Maba

The Maba are the principal people of the southeastern peninsula of Halmahera, settled around Buli Bay and the coastal district of Maba, with their center at the town of Maba Sangaji.

They speak Maba, known locally as Bicoli, an Austronesian language of the South Halmahera branch, with a strong Ternate lexical legacy in its dialects. Farmers and sailors, they raised rice and spices in forest clearings and traded their coastal produce with the Moluccan sultanates.

The sultans of Tidore ruled most of southern Halmahera through local chiefs bearing the title sangaji, and in the 1780s the Maba backed Prince Nuku of Tidore in his long rebellion against Dutch rule.