Nutmeg seems harmless. It’s just a warm spice. But in the 1600s, people in Europe didn’t see nutmeg in the same way, and instead, they were thinking about power & money. A handful of islands in Indonesia grew nearly all the world’s supply, with both England & the Dutch Republic wanting control. Things got ugly fast.
How, you say? Let’s find out.
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Key takeaways
You’ll learn about:
- How the Dutch swept through Banda in 1621 & what that meant for the islanders
- The bloody showdown on Amboyna in 1623 & the uproar in London
- The importance of a tiny island called Run for English-Dutch arguments
- Why three wars began & how they ended
Why nutmeg was a big deal
Nutmeg & mace come from the same fruit, the nutmeg apple. Previously, people could only find these on the Banda Islands, and you couldn’t grow the trees anywhere else. As such, they sold for crazy profits in Europe. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) & the English East India Company (EIC) both wanted total control over the nutmeg apple.
But neither side was interested in sharing. That’s why, in the 17th century, nutmeg was thought to be more precious than gold by weight. All that for a spice.
1616–1620: Run island and the wedge between the companies
Run was a tiny Banda island that had nutmeg trees practically everywhere. As such, it shouldn’t be a surprise that both the English & Dutch began fighting over control of this little patch of land for decades. It didn’t matter that bigger battles were going on. Why? Because Run was always the most important place.
1621: The Dutch move to lock down Banda
In 1621, Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen sent Dutch troops to Banda, with one goal & one goal only. It was to establish a monopoly. Reports from the time say that thousands of islanders died, some of whom were killed outright & others starved. The rest of them? They were forced into slavery.
Out of an estimated 15,000 people, only about 1,000 were left by the end. Modern scholars put the death toll close to 3,000–4,000, with another 1,800–2,000 enslaved. For the VOC, it was a success. They got exactly what they wanted, which was total control of nutmeg & mace.
1623: Amboyna executions and a London flashpoint
Two years later, on Amboyna, the Dutch accused a group of English traders & Japanese mercenaries of plotting against them. They had a quick trial to determine their guilt.
Eventually, they executed 21 men, 10 of them English, and the incident became known in England as the “Amboyna massacre.” This led to a lot of anti-Dutch sentiment in England. The Privy Council, the monarch’s advisors, feared mobs would attack Dutch residents. So, to keep things from spiraling, they stationed 800 guards around the city.
How the public memory of Amboyna stuck around
The East India Company printed its own version of what happened at Amboyna almost right away. Their pamphlets included woodcut pictures that were designed to shock people. Whenever tensions with the Dutch flared back up, they’d reprint it. And people bought into it.
Theaters picked it up, too. John Dryden’s play Amboyna, or the Cruelties of the Dutch to the English Merchants, hit the stage in London in 1673. That was right in the middle of another Anglo-Dutch war. It wasn’t exactly a subtle script, either, as it leaned into drama & outrage, while also giving audiences a clear villain.
Soon enough, the Amboyna massacre became an event that meant a few things to the British. It was treachery, cruelty & something to get angry about, all over again.
1652–1674: Three Anglo-Dutch wars born of trade rivalry
However, the nutmeg conflict didn’t stay in Asia. Trade competition boiled over into the Atlantic & North Sea, with both England and the Dutch Republic fighting three naval wars. These were:
- The First Anglo-Dutch War, 1652–1654
- The Second Anglo-Dutch War, 1665–1667
- The Third Anglo-Dutch War, 1672–1674
Despite what you might think, these weren’t exactly minor conflicts. Nope. These were major sea battles with fleets of dozens of ships, and although control of nutmeg was never the only issue, it was always involved.
1667: The Treaty of Breda settles New Netherland
How did these wars finish? The Second Anglo-Dutch War ended with the Treaty of Breda in July 1667. Essentially, the rule was, “you keep what you’re holding,” with England holding onto New Netherland, and the Dutch holding onto Run & the rest of Banda.
You might be wondering where New Amsterdam is. Well, it’s today’s New York. That’s right. The Dutch swapped New York for Nutmeg, allowing England to keep Manhattan & the Dutch to keep their monopoly. Both sides walked away claiming victory.
Nutmeg was scarce & company rivalries made practically every island a battleground. And every one of these conflicts tied back to the same thing. Who would get rich off a spice that only grew in one tiny corner of the world?
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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