Indonesian spices: Revolutionary Trees – part IV

Mike Hillis writes about the revolutionary trees of Indonesia.

Banda and Ternate and a few adjoining islands were the only places on earth where nutmeg and cloves grew prior to the arrival of the Europeans. The spice monopoly secretly guarded for over a thousand years by the Arab, Chinese, and Indian traders was now broken! The Europeans were now in the ‘game’ and the world would never be the same again. Eugenia Caryophyllus and Myristica fragrans (clove and nutmeg) were the gold at the end of the rainbow for the joyous Europeans.

The Venetians would never again make such huge profits in the spice trade. The European Age of Discovery could now start in earnest. The 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries were full of ongoing European rivalries for control of the spice trade, which included the Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and English. The VOC, also known as the Dutch East Indies Company, ultimately prevailed in dominating the spice monopoly and earning tremendous wealth for the better part of two hundred years before going bankrupt in the first decade of the 19th century. The Spice Islands have been a remote, sleepy backwater ever since.

The Spice Islands today are in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The nutmeg and clove trees that drew so many traders to their shores over the course of history still remain today. The two biggest industries in Banda today are nutmeg cultivation and fishing. Banda is a world class dive destination as the water here is amazingly diverse with fish and coral while the old Portuguese and Dutch forts sit quietly on a hill above the tidy little town that owns a total of six cars. Old Dutch planter homes, many of which were built in the 17th century and are now uninhabitable, still stand in the town today. The active volcano, Gunung Api, last erupted in 1988 and dominates the landscape. The island of Run, several miles to the west of Banda Neira, was actually traded between the Dutch and the English for the better known island of Manhattan in 1667. These islands with their hundreds of miles of deserted beaches are as laid back, undeveloped, and beautiful now as they were when Francisco Serrao and his shipmates landed here 495 years ago. The islanders do what they always have done; fish and plant small gardens in their villages. It is a gloriously romantic yet simple life idealized by those of us that sleep in skyscrapers and buy our food in supermarkets. Despite all the tumultuous times these many generations of islanders have lived through, the clove and nutmeg trees still contribute to the local economy. Travelers often speak of a dwindling number of unspoiled destinations and there may be no better place on the planet in the early 21st century that fits the bill better than Maluku province. Don’t plan on eating any Big Macs out here!

Mike Hillis is a writer and anthropologist. He is also the marketing director for Unexplored Adventures, the only dive and eco travel operator based in Maluku province.

Many thanks to Wolfgang Schivelbusch for his thoroughly complete work, Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants.