The Hidden History of the Nutmeg Island That Was Traded for Manhattan

Back when Indonesia’s tiny Banda Islands were thought to be the world’s only source of this curative spice, the Dutch murdered and enslaved the Indigenous people to create a nutmeg monopoly. What few accounts mention is how the Bandanese people had already cornered the nutmeg market, and that their trading operations outlasted the colonists.

Author: Mark Hay
Source: Atlas Obscura
Published: Feb 28, 2019
Length: 6 minutes (1,702 words)
Read the story