Welcome to the realm of ancient and modern Maluku!

My name is Chaumont Devin, and I will be your guide into the mysteries of Maluku.

This web site is the result of a collaborative effort between myself and Andrew Stanton, who has been to Buru with me twice and come down with malaria both times, on behalf of the happy people and the splendid islands of Maluku. But this is by no means a finished product, or anybody's final word on things Maluku, so please feel free to help us by providing fresh material, correcting errors, etc., because we want this web site to be the best one on Maluku.

Here you can find information about Ambon, Haruku, Saparua, Nusa Laut, Kei, Tanimbar, Gorom, Seram, Buru, Halmaheira, Ternate, Tidore, and the valiant Butonese.

With well over 10,000 entries, the Buru-English dictionary available on this site is probably the most accurate and most comprehensive work of its kind ever written for any Moluccan language, and the <> 3,500 entries of the Ambon Malay - English dictionary contain many references to Proto-Austronesian. But before attempting to look at either of these, make sure you have the time it takes to download them, and before attempting to use the Buru-English dictionary, make sure you are familiar with the orthography I have used to write down Buru words.

Moluccan families, family origins, and family names are also a topic of much interest, and I have included some information on the subject here.

For those who are interested in Moluccan history and the evolution of Moluccan identity in the Netherlands, I have also included part of a manuscript passed to me by Elizabeth Wittermans, which reveals a great deal about the Moluccan cause, Moluccan social organization, and the rise of the Republic Maluku Selatan in Holland.

But for those who most love to know Maluku for what it once was, Alfred Russel Wallace's monumental research narrative, "Malay Archipelago," must still be beyond compare, and it is now available for the asking. Recall that along with Charles Darwin, Wallace was co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection, which he dreamed up while sick with malaria. If you love dogged determination, dauntless courage, high adventure, and uncanny genius, then this is the book for you!

The sharp division in American thinking about Maluku could hardly be better exemplified than in my own critique of an "article by my late sister, Thalia.

And since no Moluccan web site could ever be complete without Moluccan humor, here are some original Moluccan jokes for you to think about while the world is busy destroying itself. Enjoy!

Glossary: pela = blood brotherhood pact between villages. A kora-kora or pakatora is a flying proa, or giant outrigger canoe. A kole-kole is a dugout canoe with no outriggers. A belang or arombai is a large, planked canoe having no outriggers. A baileo is a large, open village house used in public convocations. A mongare is a young man. A jojaro is a young woman. Tetemanis is me, your host on oldmaluku.net!