Banda

The Banda Islands, ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea south of Seram, were until the nineteenth century the world's only source of nutmeg and mace. They were governed by councils of orang kaya, 'rich men', and their own ships carried the spices west to Malacca, returning with rice and with cloth from Java, India and the Lesser Sundas.

The Dutch wanted the trade for themselves. In 1609, when Admiral Verhoeff came to build a fort on Banda Neira, the orang kaya lured him to a parley and killed him with dozens of his men; among those who escaped was a young merchant, Jan Pieterszoon Coen. The Dutch raised Fort Belgica above the harbour in 1611, and in 1621 Coen returned to conquer the islands.