It was Portuguese explorers who were the first Europeans to reach the Banda
Islands in 1512. They had come in search of the valuable nutmeg spice that had been
traded for centuries by Javanese, Malays, Indians, Arabs and Persians across oceans
and deserts until they reached the Mediterranean Sea and the European spice markets.
One hundred years after the Portuguese began their trading empire, the Dutch and
English East India Companies arrived in the islands seeking their share of profits from
this valuable trade. The English and the Dutch East India Companies were founded
in 1601 and 1602 respectively to profit from the trade in spices and these were the
world’s first joint stock companies. It was the Dutch who dominated over their rivals
and after they virtually eliminated the population of the Banda Islands by the Banda
Massacre, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was then able to establish its own
colony of Dutch plantation owners and enslaved workers to cultivate the nutmeg trees
and reap huge profits from their nutmeg monopoly.
The Banda Islands, Louis Le Breton 1846, Navires par MayerBanda Neira was an administrative capital for the VOC and even today there
are reminders of its colonial past. The whitewashed governor’s residence has some
classical architectural features, from the golden lions mounted on the entrance gates
to the now defunct fountain on the lawn in the forecourt, to the elegant simplicity of
the four columns on the terrace and the symmetry of its shuttered doors and windows.
Broad avenues are lined by once grand homes and the once elegant and now dilapidated
Dutch Club that cast an air of forlorn former grandeur over the town.
The Banda Islands are rimmed by coconut palms and covered by an evergreen
Alfred Russel Wallace – The Voyage to the Aru Islands 147