The New York Exchange.

A story not about the New York stock exchange 
but a story about an historical swap of Islands.

---

I first heard about the Banda Islands in a book titled: «Banda. A journey through Indonesia’s fabled Isles of Fire and Spice.»

This well written and beautifully illustrated book with Mr. Leonard Lueras’ photographs was my first reason for wanting to travel to the Banda Islands.

Boy from Ternate Island holding a nutmeg

Mace & Nutmeg drying. Run Island.

Ripe Nutmeg

In the beginning of the sixteen hundreds, a person returning from the Banda Islands with ten kilos of Nutmeg, could purchase a house in his homeland and retire for the rest of his life. The ship owners would oblige the sailors to sew their pockets shut making it impossible to carry nutmeg off the ships. 

---

The New York exchange

In 1667 the Island of Run was exchanged for the Island of Manhattan

In 1667 by the Treaty of Breda, Manhattan, a small trading center with a population of less than one thousand, was exchanged with the Island of Run. 

Today, the Island of Run and the story of Nathaniel’s courage find themselves in the margin of history while the name of New York is fabled around the globe. (Giles Milton)

---

After reading Giles Milton's Book titled Nathaniels’s Nutmeg, I decided to travel with the Indonesian shipping company Pelni to the Once-Famed-Now-Ignored Spice Islands.

Kerinci ship on the way to Banda

 

---

---

The following in taken from Amazon's web site about Nathaniel's Nutmeg:
«The tiny island of Run is an insignificant speck in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago--remote, tranquil, and now largely ignored. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, however, Run's harvest of nutmeg turned it into the most lucrative of the Spice Islands, precipitating a fierce and bloody battle between the all-powerful Dutch East India Company and a small band of ragtag British adventurers led by the intrepid Nathaniel Courthope. 

«The Outcome Of The Fighting Was One Of The Most Spectacular Deals In History: 
Britain Ceded Run To Holland, But In Return Was Given Another Small Island, Manhattan.»

---

Mr. Milton mentions the somewhat cruel actions done 
to the local population by the colonialists.

(If you wish to learn more about the governor general of Banda, please read this interesting article about the controversial erection of a statue of Jan Pieterszoon Coen in his hometown of Hoorn. LINK)

Portrait of Jan Pieterszoon Coen in Rumah Budaya museum. Neira.

Fort Belgica on Neira Island. A UNESCO World Heritage Fort.

Perkenier taking a stroll. Rumah Budaya museum Neira.

---

«Bye Bye Banda» (53 secs to say goodbye)

Visiting the Banda Islands is traveling back in time. Sitting on the dock in Neira dominated by the volcano Gunung Api,
I can easily imagine the Spanish, English and Dutch sailing ships setting anchor in the bay of Banda.
Sometimes the arrival of an Indonesian built pinisi enters the Bay, The illusion of going back in time is complete.
«Bye Bye Banda»…for the moment. I shall return.