List of rulers of Maluku

This is a list of rulers of Maluku from proto-historical times until the present. The four sultanates of Ternate, Tidore, Jailolo and Bacan were considered descendants of a legendary figure called Jafar Sadik and formed a ritual quadripartition. Drawing wealth from the spice production and trade with other parts of Asia, Ternate and Tidore lorded over extensive realms which stretched from Sulawesi to Papua, while Jailolo and Bacan merely had local significance. They fell under Portuguese or Spanish influence in the sixteenth century, superseded by Dutch impact in the seventeenth century. The sultanates were subordinated to the Dutch colonial state until 1942 when the Japanese occupied Indonesia. After the outbreak of the Indonesian revolution they belonged to the Dutch-approved quasi-state East Indonesia from 1946 to 1950 when they were incorporated in the unitary Indonesian state.