The Banda Islands () are a volcanic group of ten small islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and constitute an administrative district (kecamatan) within the Central Maluku Regency in the Indonesian province of Maluku. The islands rise out of deep ocean and have a total land area of approximately ; with associated maritime area this reaches . They had a population of 18,544 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 20,924 at the 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as of mid-2023 was 21,902.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2024. Until the mid-19th century the Banda Islands were the world's only source of the spices nutmeg and mace, produced from the nutmeg tree. The islands are also popular destinations for scuba diving and snorkeling. The main town and administrative centre is Banda Neira, located on the island of the same name.
Geography There are seven inhabited islands and several that are uninhabited. The inhabited islands are:
Main group (formed from the drowned caldera of a former volcano, with Bandaneira and still-smoking Guning Api islands at the centre of the crater, and the crescent-shaped Lonthair, Pulau Pisang and Batu Kapal being the surviving above-water parts of the volcanic rim): Bandaneira, or Naira, the island with the administrative capital and a small airfield (which stretches across the whole island, splitting the southern third from the northern two-thirds) as well as accommodation for visitors. It contains six villages (desa), from south to north being Nusantara (that part not on Gunung Api Island, and containing the district administration), Kampung Baru, Dwiwarna, Rajawali, Tanah Rata and Merdeka. Present on Banda Neira is Fort Belgica, one of the largest remaining Dutch forts that are still intact in Indonesia, and Fort Nassau. Banda Api, an active volcano (Gunung Api) with a peak of about 650 m. It forms most of the land area of the desa of Nusantara. Banda Besar, also called Lontar or Lonthoir, is the largest island (Indonesian besar, big), long and wide. It has three main settlements, Lonthoir (in the west of the island), Selamon (which includes Pulau Pisang, and which with Cumbir Kaisastoren, Walling Spanciby and Boiyauw villages faces the islands in the centre of the caldera) and Waer (which with Dender to its north and Lautang and Uring-Tutra to its west face away from the caldera). The residual former Dutch fortifications of Fort Hollandia and Fort Concordia are on this island.
Some distance to the west: Pulau Ay (formerly spelt Pulau Ai), 12 km from Bandaneira, and containing the remains of the former Dutch Fort Revenge. Pulau Rhun (formerly spelt Run), another 8 km further west again. In the 17th century, this island was involved in an exchange between the British and the Dutch, when it was exchanged for the island of Manhattan in New York.
To the north of Banda Besar: Pulau Pisang (Banana Island), also known as Syahrir.
To the southeast: Pulau Hatta (formerly Rosengain or Rozengain), 19 km from Bandaneira, with its single village (of the same name) at its northern tip.
Others, all small or uninhabited, are: Naijalaka, a short distance northeast of Pulau Rhun Batu Kapal, a small island northwest of Pulau Pisang Manuk, an active volcano Pulau Keraka or Pulau Karaka (Crab Island), a short distance north of Banda Api Manukang or Suanggi, to the northwest of the main group Skaru Reef, a short distance south of Pulau Hatta
The islands are part of the Banda Sea Islands moist deciduous forests ecoregion.
Administration The Banda Islands District (kecamatan) is sub-divided into eighteen administrative villages (desa), listed below with their areas and their officially-estimated populations as at mid 2002.Badan Pusat Statistik, 2023, Kecamatan Banda, Katalog/Catalog: 1102001.8103010. All share the postcode of 97586.
Kode Wilayah Name of kelurahan Area in km2 Populationmid 2022estimate 61.01.09.2001 Nusantara 13.30 1,993 61.01.09.2002 Dwiwarna 1.40 947 61.01.09.2003 Merdeka 3.44 814 61.01.09.2004 Rajawali 2.95 824 61.01.09.2005 Kampung Baru 5.70 3,050 61.01.09.2006 Pulau Hatta 15.88 683 61.01.09.2007 Selamon 28.97 1,991 61.01.09.2008 Lonthoir 16.07 2,972 61.01.09.2009 Pulau Ay 15.19 1,577 61.01.09.2010 Pulau Rhun 13.16 1,572 61.01.09.2011 Tanah Rata 2.20 874 61.01.09.2012 Waer 7.99 1,407 61.01.09.2013 Boiyauw 7.15 625 61.01.09.2014 Dender 3.40 164 61.01.09.2015 Lautang 4.70 233 61.01.09.2016 Uring-Tutra 7.50 313 61.01.09.2017 Walling Spanciby 14.00 893 61.01.09.2018 Combir Kaisastoren 9.00 493 61.01.09 Totals 736.30 21,425 (a) Notes: (a) comprising 10,723 males and 10,702 females.
History
Pre-European history The first documented human presence in the Banda Islands comes from a rock shelter site on Pulau Ay that was in use at least 8,000 years ago.
The earliest mention of the Banda Islands is found in Chinese records dating as far back as 200 BCE though there is speculation that it is mentioned in earlier Indian sources. The Srivijaya Kingdom had extensive trade contacts with the Banda Islands. Also during this period (from the late 13th century and onwards) Islam arrived in the region. It soon became established in the area.
Before the Dutch invaded, Banda had an oligarchic form of government led by ('rich men') and the Bandanese had an active and independent role in trade throughout the archipelago. Banda was the world's only source of nutmeg and mace, spices used as flavourings, medicines, and preserving agents that were at the time highly valued in European markets. They were sold by Arab traders to the Venetians for exorbitant prices. The traders did not divulge the exact location of their source and no European was able to deduce their location.
The first written accounts of Banda are in Suma Oriental, a book written by the Portuguese apothecary Tomé Pires who was based in Malacca from 1512 to 1515 but visited Banda several times. On his first visit, he interviewed the Portuguese and the far more knowledgeable Malay sailors in Malacca. He estimated the early sixteenth century population to be 2500–3000. He reported the Bandanese as being part of an Indonesia-wide trading network and the only native Malukan long-range traders taking cargo to Malacca, although shipments from Banda were also being made by Javanese traders.
In addition to the production of nutmeg and mace, Banda maintained significant entrepôt trade; goods that moved through Banda included cloves from Ternate and Tidore in the north, bird-of-paradise feathers from the Aru Islands and Western New Guinea, and massoi bark for traditional medicines and salves. In exchange, Banda predominantly received rice and cloth; namely light cotton batik from Java, calicoes from India and ikat from the Lesser Sundas. In 1603, an average quality sarong-sized cloth traded for eighteen kilograms of nutmeg. Some of these textiles were then sold on, ending up in Halmahera and New Guinea. Coarser ikat from the Lesser Sundas was traded for sago from the Kei Islands, Aru and Seram.
Portuguese In August 1511, on behalf of the king of Portugal, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Malacca, which at the time was a major hub of Asian trade. In November of that year, after having secured Malacca and learned of the Banda Islands' location, Albuquerque sent an expedition of three ships led by his good friend António de Abreu to find them. Malay pilots, either recruited or forcibly conscripted, guided them via Java, the Lesser Sundas and Ambon to Banda, arriving in early 1512. The first Europeans to reach the Banda Islands, the expedition remained in Banda for about one month, purchasing and filling their ships with Banda's nutmeg, mace, and cloves, in which Banda had a thriving entrepôt trade. D'Abreu sailed through Ambon and Seram while his second in command Francisco Serrão went ahead towards the Maluku islands, was shipwrecked and ended up in Ternate.
Distracted by hostilities elsewhere in the archipelago, such as Ambon and Ternate, the Portuguese did not return to the Banda Islands until 1529, when Portuguese trader Captain Garcia Henriques landed troops. Five of the Banda islands were within gunshot of each other and Henriques realised that a fort on the main island Neira would give him full control of the group. The Bandanese were, however, hostile to such a plan, and their warlike behavior was both costly and tiresome to Garcia whose men were attacked when they attempted to build a fort. From then on, the Portuguese were infrequent visitors to the islands, preferring to buy their nutmeg from traders in Malacca.
Unlike inhabitants of other eastern Indonesian islands visited by the Portuguese, such as Ambon, Solor, Ternate and Morotai, the Bandanese displayed no enthusiasm for Christianity or the Europeans who brought it in the sixteenth century, and no serious attempt was made to Christianise the Bandanese. Maintaining their independence, the Bandanese never allowed the Portuguese to build a fort or permanent post in the islands. Ironically, it was this lack of presence which attracted the Dutch to trade in Banda instead of the clove-producing islands of Ternate and Tidore.
Dutch control
The Dutch followed the Portuguese to Banda but were to have a much more dominating and lasting presence. Dutch–Bandanese relations were mutually resentful from the outset, with Holland's first merchants complaining of Bandanese reneging on agreed deliveries and price, and cheating on quantity and quality. For the Bandanese, on the other hand, although they welcomed another competitor purchaser for their spices, the items of trade offered by the Dutch—heavy woolens, and damasks, unwanted manufactured goods, for example—were usually unsuitable in comparison to traditional trade products. The Javanese, Arab and Indian, and Portuguese traders for example brought indispensable items along with steel knives, copper, medicines, and prized Chinese porcelain.
As much as the Dutch disliked dealing with the Bandanese, the trade was a highly profitable one with spices selling for 300 times the purchase price in Banda. This amply justified the expense and risk in shipping them to Europe. The allure of such profits saw an increasing number of Dutch expeditions; it was soon seen that in trade with the East Indies, competition from each would eat into all their profits. Thus the competitors united to form the (VOC) (the United East India Company, referred to in English as the Dutch East India Company) in 1602.
Until the early seventeenth century the Bandas were ruled by a group of leading citizens, the (literally 'rich men'); each of these was head of a district. At the time nutmeg was one of the "fine spices" kept expensive in Europe by disciplined manipulation of the market, but a desirable commodity for Dutch traders in the ports of India as well; economic historian Fernand Braudel notes that India consumed twice as much as Europe. A number of Banda's were persuaded by the Dutch to sign a treaty granting the Dutch a monopoly on spice purchases. Even though the Bandanese had little understanding of the significance of the treaty known as 'The Eternal Compact', or that not all Bandanese leaders had signed, it would later be used to justify Dutch troops being brought in to defend their monopoly.