Ternate of eastern Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 is a language centered on the island of Ternate

Ternate

Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate....

 but also spoken in neighboring areas such as Kayoa, Bacan

Bacan

Bacan refers to a group of islands in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia and to that group's largest island. The islands are mountainous and forested. The islands lie south of Ternate and west of Halmahera's southernmost arm...

, Halmahera

Halmahera

Halmahera is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia.Halmahera has a land area of 17,780 km² and a population in 1995 of 162,728...

 and other areas in North Maluku

North Maluku

North Maluku is a province of northeastern Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, which are split between it and the province of Maluku. Maluku province used to cover the entire group...

. It is used by Sultanate of Ternate

Sultanate of Ternate

The Sultanate of Ternate was originally named the Kingdom of Gapi, but later change the name base of its capital, Ternate. The sultanate is one of the oldest Muslim kingdoms in Indonesia, established by Baab Mashur Malamo in 1257...

, famous for its role in spice trade

Spice trade

Civilizations of Asia were involved in spice trade from the ancient times, and the Greco-Roman world soon followed by trading along the Incense route and the Roman-India routes...

.

A Papuan language, Ternate is unlike most language spoken in Indonesia, which belong to the Austronesian language family. It appears to be related to languages spoken in Bird's Head peninsula

Bird's Head Peninsula

The Bird's Head Peninsula or Doberai Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the Province of West Papua, Indonesia.-Location and geography:...

 in Papua.

It is closely related to Tidore

Tidore language

Tidore of eastern Indonesia is a language centered on the island of Tidore but also spoken in neighboring Halmahera. A Papuan language, it is unlike most languages in Indonesia which belong to the Austronesian language family. It, and the similar Ternate language, appear to be related to languages...

, which spoken in its southern neighboring island of the same name

Tidore

Tidore is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. In the pre-colonial era, the kingdom of Tidore was a major regional political and economic power, and a fierce rival of nearby Ternate, just to the north.-Geography:Tidor...

.

This language is distinct from Ternate Malay, which is a variation of Malay language

Malay language

Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...

. Most inhabitants of Ternate use Ternate language as first language but will use Ternate Malay for inter-ethnic or trade communication.