"Nathaniel’s Nutmeg" is a historical account which neatly
chronicles the race of all the major powers in Western Europe to corner
the spice market. One of the most sought-after spice at that time was
nutmeg, a native plant of Banda Islands, East Indies (now known as
Indonesia).
Some of us might be wondering: What is nutmeg? Why was it so
popular? Well, back then, it was a fruit known to kill the smell and
taste of rotten meat (which is true). It was also believed to have
powerful medical properties (which turned out to be merely a placebo
effect, causing its decline in popularity centuries later). The way it
is unthinkable for people to die for nutmeg trade back then is akin to
our desire for oil trade today. Several hundred years from now, when
vehicles are powered by free renewable resources such as hydrogen and
sunlight, our posterity will ask a similar question: “Why on earth would
our ancestors go to war in the Middle East just to secure access to oil
resources?”
Fleets of ships would go to both ends of the world in search of
spice resources, and it is evident how those early fleets were lacking
many important skills such as determining geographical coordinates, how
to prevent scurvy, or what important commodities are valued in the east.
On the whole, the author Milton has adeptly drawn a narrative of how
the governments of those Western European powers learn from their early
mistakes and correct them.
The author studied at Bristol University. A writer and journalist,
he specialises in the history of travel and exploration, with books
published in seventeen languages. Nathaniel’s Nutmeg happens to be his
best known work.
The book’s title, however, is a tad misleading. It seems to have
been chosen for rhyming effect instead of any substantial role played by
Nathaniel Courthope. His name was hardly mentioned at all in the book.
The very first mention of his name is found on page 78, and even then it
is just in passing, as if he is some minor character in the whole
story.
The sources are mostly secondary, since the story is compiled from
original hand-written journals of English explorers, Ambon (in today’s
Maluku province, Indonesia) library collections, and five thousand pages
of Jacobean script. The author Milton also refers to obscure Dutch
chronicles which had been translated into fluent English.
Milton uses a simple language, which makes it easy for the general
public to read. Every several chapters there are also maps and pictures
drawn in the 17th century to accompany the readers’ imagination when
reading the stories. If you are a fan of the Pirates of The Caribbean
movie franchise or any other seafaring stories, you will definitely
enjoy this book. Despite it being written as nonfiction, the narrative
that Milton uses in this book can altogether causes it to be read like a
fiction.
Milton’s use of irony was adroitly placed, often he shows sympathy
with the poor natives who are paid small amount of fee for their nutmeg
which could be resold very expensively in Europe. However, the irony
also works on both sides: the natives of Banda Islands are shown to be
“profiting” from the trade by getting European knives and clothes (which
worth almost nothing in Europe but worth a lot in East Indies) by
trading their nutmegs (which worth almost nothing in East Indies but
worth a lot in Europe).
However, as an Englishman, Milton is not free from bias. He can at
times seem to glorify the English, while putting some of their bitter
rivals, such as the Dutch, in a less delicate light...even when both
sides are acting more or less with an equal deplorability. When
describing the English diplomacy with the natives, he used
positive-sounding adjectives such as “apt” and “ingenious”, while when
describing the Dutch and Portuguese’ attempts in dealing with the
natives, he used negative-sounding adjectives such as “guileful” and
“ruthless”.
Throughout the book, there are several historical events that are
worth noted, as it is absent from most major historical books today.
First, is that the popularity of nutmeg caused the rise of the East
India Company, which becomes the British overseas representation of His
(or Her) Majesty’s government. If not for the East India Company, the
people of India and Singapore today (where the majority of the people
are not descended from White Europeans like Australians or Americans)
would not be speaking English as a lingua franca. Secondly, is the
signing of the Treaty of Breda in 1667, which brought swift end to the
Second Anglo-Dutch War. This treaty marks the exchange of the sole Dutch
region in North America, Nieuw Amsterdam to the English, in return for
having the English giving up their claim on Run, the most isolated
island of the Banda Islands. The treaty worked well on both sides: The
Dutch was able to secure their worldwide monopoly on nutmeg. What about
for the English? Well, most people have never heard of this, but that
formerly-Dutch region of Nieuw Amsterdam was renamed by the English into
what is today known as New York City. If not for the treaty, the
metropolitan area of New York City today would have a significant
Dutch-speaking population, just like the people of Louisiana today have a
significant French (Cajun)-speaking population.
Verdict: 7 out of 10 stars
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