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Courthope
In 1616, Captain Nathaniel Courthope sailed to
the Spice Islands and helped the natives of the island of Run defend themselves
against the Dutch forces of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, who had sold many of the
inhabitants of the other Banda Islands into slavery. By 1616 the Dutch East India Company
controlled 5 of the 6 Banda Islands, a tiny archipelago, too small to be seen
on most modern maps of Indonesia, but of very high importance at the time since
all of the nutmeg and mace produced in the world came from one of these 6
islands! The Dutch, with their monopoly,
routinely burned down the nutmeg trees and strictly controlled the production
to control the world supply, driving prices up to astronomical levels,
typically more than 50,000 times the local cost in the Banda Islands by the
time these precious spices reached the European capitals of London and
Amsterdam. A small sack full of nutmeg
was enough “to set a man up for life, buying him a gabled dwelling in Holborn
and a servant to attend to his needs” (Giles Milton, “Nathaniel’s Nutmeg”,
1999)
Nathaniel Courthope spent 5 years defending the
Island of Run, leading the British effort to keep a line of supply for nutmeg
& mace to the Western World. While
Courthope was ultimately ambushed and murdered by the Dutch, he held the island
free of Dutch control long enough that many years later under the terms of the
Treaty of Breda, the Dutch gave up rights to an island in the new world that the
British had seized in order to retain rights to control the island of Run. The small island the Dutch gave up in
exchange for Run was New Amsterdam, which of course became New York.
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link above for more information about our spices, or on our Item #s
link for specific pack information.
Please feel free to contact us for more information!
Courthope Imported Spices & Herbs, LLC
Retail store opening March 20, 2007:
32 Grove Street
Chester, NJ 07930
(Near the corner of Grove & Main
Street in Chester)
Courthope Imported Spices & Herbs,
LLC
Tel: (908) 879-2942, Fax: (908)
879-2486
www.courthope.com
E-mail contacts: