Banda, The Dark Forgotten Trail

Nusantara,

the largest archipelago on Earth,

has long been the point the rest of the world set their eyes on,

because of its richness and natural beauty.

A piece of heaven at the equator listed in history

as the spark that ignited the clashes of the European nations

that made it the Indonesia it is today:

colonized,

stripped,

and looted through political and trade agreements,

ultimately leaving a nation

and people who never truly enjoy the blessings

of the wealth and prosperity of their own homeland.

When most of the world was still shrouded in darkness,

spices had already been made one of the inseparable parts of human life.

For centuries, the spice-producing islands were covered with dense fog,

and only lived in wild imaginations of storytellers.

Nathaniel's Nutmeg mentioned that those islands have such tantalizing aromas,

they could be smelled before they were even visible.

The same aroma whiffed from the Bible

and The Koran.

Chinese traders carried the spices hidden at the bottom of silk piles.

Arabian merchants made up stories

about cannibals and head-hunter savages.

The rivalry between the Portuguese and the Spaniards

in discovering the spice-producing islands

brought to the world the greatest diplomatic treaty

the world has ever seen.

The world is divided into two parts

according to the Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494.

The western part was for Spain,

and the eastern part was for Portugal.

Bartolomeu Dias was sailing in circles around Cape Hope in 1488.

Christopher Columbus was actually trying to find his way to the Indies

when he got lost and discovered the American continent in 1492.

In 1497, Britain took part in the search for the direct route,

but John Cabot only managed to reach North America.

But the Portuguese Vasco da Gama

succeeded in arriving at Calicut a year later.

The fall of the spice trade center in India and Malacca

to the Portuguese

had opened windows of possibility

for Europeans to find the spice-producing islands.

Alfonso de Albuquerque ordered two fleets

under the leadership of Antonio de Abreu and Francisco Serrão

to conduct further expeditions to the east.

They sailed from Goa, India, to Malacca.

All the way through Madura, Bali, Lombok and Aru,

and finally to Banda.

Within the same year,

other Portuguese fleets also arrived at Ternate.

The discovery of the spice islands of Banda and Ternate

worsened the rivalry between Spain and Portugal.

The feud was resolved with the allocation of territory.

Spanish territory stretched from Mexico westward to the Philippines archipelago.

Portuguese territory stretched from Brazil eastward to the Moluccas,

as ruled by the Treaty of Zaragoza.

Less than a century after the arrival of the Portuguese and the Spanish

at the Spice Islands,

the Dutch and the English arrived and also claimed their power over the place.

This sea line was what later became

the pioneer of the world maritime route used to this day,

affirming that the spice route was far more important than the silk road.

The end of the Crusades marked the beginning

of the most speculative era of exploration

ever seen in human history.

Its mysterious existence,

the ever-increasing demand,

and very expensive price

made the spice islands heavily sought after.

Europe intended to break the monopoly of Arab merchants,

which had lasted hundreds of years,

by discovering the paradise they had imagined.

"After 1500, no spices were owned without bloodshed,"

as written by the French poet, Voltaire.

The spices, which were more precious than gold,

triggered a major world race

in discovering new territories.

Almost 500 years before the Apollo 11 landed on the moon,

expeditions in search of the spice islands

became the single most important journey for mankind.

BANDA ISLANDS BANDA SEA

The eleven islands within the Banda archipelago are:

Banda Api.

Great Banda.

Banda Neira.

Hatta, formerly known as Rosengain.

Ay Island.

Rhun Island.

Syahrir Island, formerly known as Pisang Island.

The last four islands are uninhabited.

They are: Nailaka.

Manukang.

Karaka.

And Batu Kapal Island.

Once upon a time,

heaven dropped nutmeg for the people of Banda.

In the most commonly-told legend,

there was a prince who was deeply in love with a beautiful princess

named Cilu Bintang.

The prince was asked to bring 99 pieces of gold.

However, since he could not find it,

he picked up 99 golden-ish fruits that he found in the forest

and brought them to the king.

The king got enraged.

He arrested and killed the prince.

Those 99 golden-ish fruits were thrown into the forest

and grew as nutmeg trees.

Banda was mentioned in Negarakertagama,

which was written in 1365, as Wandan.

This cluster of volcanic islands, formed by a great ancient eruption,

was also mentioned in Book 16 and 17

of Babad Tanah Jawi,

in a story of a prince who suffered from a terrible dermal condition

which could not be healed before he married a Bandanese woman.

Banda became the center of the spice trade,

especially nutmeg and cloves at that time.

The people of Banda did not only sell nutmeg and mace for a living.

They were also superior sailors.

They bought cloves from Ternate

and sold them in Banda.

The overwhelming trade grew out of control

and triggered internal conflicts.

Then came the influence of Ternate and Tidore,

which led to the establishment

of the so-called Group of Five and Group of Nine.

The group of five were later known as the "Lima group,"

while the group of nine later was known as the "Siwa group."

HISTORIAN

It was the sociological grouping of society

that was commonly known in Moluccas.

Interestingly, in Banda,

there was a neutral group

which had the role of preventing conflict

and coordinating those groups.

This neutral group was called Urtatang.

All trade-related issues were resolved

in the Urtatang council.

The council also set

the equal price of nutmeg on every island,

which was agreed upon by all traders,

and contributed to the stability of the nutmeg trade in that region.

In trading, the people of Banda

never used written agreements.

The deals were sealed with oaths between the seller and the buyer.

Merchants who wanted to buy spices,

nutmeg, mace or cloves from Ternate,

only needed to raise their hand to the sky

and agree before the God Almighty

that the seller would sell the nutmeg at the agreed price to the buyer.

Like the cloves in the north,

nutmeg and mace were brought around the world

thousands of miles away.

Fleets of boats of various types and sizes sailed back and forth,

indicating that spices were a highly valuable commodity.

The type of nutmeg grown on Banda is Myristica fragrans,

the type with the strongest taste and aroma.

But, based on the shape,

there are several types of nutmeg.

Male nutmeg and female nutmeg.

NUTMEG PLANTATION OWNER

Male nutmeg trees sometimes produce

more fruit than the female trees,

but male trees do not always bear fruit the entire season.

So, the Bandanese farmers

do not really utilize the male trees,

because they think the harvesting times are too far apart.

To avoid direct sunlight,

the nutmeg trees in Banda need shade.

Since nutmeg is susceptible to direct sunlight,

the nutmeg farmers need to prepare natural shade,

such as walnut trees or other larger trees.

Nutmeg is endemic to Banda.

It likes the volcanic soil

of Banda.

Actually, the main requirements are volcanic soil

and a sea breeze.

Because if we plant it somewhere other than Banda,

like on a bigger island that has volcanic soil, too,

such as Central Java in the Ungaran area,

there is a Banda nutmeg cultivation there,

but even though the type of the soil is similar, volcanic soil,

the yields are different.

Because Ungaran is far from the sea.

Banda is different.

Banda has a sea breeze and also has volcanic ash in its soil.

That's what makes Banda superior.

There is another location that may be a bit more suitable.

The yield is almost the same: Aceh.

Because it also has sea breeze, the yield is similar,

but the quality is still below that of Banda nutmeg.

BANDA NUTMEG DATE OF PLANTING, 07/02/12

Why is nutmeg so important and valuable?

Long before electricity and refrigerators were discovered,

nutmeg was the only food preservative.

Even Egyptian mummies were preserved with spices,

one of which was nutmeg.

Nutmeg serves as a food preservative,

aphrodisiac,

sedative,