When European Desire Changed the Fate of the Archipelago

In the Middle Ages, Europe was a pitiful place compared to its modern self. Its people were entirely unfamiliar with sensations of spiciness, savouriness, or aroma, relying solely on salt to flavour their food. The low standard of living was reflected in their bland diet, until they were introduced to spices that provided an exciting new sensation, causing demand to soar. The word ‘eroticism’ often carries a vulgar connotation, but here it signifies something more. History records that the European colonisation of the Nusantara was driven by a natural resource highly coveted in Europe: spices that grew only in Southeast Asia, specifically on the small islands of Ternate and Tidore in Maluku. However, economic factors alone do not fully explain the cause of imperialism. If it were purely an economic need, the colonisation would not have been so brutal. The way Europeans monopolised the spice economy in their colonies, disregarding the welfare of the local people while reaping enormous profits for a pittance, suggests that the reasons for imperialism ran deeper than mere economic necessity.

Life in medieval Europe was deeply isolated from the global world. The fall of the Roman Empire had closed or severely hampered connections beyond the continent. This isolation meant that European medicine and cuisine stagnated. Food relied on meat, bread, and local vegetables that were bland and tasteless, with salt as the only seasoning until spices introduced a wealth of flavour. In medicine, Europeans came to view spices as life-saving remedies. Depressed by widespread disease, they embraced spices as a cure-all after Arab traders introduced them. Spices became highly sought after, not only for enriching taste but also as a perceived lifesaver. This is where ‘eroticism’ took hold—an intense obsession with the sensation that made thinking irrational. Spices became a status symbol; possessing them signified wealth, high class, and a connection to the outside world. The soaring demand made Arab traders, who sold spices to Europe at exorbitant prices, immensely rich.

This situation prompted European nations to launch expeditions to find a direct route to the source of spices, bypassing the Arab and Venetian monopolies. Columbus, commissioned by the Spanish crown, sailed west and reached the Americas, but his mission was largely a failure in terms of finding spices. Vasco da Gama later sailed east, reaching India with greater success, though not yet Southeast Asia. The Italian adventurer Lodovico de Varthema later observed the remarkable development of the Portuguese, the first European power in Asia. Subsequently, Tomé Pires, in his Suma Oriental, wrote about the Maluku Islands while stationed in Malacca. This intense desire created an irrational drive, making people willing to sacrifice their lives for a mere seasoning. Economic gain alone would not justify such extreme actions, but a deep obsession with spice made the irrational seem rational.

Meanwhile, Southeast Asia, and Maluku in particular, already had its own spice economy. The people of Maluku were well aware that their commodity was highly prized by Westerners, especially Europeans. As Jack Turner wrote in his book Spice, the Maluku Islands were so small that from a distance they looked like an emerald wizard’s hat floating on the ocean. Despite their size, these islands were the world’s primary clove producers. Only the islands of Ternate and Tidore, along with a few smaller ones like Motir, Makian, and Bakan, produced cloves in abundance. Tomé Pires noted in Suma Oriental that these five islands produced between six and seven thousand bahar of cloves annually, with each bahar valued at around 500 reis or one gold cruzado.