INDONESIA – NORTH MALIUKU (Ternate, Tidore, Halmahera)
THE LAND BELOW THE WIND: SPICE TRADE ROUTE XIII-XVIII AD Tentative WHS:
Pulau Banda, Pulau Ternate, Makassar and Kota Tua.
Spices as luxurious commodities have existed for thousands of years BC. Several manuscripts from the Middle East discuss the use of spices as medicinal ingredients and for religious purposes. Chinese, Middle Eastern, and North African peoples came to the Archipelago to get spices. Europeans originally bought spices from Middle Eastern traders in the Mediterranean Sea. However, with the political turmoil in the Middle East and trade bans, Europeans began to seek a way to the spice-producing islands, which later altered the political map in the Asian region, especially in Southeast Asia.
The archipelago is a blessed land. It is the great home of the world’s biodiversity. About 11% of the world’s plant species are found in the tropical forests of the archipelago. There are more than 30,000 species, some of which are used and known as spices. Because of this, it cannot be denied that the archipelago is the capital of spices which, among other things, gave birth to clove, nutmeg, pepper and sandalwood, the main commodities of world spices, which during their heyday were exchanged for valuable objects.
Early evidence of the archipelago’s role in the trade route came from a Greek astronomer named Claudius Ptolomaeus, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, in the 1st century AD. He wrote a Guide to Geography, an ancient map in which a city named Barus was listed, an ancient port city in Sumatra. This ancient metropolitan name reminds us of an aromatic spice commodity that at that time was very valuable and was always sought after by foreign nations (Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Arabs, Chinese and Indians), namely camphor.
Nutmeg were cloves were important ingredients for medicine, and later for fragrances and flavouring dishes. Their scarcity and difficulty in obtaining them added to their value as a luxury and indicated social status in society. Both are exotic commodities, full of myths and legends about a place far to the east.
The clove and nutmeg-producing islands in Maluku, Amboina and Banda became the direct destinations for traders. Among them, the VOC succeeded in monopolizing those islands by enforcing trade agreements and controlling the territory. After establishing its hegemony over the spice islands, VOC began to apply strict rules in order to maintain trade monopoly and high demand, by centralizing clove cultivation, introducing a new plantation system for nutmeg, building trading posts, and destroying rival ports.
The VOC needed enormous funds to guarantee the availability and quality of spices, and maintain the security of distribution channels. To fulfill this, the VOC used the global stock market for perishable commodities.
TERNATE
Fort Oranje
Kalamata Fort
Airports: Ternate (TTE)
Ternate: Kastela Fortress. Vestiges of the Past
Ternate: Tolukko Fort. Vestiges of the Past
World of Nature: Aketajawe-Lolobata NP
DARE places (2)
Indonesia – Obi and Bacan islands
Indonesia – Sula archipelago (including Taliabu island)
Islands
Bacan
Halmahera
Mangole
Morotai
Obira
Sanana
Taliabu
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INDONESIA – CENTRAL MALUKU – BURU, SERAM (Ambon)
AMBON
Airports: Ambon (AMQ)
State Museum Maluku Siwa Lima Ambon
War Cemetery. The Dark Side
Banda Neira: Fort Belgica
Leihitu: Cagar Budaya van VOC Fort Benteng Amsterda
World of Nature: Manusela NP
Islands
Ambon
Buru
Seram
DARE places (2)
Indonesia – Watubela Archipelago
Indonesia – Banda islands
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INDONESIA – SOUTH MALUKU – Aru, Tanimbar, Wetar
DARE places (2)
Indonesia – Tayandu islands
Indonesia – Babar Islands
