Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- A group of islands of eastern Indonesia between Sulawesi and New Guinea. Inhabited by various Malay and Papuan peoples, the islands were colonized first by the Portuguese in the 1500s and later fell to the Dutch in the 1600s. The Moluccas, long known as the “Spice Islands,” have historically provided much of the world's cloves, nutmeg, and mace.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- proper noun An
archipelago inIndonesia .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a group of island in eastern Indonesia between Celebes and New Guinea; settled by the Portuguese but taken by the Dutch who made them the center for a spice monopoly, at which time they were known as Spice Islands
Etymologies
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Examples
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This too was held to be most certain, that the islands which they call the Moluccas, in which all spices are produced, and are thence exported to Malacca, lay within the Spanish western division, and that it was possible to sail there; and that spices could be brought thence to Spain more easily, and at less expense and cheaper, as they come direct from their native place. "
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Of all the carnivorous animals of the Archipelago the only one found in the Moluccas is the Viverra tangalunga, which inhabits both Batchian and Bouru, and probably come of the other islands.
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The Moluccas are the counterpart of the Philippines in their volcanic structure, their extreme fertility, their luxuriant forests, and their frequent earthquakes; and Bali with the east end of Java has a climate almost as dry and a soil almost as arid as that of Timor.
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Four famous ways there be spoken of to those fruitful and wealthy islands, which we do usually call Moluccas, continually haunted for gain, and daily travelled for riches therein growing.
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The Moluccas are the counterpart of the Philippines in their volcanic structure, their extreme fertility, their luxuriant forests, and their frequent earthquakes; and Bali with the east end of Java has a climate almost as dry and a soil almost as arid as that of Timor.
The Malay Archipelago, the land of the orang-utan and the bird of paradise; a narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature — Volume 1 Alfred Russel Wallace 1868
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Of all the carnivorous animals of the Archipelago the only one found in the Moluccas is the Viverra tangalunga, which inhabits both Batchian and
The Malay Archipelago, the land of the orang-utan and the bird of paradise; a narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature — Volume 2 Alfred Russel Wallace 1868
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This peculiarity is visible, not only when the Celebesian species are compared with their small-sized allies of Java and Borneo, but also, and in an almost equal degree, when the large forms of Amboyna and the Moluccas are the objects of comparison, showing that this is quite a distinct phenomenon from the difference of size which has just been pointed out.
Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection A Series of Essays Alfred Russel Wallace 1868
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The Moluccas are the counterpart of the Philippines in their volcanic structure, their extreme fertility, their luxuriant forests, and their frequent earthquakes; and Bali, with the east end of Java, has a climate almost as arid as that of Timor.
Physics and Politics, or, Thoughts on the application of the principles of "natural selection" and "inheritance" to political society Walter Bagehot 1851
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The Admiral Magalhaens depended chiefly on the naval skill of thirty of his Portuguese countrymen whom he took with him, as he did likewise on that of Serrano, who had served for many years in India, and for some time at the Moluccas, which islands they hoped to reach from the eastward, instead of their being approached, as before, from the west.
Notable Voyagers From Columbus to Nordenskiold William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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This island and several in a line to the south of it are known as the Moluccas, or Spice Islands.
In the Eastern Seas William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
chained_bear commented on the word Moluccas
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November 26, 2016