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Capital (and largest city) |
Tidore City | ||||
Language | Tidore, Malay creoles | ||||
Sultan | Al-Mansur Jamaluddin | ||||
Population | 2,954,000 | ||||
Currency | TDL |
The Sultanate of Tidore, Tidore, is a large authoritarian monarchy situated in the Maluku islands of south-east Asia. The capital is Tidore City and the population is around 2.9 million.
The Head of State is Sultan Al-Mansur Jamaluddin.
Though Tidore (part of the Papuan language family) is the official language most of the islands have their own local languages and in practice a Malay creole based on Ambon-Malay is the most commonly used lingua franca.
The currency is the Tidore Lira (TDL)
History[]
Medieval Tidore was one of four sultanates in the Maluku islands alongside Ternate, Bacan and Jailolo. Both it and Ternate would build trading empires based on their control of the clove trade and as they extended their influence over the southern Maluku islands, Sulawesi and Western Papua their rivalry intensified and they would war frequently.
Tidore would win out over Ternate by the 1740s helped in no small part by Aragonese merchants in the area. Ternate's extensive dominions would henceforth fall to Tidore while Ternate itself would be run by Aragon.
Aragon abandoned Ternate after the eruption of Mount Gamalana in 1775 after which Castile took control. The rulers of Tidore did not get on with their new neighbours as Castile made no effort to hide their desire to seize the entire region and when Castile became Hispania during its revolution Tidore conspired with local Ternate chiefs and Venice to oust them. Venice would henceforth take Ternate whilst confirming Tidore had sway over its old dominions.
Tidore would enjoy almost a century of prosperity however increased competition from elsewhere in the region and the mismanagement of two poor sultans in the 1870s led to civil war. Its territories on Sulawesi would be taken by Wajoq, now the pre-eminent state on that island. Meanwhile its Papua territory was claimed by various parties, eventually leading to the Papua Treaty of 1903. The southern Maluku islands attempted to assert their independence but their own disunity and internal power struggles allowed Tidore to regain control. Even so, the heavily populated islands of Ambon and Seram have limited autonomy.
Goverment[]
Tidore is governed solely by the Royal Court and a pseudo-Mandarin civil service. Political parties are banned and there is considerable censorship in the press. This has come under increasing criticism and though the current monarch Sultan Al-Mansur Jamaluddin is hostile to any kind of democratic process it appears his heirs are more amenable to some sort of federal system.
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