In April 1609, a Dutch East India Company (VOC) fleet under Pieter Willemsz Verhoeff arrived at Banda Neira aiming to establish a fort and tighten control over nutmeg trade. Bandanese leaders resisted Dutch monopoly demands; Verhoeff and dozens of Dutch were killed during the confrontation. The violence escalated a trade dispute into a longer campaign of conquest.
After the 1609 fighting, the VOC hurried construction of Fort Nassau on Banda Neira and completed it the same year. The fort became the Dutch administrative and military hub in the Banda Islands, supporting further pressure on local communities and traders. It signaled that the Dutch intended to enforce agreements with armed force, not just commerce.
In September 1611, Pieter Both ordered construction of Fort Belgica on the hill above Fort Nassau. The decision reflected a practical military problem: Fort Nassau could be threatened from higher ground. Strengthening the hilltop helped the VOC protect its base and tighten control over Banda Neira.
By 1616, communities on the outlying islands of Run and Ai sought English support as Dutch pressure increased. They pledged allegiance to representatives of the English East India Company, aiming to preserve the right to sell nutmeg and mace to multiple buyers. This deepened the English–Dutch rivalry in Banda and raised the stakes for the VOC monopoly effort.
In April 1616, VOC commander Jan Dirkszoon Lam captured Ai after fierce resistance. Contemporary accounts describe harsh reprisals and many deaths as people tried to flee toward English-held Run. The VOC then built Fort der Wrake (known in English as Fort Revenge) to warn other Banda communities against breaking Dutch trade contracts.
Despite the capture of Ai and new fortifications, Banda’s trading networks persisted. Sources note that Lontor (Banda Besar) and others soon resumed trading with previous partners, including the English. This showed that coercion alone had not yet secured the monopoly the VOC wanted.
In 1621, Jan Pieterszoon Coen led a decisive VOC campaign to subdue Banda, using additional troops and mercenaries. The assault included the seizure of Lontor and the destruction of organized resistance. The conquest ended Banda’s ability to negotiate trade on its own terms and opened the way for direct Dutch control of nutmeg production.
The 1621 conquest caused extreme depopulation through killing, enslavement, deportation, and flight. Historians estimate a pre-conquest population of roughly 13,000–15,000, with only about a thousand surviving in the islands or nearby, though exact numbers remain uncertain. This demographic collapse was central to the VOC’s next step: rebuilding production using forced labor under Dutch control.
After the conquest, the VOC reorganized nutmeg cultivation into plantation-like parcels called perken, operated by Dutch planters known as perkeniers. With few Bandanese left, the Dutch imported enslaved laborers and forced remaining locals to work and to pass on cultivation knowledge. This system turned Banda into a controlled production zone designed to support a VOC nutmeg monopoly.
The First Anglo-Dutch War ended with the Treaty of Westminster in April 1654. The treaty included provisions affecting overseas commerce, and it noted that Run was to be ceded to the English East India Company, though the transfer did not effectively occur for years. The dispute shows how Banda’s nutmeg economy became tied to European state-to-state conflict.
In 1657, Georg Everhard Rumphius was sent to Banda to design a new fortification on the hill at Banda Neira, though his plan was not built. Around 1660, earlier hill defenses were replaced by a new redoubt (often called Belgica II). These changes reflect the VOC’s expectation of renewed threats, including English attempts to regain a foothold in the spice islands.
On July 31, 1667, the Treaty of Breda ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War and settled several colonial disputes. Under its terms, the Dutch retained Run (Pulo Run) in the East Indies while the English kept New Netherland (later New York). For Banda, this reduced the most important European challenge to the VOC’s nutmeg monopoly and reinforced Dutch dominance after decades of conflict.
From 1667 onward, the VOC began replacing the earlier redoubt with a larger Fort Belgica; leveling the hilltop took until 1669. The enlarged fortification was completed in 1672–1673. The construction underscores how the VOC combined plantation control with military architecture to protect its spice monopoly system.
By 1681, sources report that the indigenous Bandanese population had fallen to about 100, while the VOC maintained production with a large enslaved workforce. Accounts describe annual imports of enslaved people to keep the labor force stable at roughly 4,000. This marks a grim end state for the 1609–1681 story: Banda’s nutmeg economy survived, but its original society was largely destroyed and replaced by a coerced plantation system.
Banda Islands: conquest, depopulation, and repopulation (1609–1681)