Spice Islands

(Paperback)

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Cloves and nutmeg are indigenous to the Spice Islands of Eastern Indonesia. The book tells of the many uses of these exotic spices and the history of their trade over a period of more than 2000 years It follows the Silk Road across Central Asia and the Spice Route over the Indian Ocean. It describes how the Spice trade into Europe came to be dominated by Middle Eastern and Venetian merchants. Backed by the Crowns of Portugal and Spain explorers such as Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Magellan dreamt of sailing directly to the Spice Islands. Much of the story is told through the lives of these historical characters, as well as Sir Francis Drake, Jan Pieterzoom Coen, Pierre Poive and others, lesser known but equally important. The story revolves around the intense rivalry between the Sultans of Ternate and Tidore, their relationship with the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and English who at different times occupied the Spice Islands. The book follows the growth of the Dutch and English East India Companies, founded to profit from the spice trade. It ends as the Dutch East India Company goes into bankruptcy and the once splendid Sultanates sink into obscurity The author: Ian Burnet has spent more than twenty years living, working and travelling in the Indonesian archipelago in his professional career as a geologist/geophysicist. He lives with his family in Sydney.

Author Bio

Ian Burnet has spent thirty years, living, working and travelling in Indonesia. His three prior books show his fascination with the diverse history and cultures of the archipelago. Spice Islands tells the 2000 year history of the spice trade from the Moluccas of Eastern Indonesia until the spices reached Europe. It was the lure of the fabled Spice Islands and exotic spices such as cloves and nutmegs that drove The Age of Discovery' and the first circumnavigation of our planet. East Indies begins in the port city of Malacca, and tells the story of the 200 year struggle between the Portuguese Crown, the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company for trade supremacy in the Eastern Seas. It follows the rise of the world's first joint stock and multinational trading companies and their conversion to huge colonial states ruling over millions of people in Indonesia, India and Malaya. Archipelago takes us on a journey across the islands of the Indonesian archipelago, the most ethnically and culturally diverse nation on the planet. Through Ian Burnet's eyes we see the layers of ethnicity, culture, language and religion that make up the nation of Indonesia, a nation whose national motto had to be Unity in Diversity'. Ian lives with his family in Sydney, Australia.