Ternate

Ternate is an island and town in the Maluku Island (Moluccas) of eastern Indonesia, located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera. Like its neighbouring island, Tidore, Ternate is a visually dramatic cone-shaped island. The islands were the world's single major producer of cloves, upon which their sultans became among the wealthiest and most powerful sultans in the Indonesian region.

Ternate is dominated by the volcanic Mount Gamalama (1715 m). The volcano erupts regularly, covering the island with volcanic dust. Major past eruptions of Gamalama include 1673, when a large, but undetermined number of people were killed, and 1772, when about twenty inhabitants died. The largest recent eruption of Gamalama was in September 1980, when 30,000 of the islands 56,000 residents were forced to temporarily flee to nearby Tidore.