Maluku
Original Spice Islands where nutmeg/clove monopoly drove European empires; first exports in 21 years finally resumed in 2021.
For centuries, these islands were the only source of nutmeg, mace, and cloves—spices so valuable that European imports of cloves rose 1,000% and nutmeg 2,000% between the 1390s and 1490s. The Portuguese arrived in 1512; the Dutch and English followed in 1599. Wars were fought, populations displaced, and monopolies enforced. Banda Neira became synonymous with nutmeg, while Ternate, Tidore, and Ambon supplied cloves. The Spice Islands shaped global trade.
That era ended long ago. By the mid-19th century, Maluku had become a colonial backwater as economic gravity shifted to Java. The 1999 communal conflict halted spice exports for 21 years; only in 2021 did 28 tonnes of nutmeg finally depart Ambon for China. Today's clove farmers harvest trees at Rp 150,000/day per worker, only to watch prices plummet from Rp 100,000 to Rp 50,000/kg during harvest gluts. The luster has faded.
Indonesia remains the world's largest nutmeg producer, and Maluku still grows the crops that once drove empires. But the economic value of these spices has dwindled to a fraction of their historical worth. By 2026, Maluku will test whether heritage branding and eco-tourism can restore premium pricing—or whether the Spice Islands remain defined by what they once were rather than what they are.