Indonesian spices: Revolutionary Trees – part III

Mike Hillis writes about the revolutionary trees of Indonesia.

The tide changed dramatically in 1511. A Portuguese official by the name of Tome Pires was based in the coastal city of Malacca, which now sits in modern day Malaysia. Malacca had been the most prosperous trade outpost in Southeast Asia for centuries and was extremely important to the spice trade in Europe. ‘Whoever controls Malacca has their hands on the throat of Venice’ was a very common phrase at the time. Mahmud Shah was the Sultan of Malacca at this time and he had a truly international harem of wives, which was attributed to the cosmopolitan nature of Malacca at this time in history.

Javanese and Arab merchants had been plying these waters for centuries trading everything from Papuan slaves to Venetian beads to massoi bark to exotic bird feathers and last but not least, spices. Pires interviewed numerous ship captains and acquired very detailed geographical and political information about the nutmeg and clove producing islands in eastern Indonesia. This information was to be the turning point for the Portuguese and for the medieval global economy as a whole. The following year in 1512 the first Portuguese commercial fleet led by Antonio de Abreu and Francisco Serrao arrived in the Banda Islands and loaded up on nutmeg and cloves for the return trip to Malacca. Serrao’s boat was sunk in a ferocious storm shortly after leaving Banda and he was shipwrecked on a small island near Ambon and was fetched by the Sultan of Ternate’s dignitaries in the royal war canoes and he was invited to stay in the Sultan’s palace as a foreign advisor for as long as he wished. He was also sending long letters back to Lisbon to his best friend and long time partner at sea, Ferdinand Magellan. These letters were the inspiration that fueled Magellan’s imagination and desire to reunite with his old friend in Ternate and become a wealthy man from the spice trade. It is ironic that both Serrao and Magellan would die only weeks apart in 1521 and a couple of hundred miles from each other half way around the world from their homes in Portugal. Contrary to public opinion, Magellan was actually Portuguese but ended up sailing for the Spanish crown out of jealousy and spite.

Mike Hillis is a writer and anthropologist. He is also the marketing director for Unexplored Adventures, the only dive and eco travel operator based in Maluku province.