With the arrival of the Dutch, this situation changed. The Dutch appeared as merchants and colonialists striving to monopolise trade and pacify the region. The inhabitants were robbed of their main trade contacts and income sources, and in the name of "civilisation" the Dutch set bounds to the Moluccans' traditional culture. It is ironic that the isolation of the "forgotten islands" nowadays, is to a great extent the result of the strong interference from outside during this period.
Lively Mutual Trade
There are no known written sources from the first and fifteenth centuries to provide direct information about the Southeast Moluccas. However, it can be inferred from other evidence that the islands maintained an intensive mutual barter trade during this period. The trade was extremely varied in character. Certain islands became well-known in the course of time for the special products they provided: the Kei islands for their boats, Kisar and Luang for their fabrics, Damer and other islands for their nutmeg, and the Aru islands for their birds of paradise and sea products, including mother-of-pearl and pearls.
Beside this, slaves were traded in the entire region. Inhabitants from the island of Kisar, for instance, traded very profitably in slaves and spices with the inhabitants of the surrounding islands. They also sailed to Timor and even to Malacca, where they traded their cargo for high profits. In 1643, when the sultan of the northern Moluccan island of Ternate heard about the great wealth of Kisar, he sent an invasion fleet to the island to capture many precious treasures.1
The islands of Maluku Tenggara were also called at by traders from outside the region. From southern Sulawesi, Macassars and Buginese shipped elephants' tusks, gold ornaments, swords and textiles to various places on the eastern Molucccas, and bartered these for copra, shells, turtles and other sea and reef products. The islanders in the western part of Maluku Tenggara obtained gold from Timor, which subsequently found its way eastwards via barter trade. Many of these imported goods still play an important role as precious family heirlooms in southeastern Moluccan society.2
Photographs 2.2. and 2.3. For centuries the exotic birds of paradise were among the most important produce from the Aru islands. The feathers were used in headgear throughout the world.
Photograph 2.4. Ceremonial dance performance on the Babar islands, during which women wear basta around the upper parts of their bodies. The sarongs are locally made ikat cloths.
The Spice Trade
Besides this traffic, Maluku Tenggara was involved in world trade via the Banda islands (Central Moluccas), long an important trade centre. The southeastern Moluccans readily disposed of their boats and birds of paradise as well as their sea and agricultural products, mostly obtaining metals and textiles in return. Beginning at least as early as the 15th century, the brilliant bird of paradise feathers from Am were transported to Banda and thence, via an extensive trade network, to other parts of the Indonesian archipelago and more remote regions; they were used as plumes on head decorations by Turks, Arabs and Persians.3
Written sources indicate trade activity by the inhabitants of the Banda islands was already being carried on by the 15th century. However, trade in the Moluccas existed from about the beginning of our era, according to annals dating from the Han dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 220). From these annals it appears that the Chinese were familiar with doves from the Moluccas.4 Cloves and nutmeg also found their way to the Roman Empire via Arab traders. 5 In later centuries, the spices were spread across large parts of the world by means of barter-trade through numerous intermediate stations. We may assume that the inhabitants of Maluku Tenggara must have come in touch with products that came in as barter for spices at an early stage.
The Banda islands were by far the most important staple market for spices. The inhabitants cultivated nutmeg and mace and obtained cloves from Ternate, and Tidore, as well as from some other small islands in the northern Moluccas. Later they also obtained these from Ambon and Seram.6 The Bandanese were entirely dependent on imports for their food supply due to the emphasis on intensive spice cultivation. The islands even had to import rice and sago.
Sago was shipped in to Banda from Seram and Irian Jaya, as well as from Kei and Aru in eastern Maluku Tenggara. The trading ships also contained slaves, reef products, dried parrots and birds of paradise as cargo. The people from Kei and Aru bartered their products for, among other things, textiles. These were brought to Banda by Javanese and Malayan traders from Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara and the Indian subcontinent, where they were exchanged, together with rice, for spices.7
Striking among the abundance of textiles that reached Maluku Tenggara up to the 19th century, are the so-called basta. These are very long cotton cloths, printed with mostly red and blue patterns. They can still be found, especially on the Babar islands, where they fulfil important economic and ceremonial functions.
Photograph 2.5. Detail of an India-motif basta, found on Sermata.
Not only new products, but also new ideas made their entry via trade. Thus Islam spread across the mid-and northern Moluccas from the 15th century onwards in the wake of the Javanese and Malayan seafarers. The inhabitants of Maluku Tenggara were also brought into contact with Islam during this period.8
The Arrival of the Europeans
The lucrative spice trade had also drawn the attention of the seafaring European nations. The Portuguese were the first to succeed in tracking the route to the "Spice Islands." In 1512 they arrived on the Banda islands, and began to trade textiles from India and other Asian countries for spices, thus reducing Javanese and Malayan commerce.9 They monopolised the spice trade during most of the 16th century.
Portuguese influence on Maluku Tenggara was fairly superficial. On the western island of Kisar and the eastern Aru islands they built fortifications, but other evidences of a lengthy stay, such as the Roman Catholic churches found elsewhere, can not be found on Maluku Tenggara. However, traces of their language have continued to exist in Moluccan Malay, which is also the lingua franca of the southeastern Moluccas.
The United East India Company
Apart from the Portuguese, the French, the English and the Dutch tried to acquire the monopoly for spices. In order to coordinate the trade in the East, the Dutch founded the United East India Company. Profiting from the declining power of the Portuguese in the Moluccas, the Dutch succeeded in beating the competition after years of harsh battle. In 1605 they captured the Portuguese stronghold on Ambon and in the course of the 17th century all the Moluccas were brought under Dutch authority.
The United East India Company, and notably the ruthless governor-general Jan Pietersz. Coen, put a violent stamp on the monopolisation of the spice trade. By regulating the production of spices at the source, the supply was kept low and the price high. Contracts were concluded—forced or unforced—with local chieftains, who had to guarantee exclusive delivery to the Dutch. Breach of contract meant severe punishments. Thus in 1621 almost the entire population of the nutmeg and mace producing Banda islands, as many as 15,000 people, were murdered or chased away.
The measure to concentrate the cultivation of spice on only a few of the islands had far-reaching consequences too. At other locations the nutmeg and clove trees were destroyed as much as possible. Military expeditions had the assignment of destroying illegally planted trees. For the local population hunger and misery were the result.
Disruption of the Local Economy
The Dutch appeared in Maluku Teriggara at the beginning of the 17th century. In 1605-06 they reached the eastern islands of Kei and Aru, and not much later the islands more to the west. Contracts were concluded with the inhabitants, in which the sovereignty and monopoly of the United East India Company were acknowledged.