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Moluccas

island group of Indonesia, the Spice Islands, attested in French by 1520s as Moluques, from Malay Maluku "main (islands)," from molok "main, chief," perhaps so called for their central location in the archipelago.

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Definitions of Moluccas from WordNet

Moluccas (n.)
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;
Synonyms: Spice Islands
From wordnet.princeton.edu