What are the Spice Islands now called?
The islands that were formerly called the Spice Islands are now called the Moluccas. They are made up of an Indonesian archipelago that comprises a total land mass of 75,000 square kilometers. The capital city of the region and archipelago is a city called Ambon. Today 2.1 million people live on the islands.
Why were the Spice Islands so important to the spice trade?
Subsequently, the islands were an important strategic base for the highly profitable spice trade. Nutmeg and cloves largely drove the spice trade. These two widely-used spices were originally only native to this group of islands.
What is the history of spice trade in Indonesia?
Spice trade was encouraged by the native people for a very long time before the first Europeans set foot on the islands. In the 16th century, the Moluccas were nicknamed the "Spice Islands". This was due to the large number of aromatic plants that grew on this archipelago.
When did the Dutch take over the Spice Islands?
The Portuguese established several based on the Spice Islands in 1512 . Soon a bidding war ensued between the British, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese for control of these islands. After many clashes, the Dutch emerged victorious in 1663. The Dutch East India Company was then in control of the spice monopoly.
What islands were known as the Spice Islands?
The Spice Islands (Malaku, or the Moluccas) are a small group of islands to the north-east of Indonesia, between Celebes and New Guinea. They include Halmahera (the largest), Seram, Buru, Ambon, Ternate, and Tidore and the Aru and Kai island groups.
What are the Spice Islands known as today?
Moluccas, Indonesian Maluku, also known as Spice Islands, Indonesian islands of the Malay Archipelago, lying between the islands of Celebes to the west and New Guinea to the east.
How many Spice Islands are there?
“The Spice Islands” – the name given to the Moluccas or Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia. This archipelago consists of over 1,000 islands with a total land mass of 75,000 square kilometres.
What happened to the Spice Islands?
During the French Revolutionary Wars and again in the Napoleonic Wars, British forces captured the islands in 1796–1801 and 1810, respectively, and held them until 1817. In that time they uprooted many of the spice trees for transplantation throughout the British Empire.
What country owns the Spice Islands?
The Indonesian archipelago of the Moluccas (or Maluku Islands), commonly referred to as the Spice Islands, lies on the equator north of Australia and west of New Guinea.
Did Spain find the Spice Islands?
Despite their popularity in European cuisine, the origin of the spices was unknown to Europeans until the early 16th century. The secret was finally broken by the Portuguese in 1512, soon after they discovered the route to the Indian Ocean.
Who discovered spice island first?
In search of fame and fortune, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521) set out from Spain in 1519 with a fleet of five ships to discover a western sea route to the Spice Islands. En route he discovered what is now known as the Strait of Magellan and became the first European to cross the Pacific Ocean.
Who Conquered Spice Islands?
The invasion of the Spice Islands was a military invasion by British forces that took place between February to August 1810 on and around the Dutch owned Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) also known as the Spice Islands in the Dutch East Indies during the Napoleonic wars.
Did Magellan find the Spice Islands?
Magellan is often cited as the first explorer to have circumnavigated the globe, but this is not technically true. While he organized the voyage and negotiated the treacherous South American strait and the crossing of the Pacific, Magellan was killed before the mission ever reached the Spice Islands.
Why are Spice Islands called that?
In the 16th century, the Moluccas were nicknamed the "Spice Islands". This was due to the large number of aromatic plants that grew on this archipelago. Subsequently, the islands were an important strategic base for the highly profitable spice trade. Nutmeg and cloves largely drove the spice trade.
Who took over the Spice Islands for Portugal?
The invasion of the Spice Islands was a military invasion by British forces that took place between February to August 1810 on and around the Dutch owned Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) also known as the Spice Islands in the Dutch East Indies during the Napoleonic wars.
Did Magellan find the Spice Islands?
Magellan is often cited as the first explorer to have circumnavigated the globe, but this is not technically true. While he organized the voyage and negotiated the treacherous South American strait and the crossing of the Pacific, Magellan was killed before the mission ever reached the Spice Islands.
What spices did Ferdinand Magellan find in the Philippines?
Ferdinand MagellanValuable spices. Spices were used in the 16th century both to flavor food and for medicinal purposes. ... Cloves. Aromatic cloves were used to hide bad smells and to flavor wine. ... Whole nutmeg. ... Cinnamon. ... Peppercorns. ... Ginger.
Where are Maluku Islands?
The Maluku (or Maluccas) Islands exist in the heart of Indonesia, or as they are more commonly known, the Spice Islands thanks to their fame for the quality of the nutmeg, cloves, pepper, and mace grown there. These rare flavorings became extremely popular in Western society around the 16th century after colossal interest from Europeans earned the islands their moniker.
When did the Portuguese start buying spices?
After this, the Portuguese conquered the Maluku Islands and began buying and trading spices explicitly around the 1520s. It took English and Dutch civilizations another 80 years after this to actually have any proper involvement. Spices were eventually carried in ships from Indonesia to Europe, targeted mainly towards Venice. This was due to the fact Venetians were dominant over the Mediterranean Sea at the time, in addition to being well known for their respectful trading with Muslim states. By the time the products reached Venice, they were worth up to 1000% more than the original price!
What was the first religion to come to Indonesia?
The first people to enter and actually manipulate the Spice Islands quite dramatically were Muslims . In the 14th century, this community migrated to Indonesia, bringing with them their religion and a new societal hierarchy, referred to as the rise of Islam; Muslim religion has been followed rigorously ever since by most of the population. Sultans replaced the council of elders in Indonesia to better the communication and process of spice trading with foreigners.
Who led the second expedition to the Spice Islands?
Soon after the arrival of the Victoria in Spain, Charles I of Spain (r. 1516-1556) sent a second expedition to the Spice Islands, led by García Jofre de Loaísa. They were given three goals:
What was the name of the island that the English landed on in 1604?
In 1604, the Englishman Henry Middleton was sent to the Indian Ocean with four ships; he arrived at the west Javan port of Bantam on 21 December. Two of the ships were loaded with pepper and sent back home, while Middleton and the remaining two ships traveled to Ambon Island in the Moluccas. Upon arrival, Middleton got permission to trade by convincing the local Portuguese commander that Kings James I of England (r. 1603-1625) and Philip III of Spain (aka Philip II of Portugal, r. 1598-1621) had signed a peace treaty. This was indeed true, but Middleton could not have known this, as the treaty was signed five months after he had gone to sea. Just as they were about to begin loading the ships, an ominous sight appeared on the horizon – a VOC armada. The Dutch had sent a fleet to challenge the Portuguese control of the island, and the English had stumbled into the middle. The English beat a hasty retreat, while the Portuguese suffered a full-scale invasion. Little did Middleton know that he was about to fall into the middle of another Dutch–Portuguese confrontation.
What was the Dutch East India Company?
To consolidate resources, the government formed the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) in 1602, which was given the power to govern the East and was allowed to run its own shipyards, build forts, keep armies, and make treaties. The first VOC fleet sailed on 18 December 1603, and within a few years, the Company had established a network of hundreds of bases across Asia. By 1605 there were factories on Java, Sumatra, Borneo, the Spice Islands, the Malay Peninsula, and the mainland of India. The whole operation was ruled by a Governor-General who operated essentially as a head of state.
What did the Dutch do to the Banda Islands?
In January 1621, Coen decided to make a full-scale conquest of the Banda Islands. Using Japanese mercenaries, the Dutch took the Island of Lonthor after suffering fierce local resistance that was supported by English-supplied cannon. In response, Coen, and the Dutch massacred thousands of inhabitants, replacing them with slaves from other islands and deporting some 800 inhabitants to Batavia. Only about 1,000 of the original 15,000 survived on the island.
What island did the Dutch and English fight on?
While the English and Dutch were fighting over Jakarta, another battle was raging between them on the tiny Banda Island of Run. Captain Nathaniel Courthope had reached Run in 1616 and signed a contract with the locals who accepted James I as their sovereign. Under siege by the Dutch, Courthrope held out for 1,540 days before he was killed. Ironically, Coen received word that the Dutch and English leaders back home had reached an agreement in 1620 to cooperate in the East Indies. They were to leave each other's existing trade settlements alone and cooperate against common enemies. A frustrated Coen, however, let the battle over Run play out and named a huge swath of Java as the "Jakarta Kingdom" to keep it out of English hands.
Where do cloves come from?
Clove, nutmeg, and mace are native to only a handful of tiny islands in the middle of the vast Indonesian archipelago – cloves on five Maluku Islands (the Moluccas) about 1250 km (778 mi) west of New Guinea, and nutmeg on the ten Banda Islands approximately 2,000 km (1,243 mi) east of Java. Despite their popularity in European cuisine, the origin of the spices was unknown to Europeans until the early 16th century.
Who took over the spice trade?
After beating back a threat from the Spanish, the Portuguese Empire took over most of the spice trade and held sway for almost a century. Eventually, the Dutch and English made it a three-way struggle for control, which the Dutch won, and they dominated the spice trade until the late 18th century.