INTRODUCTION Prince Nuku of Tidore is recognized as one of the national heroes (pahlawan nasional) of Indonesia. He was the leader of a successful rebel- lion against the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) and its indigenous allies which lasted for more than twenty years. Born as a Tidoran prince between 1725 and 1735, he passed away as the Sultan of Tidore in 1805.1 In 1780 he fled from Tidore seek- ing refuge in East Seram, Halmahera, and the Raja Ampat from where he launched the rebellion. In 1797 he returned to Tidore with his allied forces and conquered the Sultanates of both Bacan and Tidore. During his exile, Nuku had to fight the forces of the three VOC Governments in Maluku: Ternate, Ambon, and Banda.2 Besides possessing better weapon- ry and equipment, the VOC could also mobilize its indigenous subjects from places such as Ambon and Ternate as troops. In addition, the VOC often dispatched support forces such as ships, weaponry, and soldiers to Maluku from Batavia. In 1801, in close collaboration with the English, Nuku managed to defeat the VOC in Ternate and its indigenous ally, the Ternate Sultanate. Prince Nuku and his Tidoran adherents depended to a large extent on the support they received from various groups of Malukans and Papuans and the assistance of the English. It is intriguing to see what strategies he employed to maintain support among the Tidorans at home, his adher- ents in the periphery of Tidore, and even the English. Geographical and historical setting In the early sixteenth century, Maluku—known as the Spice Islands— became the target of European traders who were competing to obtain cloves and nutmegs. The Portuguese reached Banda and Ambon, and established themselves in Ternate in 1512. The Spaniards arrived in Tidore in 1521 but did not remain there very long. Thanks to their pres- ence in Ternate and Ambon, the Portuguese enjoyed the lucrative spice trade in Maluku for almost a hundred years. When the Dutch arrived at the end of the century, the VOC almost immediately replaced the Portuguese in Maluku. Ambon was captured in 1605 and the Sultanate of Ternate welcomed the Dutch newcomers as allies in its fight with the Portuguese. Banda was colonized completely in 1621. After this compre- hensive sweep, the spice monopoly of the VOC in Maluku was hardly 2 INTRODUCTION challenged by any other European power.3 Not until the third quarter of the eighteenth century did English country traders peddling between India and China become more active in obtaining spices and start med- dling in the local politics, especially in Tidore.4 In the beginning, the rebellion centred on Tidore, a small island in North Maluku and the seat of a sultanate. Politically North Maluku was divided into three sultanates: Ternate, Tidore, and Bacan. Formerly, a fourth one, the Jailolo Sultanate, had been very strong but with the help of the Portuguese Ternate destroyed this Sultanate in 1551.5 Tidore Island is only five square miles but despite its diminutive size, the mountainous island rises some 1,770 metres (5,900 feet) above sea level.6 Its coastal strip is necessarily restricted in width. It has no swamps and consequent- ly does not provide a suitable habitat for sago palms, so that this staple has to be imported from Halmahera and elsewhere. The island was how- ever rich in cloves. The majority of the inhabitants of 6,332, including 2,221 slaves, were followers of Islam, which religion was introduced into North Maluku around the fifteenth century. Most of these slaves had been brought from the Papuan islands, the New Guinea mainland, or cer- tain other parts of Maluku.7 In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, under the Sultanate of Tidore the inhabitants on the island were organized in negeri (settle- ments), which consisted of a number of kampung or soa. According to Ch. F. van Fraassen, the term soa refers to a unit of settlement.8 It also functions as an entity related to socio-political organization. The seat of the Sultanate of Tidore was located in the main negeri, Soa Sio. In front of the town of Soa Sio there is a reef of rocks and stones. The anchorage is about 30 fathoms (54.9 metres) with sand at less than 400 metres (two cables). There are tide-rips in the anchorage.9 Not far from the palace, a Dutch fortress called Tahula had been erected. During the reign of Sultan Nuku (r.1797–1805), it was often used as his residence. Negeri Soa Sio, the palace excluded, was composed of eighteen compounds, two of which were Kampung Cina and Kampung Jawa (which was sometimes called Kampung Makassar). Besides Soa Sio, there were four other negeri: Jonganjili, Marieko, Toloa, and Gurabati. The total number of com- pounds of the four negeri was twenty-seven. There was one compound in Negeri Gurabati in which most of the slaves of Sultan Tidore resided.10 In spite of its wealth of cloves, the small island of Tidore would have meant nothing politically had it not counted a great many other islands which acknowledged its authority as a sultanate. Some of these subjects were located far away from the centre. The most important areas were Raja Ampat and Gamrange. In the Raja Ampat Archipelago four tiny kingdoms—Salawati, Waigeo, Misool, and Waigama—were located. In Halmahera, the realm of Tidore covered the north-east peninsula, the.