The race was on during the 15th century ’s Age of Exploration . In theMiddle Ages , Europeans spell spice and other valuables from the East via land trading path that extended through the Middle East . However , in 1453 , the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II launched a two - month siege that was successful in take over the Byzantine capital urban center of Constantinople . He then blocked Europeans from accessing traditional trade routes . This drive European exponent to find alternating outlets .
In the subsequent scramble for ocean road , two watershed import peculiarly stand out : whenChristopher Columbusstumbled on America in 1492 , and whenVasco Da Gamarounded the Cape of Good Hope to reach India in 1497 . After da Gama return with a ship teeming with spices , it helped solidify Portugal ’s dominant position as the unrivaled European trading power in the East throughout the sixteenth century .
However , by the origin of the seventeenth C , both the Dutch and the British break into the Eastern trade concern and emerge as forces to be reckoned with . The Dutch were the first major threat to the Portuguese with their Vereenigde Oost - indische Compagnie ( VOC , Dutch East India Company ) . Their British contender trailed at first , but their East India Company ( EIC ) tardily became more powerful .
Meanwhile , both the Dutch and British had their eyes on the West as well – there was money to be made off the valuable fur swop there . Although their exploits in the East and West seem to have little to do with each other , the two trading office clash in both property . As a result , acres was trade , luck reversed and fates changed in surprising ways .
One of the most enthralling tales of this era has to do with the island of Manhattan , which changed hands rather airily . Interestingly , no one even lived there until the Dutch assay restraint of it . finally , the luck of this next urban center hinge on the spicery we sprinkle atop our Christmas eggnog : nutmeg tree .
The Manhattan Deal
After the English explorerHenry Hudsonfruitlessly essay a Northeast Passage to Asia via the Arctic Ocean , the Vereenigde Oost - indische Compagnie ( VOC ) contracted him to search for a Northwest Passage to Asia through North America in 1609 . Hudson did n’t find aNorthwest Passage , but he did find Long Island , Manhattan and a river that would after bear his name .
Hudson claim the land for the VOC , which revved up pelt trading in the area in the ensuing decennium . The States - General of Netherlands then formed the Dutch West India Company in 1621 to colonise the land , by this clock time cognise as New Netherland .
Peter Minuit , the VOC ’s director - universal , came to New Netherland in 1626 to broker a batch with the American Indians , who occasionally used the demesne to search and fish . In substitution for the island of Manhattan , Minuit offered the kin a breast of beads and other trinkets worth 60 guilder . In the nineteenth century , this amount was splendidly estimated to be about $ 24 ; however , that number is disputed [ seed : Axelrod ] . If we assume that the Dutch buy Manhattan for a few penny an Akka , it would be a bargain corresponding to the United States ' purchases of Alaska or theLouisiana Territory . On the other hand , it seems like a raw deal for the American Indians . But many historiographer sharpen out that the Dutch are the ones who got conned . The American Indians did n’t have the same sense of land ownership as the Dutch did . They did n’t even live on the island , which they call " Manahachtanienk , " significance , " place where we all get drunk " [ beginning : McVeigh ] . When Dutch settlers bring in pot likker to the island , they offered it to the American Indians they found there . Because American Indians had no history ofalcoholuse , the liquor had a significant effect on them .
In any casing , the American Indians take payment for domain they did n’t reckon theirs . And it should be noted that the Dutch offering payment at all was a sign of dependable faith to legitimize their claims , especially compared to the Spanish conquistadors who opted simply to take the acres they desire [ source : Axelrod ] .
Even if each company were shamefaced of treating the other below the belt , the Manhattan deal can still be considered a bargain – for both sides . But the Dutch did n’t keep Manhattan for long .
The Fight for Nutmeg
The scramble for land in North America was tame compare to the violent big businessman struggles in the East Indies . European powers were vying for dominance of the spice trade , and the worthful spicery at the nerve centre of it all was nutmeg .
The Europeans evaluate nutmeg for more than its distinct taste . Nutmeg was considered anaphrodisiacandhallucinogen . mass even wear bags of the spiciness around their necks as a protection against theBlack Plague . It may fathom like superstition , but it ’s plausible that Myristica fragrans really repelledfleasthat carried plague - cause bacterium [ origin : Le Couteur ] . Nutmeg was so extremely sought after that European traders were selling it at nearly a 6,000 pct markup [ beginning : Weir ] .
Nutmeg is indigenous to the volcanic soils of the Banda Islands , a group of islands in Indonesia . To get their manus on nutmeg tree , the Portuguese annexed these island in 1512 . But in the 17th hundred , the Portuguese lose their handle on this side of the world . The VOC expelled its Lusitanian rivals and subsequently assay to enforce a monopoly on nutmeg . At first , the native Bandanese population considered the Dutch their Saviour from Portuguese ascendance . However , coitus soon soured .
The Dutch thought they ’d secured a monopoly when they established a treaty in 1602 with village foreman . Yet , many Bandanese nutmeg tree growers continued selling to other traders . Historians speculate that the Bandanese did n’t understand the terms of the Dutch understanding . What ’s more , the Bandanese relied on bartering nutmeg for solid food with nearby island [ source : Bernstein ] . Regardless , the Dutch felt betrayed and responded with violence against the Bandanese . In addition to a series of skirmishes , the Dutch occasionally found sweeping attack that lead in the destruction of villages , enslavement of natives and execution of instrument of chiefs [ source : Le Couteur ] . After killing thousands of natives – most of the Bandanese population – the Dutch imported their own farmer from Holland to take charge of grow Myristica fragrans [ source : Lamoureux ] .
The VOC ’s struggle to exert a monopoly on the spicery was further complicated by the British , who controlled Run ( also love as Pulau Run ) , one of the smallest of the Banda Islands . It was a scrap for restraint over this island that brings us back to the other island in motion : Manhattan .
A City for a Spice: The Treaty of Breda
To assert their monopoly on nutmeg , the Dutch needed to make certain they were the only ones develop it . In an travail to keep people from replanting the nutmeg they sold , the Dutch dipped it in calx , which effectively prevented it from sprouting . But this was n’t the only obstruction to overcome in their nutmeg monopoly . The British were still dabbling in nutmeg trade from their fund on the island of Run . Though small , the island of Run was rife with nutmeg . The EIC had early on secured a successful partnership with its leader to swop its nutmeg .
Jan Pieterszoon - Coen , the pitiless commander of the VOC was utter set on expelling the British any agency he could . Much to his mortification , however , the VOC and EIC official back in Europe signed a cooperation agreement in 1619 . But Coen adjudicate that if he could n’t have Run ’s nutmeg tree , then no one could . In lieu of unmediated violence against the British , he pilfer on the island when the British left it undefended and burned down all the nutmeg Tree [ source : Weir ] . Finally , in 1666 , during the Second Anglo - Dutch war , the VOC took control of Run .
Meanwhile , thing were n’t going so well for the Dutch in the West . compare to nutmeg craft in the East , fur trade in New Netherland was n’t as lucrative . To make matters bad , a British fleet had succeeded in admit over New Amsterdam ( the Dutch name for Manhattan ) in 1664 . The 1667 Treaty of Breda allowed the Dutch and British to formally ensconce their differences . In central for official control of Run , the Dutch relinquish their claims to New Amsterdam .
The British were n’t very unrestrained about the trade , and they initially tried to pawn it off for valuablesugar - producing demesne in South America . As fate would have it , the Dutch did n’t agree with this business deal , and the British keep the island , later renaming it New York .
