THE northernmost of seven lush islands off the west coast of spider-like Halmahera, Ternate’s small land area—10 kilometers in diameter—is way out of proportion to its tempestuous 500-year history. Ternate consists almost entirely of the still active volcanic cone of Gunung Gamalama (1,721 meters) which totally dominates the landscape.

At one time Ternate and a few neighboring islands were the world’s only suppliers of cloves with Europe