Gorong Islands

The Gorong Islands off eastern Seram belonged to the trading waters connecting Banda with the Papuan coast. Their history is visible in ordinary pottery as well as in the better-known spice trade. On Gorom, earthenware has been found with Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese porcelain assigned to the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries. Other finds were associated with Ming and colonial porcelain and were probably sixteenth century or later.

Sherds collected at Ondor on Gorom contained volcanic sand from Banda, indicating movement of vessels or materials between the islands. The precise route of every imported object cannot be established: traders could have brought it directly from outside the Moluccas or through Banda and eastern Seram. Sixteenth-century Banda had significant connections with Gorom and depended on surrounding islands for supplies. These waters therefore carried everyday containers and food alongside valuable commodities, linking communities with different resources through overlapping sea routes.