about AMBON CITY (beta nona ambon)

This article is about a city in Maluku province of Indonesia. For the island, see Ambon Island. For other meaning of Ambon, see Ambon

Ambon (1990 pop. 275,888) is the main city and seaport of Ambon Island, and is the capital of Maluku province of Indonesia. It is one of the largest cities in eastern Indonesia. Ambon has an airport, and is home to the state-owned Pattimura University, a state university, and the Indonesian Christian University of Maluku (UKIM), a private Protestant university, though both were seriously damaged during the violence in 2000-2002.

Ambon was colonized by Portugal in 1526. The Portuguese were driven out by the Deutch in 1609. Except for brief periods of British rule, the island remained under Dutch control until Indonesia's independence in 1945.

During the Dutch period, Ambon was the seat of the Dutch resident and military commander of the Moluccas. The town was protected by Fort Victoria, and a 1911 Encyclopædia characterized it as "a clean little town with wide streets, well planted". The population was divided into two classes, orang burger (citizens) and orang negri (villagers), the former being a class of native origin enjoying certain privileges conferred on their ancestors by the old Dutch East India Company. There were also, besides the Dutch, some Arabs, Chinese and a few Portuguese settlers.

On 22 December, 1902, the Apostolic Prefecture of Dutch New Guinea was established in the city, later to be promoted as the Diocese of Ambon

Ambon Island was the site of a major Dutch naval base, captured by the Japanese in 1942. Ambon was a center of Christian missionary activity, and Ambon and the surrounding islands have many Christians as well as the Muslims that predominate in most of Indonesia.

In 1950, Ambon was the center of an uprising against Indonesian rule, caused by the rebellion of Republic of the south Moluccas. Indonesia reasserted control just in few weeks.

As part of the Transmigration Program in the 1980s, the Suharto government relocated many migrants from densely overpopulated Java, mostly Muslim.

Between 1999 and 2002, Ambon was at the centre of secretarian conflict across the Maluku islands