The Maluku islands are an archipelago of islands in eastern Indonesia, extending over about 700km from east to west and 1300km from north to south. They lie west of Papua, north of Timor and east of Sulawesi. In total there are over 1000 islands over an area of 850000 kmĀ². Most islands are relatively small and mountainous. The largest islands are Halmahera and Heram. Several islands, for instance Ternate and Tidore, are volcanic. In total 2.8 million inhabitants live on these islands. The islands contain the Indonesia provinces of Maluku and North Maluku.