native
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
(Tanimbar Kei people) followers in
Kei Islands, a predominantly
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
region, despite the Maluku province's overall Christian population being mainly Protestant. This is because, according to oral traditions, their ancestors came from (
Bali
Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...
) during the
Majapahit
Majapahit (; (eastern and central dialect) or (western dialect)), also known as Wilwatikta (; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia based on the island o ...
era. They still practice local customary law called ' ('red blood and spear from Bali').
Notable people
See also
*
Proto-Malay
The term Proto-Malay, primeval Malays, proto-Hesperonesians, first-wave Hesperonesians or primeval Hesperonesians, which translates to ''Melayu Asli'' (aboriginal Malay) or ''Melayu Purba'' (ancient Malay) or ''Melayu Tua'' (old Malay), refers ...
*
Malagasy people
The Malagasy ( or ) are a group of Austronesian-speaking ethnic groups indigenous to the island country of Madagascar, formed through generations of interaction between Austronesians originally from southern Borneo and Bantus from Southeast ...
*
1977 Dutch train hijacking
*
Maluku province
Maluku is located in Eastern Indonesia and geographically located in West-Melanesia, between Sulawesi and Western New Guinea, and comprises the central and southern regions of the Maluku Islands. It is directly adjacent to North Maluku, South ...
*
Republic of South Maluku
References
{{Ethnic groups in Indonesia
*
Ethnic groups in the Netherlands
Ethnic groups in Indonesia