FORT TOLUKKO

Fort Tolukko, constructed in 1522 on the eastern coast of Ternate overlooking Halmahera, is a compact military installation emblematic of early colonial contestations over the clove trade, a commodity that was exclusively native to the Maluku Islands at that time. Initially established during the Portuguese expansion, the fort successively came under the control of the Ternate Sultanate, the Spanish, Dutch, and briefly, the British, reflecting the shifting geopolitical entanglements of the region.

Abandoned in 1864 and later restored in 1996, Fort Tolukko now functions as a heritage site, its preserved form a spatial remnant of extractive imperial ambition and maritime rivalry in early modern Southeast Asia.