The Dutch Swapped Manhattan
for Pulau Rhun in 1667,
Nutmeg Made the Choice but the Indonesia Supplier is backward, still behind by
400 years over Europe
Growing a spice once worth its
weight in gold, a tiny isle in Indonesia was so coveted that the Dutch traded
Manhattan for it. Some 350 years later, life on the two islands couldn’t be
more different.
·
The
Netherlands believed it got the better part of a bargain with the British when
it swapped Manhattan, then known as New Amsterdam, for this tiny speck of land.
·
With
its forest of nutmeg, a spice worth its weight in gold at the time, Rhun used to be one of the world’s most valuable patches of
real estate.
·
Two
spices are derived from each nutmeg fruit — what the world knows as nutmeg is
the seed, while the spice mace is the red membrane surrounding the seed. The
soft outer flesh is edible, but not widely marketed.
The
isles of Manhattan and Pulau Rhun
could hardly be farther apart, not just in geography, but also in culture,
economy and global prominence.
Rhun, in the Banda Sea in Indonesia, has no
cars or roads and only about 20 motorbikes. Most people get around by walking
along its paved footpaths or up steep stairways, often toting plastic jugs of
water from the numerous village wells or sometimes lugging a freshly caught
tuna.
But
in the 17th century, in what might now seem one of the most lopsided trades in
history, the Netherlands believed it got the better part of a bargain with the
British when it swapped Manhattan, then known as New Amsterdam, for this tiny
speck of land.
The
delight the Dutch took in the deal can be summed up in one word: nutmeg.
With
its forest of nutmeg, a spice worth its weight in gold at the time, Rhun used to be one of the world’s most valuable patches of
real estate.
It
is one of 11 small isles that make up the Banda Islands, formerly the only
place where nutmeg grew. To the north lie the larger Maluku Islands, famous for
cloves. Collectively, the two island groups were known to European colonizers
as the Spice Islands.
The
European desire for nutmeg, cloves, pepper and other spices launched fleets of
ships, setting off a wave of global exploration, colonization, exploitation and
genocide.
While
Rhun is little remembered today, some say the
island’s role in world history is far larger than its size of just two miles
long and a half-mile wide would suggest: The British first reached the island
in 1603, making it one of their earliest colonies. In the words of the
historian John Keay, Rhun
is “the seed from which grew the most extensive empire the world has ever
seen.”
Rhun islanders swore allegiance to the
British in an unsuccessful attempt to secure protection from the Dutch, who
committed genocide by killing or enslaving 90 percent of the Bandanese people. Today, there are no native Bandanese living on Rhun; its
residents are descended from migrants from other islands.
Reaching
Rhun by boat 400 years ago was a daunting journey.
And it’s still not easy getting to this spot 1,600 miles east of Indonesia’s
capital, Jakarta.
Most
travelers take a crowded, cockroach-infested ferry
from the Maluku Islands to the main port on the island of Banda Neira. From there, they go by motorboat to Rhun, a trip that can take hours in rough seas. Arriving
vessels can wait hours more outside the shallow coral reef for the tide to
rise.
Much
of Indonesia has benefited from a huge push by President Joko Widodo to improve
infrastructure and bind the nation of 17,500 islands more closely together, but
such progress has yet to reach Rhun.
The
island’s 2,000 people live in a single village by the island’s only bay. Colorful, metal-roofed houses huddle together along the
waterfront and on the hillside above. At low tide, dozens of fishing boats lie
beached.
The
steamy island has no air-conditioning, and there is electricity only at night. Cellphone service recently arrived, but connections are
spotty. Islam is the only religion, and no shops sell alcohol.
With
no running water, students are assigned to bring jugs of well water to school
for flushing toilets and washing.
Rhun, like other Indonesian islands, is plagued
by litter, especially plastic waste. With no organized trash collection,
residents dump garbage in the forest, on the beach or in the sea. The smell of
burning trash often wafts over the village.
Man-made
remnants of the island’s colonial past are few. Fortifications built by the British
in the 1600s were reclaimed long ago by the jungle. In 2017, officials
installed a white marble monument on Rhun’s
waterfront commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Treaty of Breda between
England and the Netherlands, which set the terms for the trade.
What
is still prevalent on the island is nutmeg, which along with tuna is a mainstay
of the local economy, although nutmeg is also grown in many other places now.
Herman
Abdullah, whose family has farmed nutmeg for generations, hiked up the hill
above the village one recent day to harvest the fruit, similar in size to a
large apricot.
The
aroma of nutmeg wafted through the grove, with some trees more than 75 years
old. Rhun is ideal for growing nutmeg, Mr. Herman
said, and a mature tree can produce 1,000 fruits every four months.
“Rhun has the best climate and also the best soil for
nutmeg,” he said.
Two
spices are derived from each nutmeg fruit — what the world knows as nutmeg is
the seed, while the spice mace is the red membrane surrounding the seed. The
soft outer flesh is edible, but not widely marketed.
After
Mr. Herman chose a tree, his friend Sairin Kasem climbed up. More than 50 feet above the ground and
nearly invisible among the dense branches, he knocked hundreds of nutmegs to
the ground with a long pole. For a time, it seemed to be raining nutmeg.
Sitting
in the shade, the two men sliced the fruit open, casting aside the outer flesh
and keeping the seeds with their mace covering. Loading the harvest into a
basket on his back, Mr. Herman headed back down the hill.