Nathaniel's Nutmeg

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With the support of the natives and a tiny military contingent, he held the island for a staggering 1,500 days, fending off a vastly greater Dutch force throughout that period. The author even offers a brief anecdote on the origin of the word “Manhattan” which is derived from the drunkenness that took place there when the native Indians took the alcohol that Hudson offered them, from the native Indian word manahactanienk which means “the island of general intoxication”. One of the most sought-after spice at that time was nutmeg, a native plant of Banda Islands, East Indies (now known as Indonesia).

The way the two lines are drawn together to connect facts by the author is interesting for scholarly reading but I surely wouldn’t recommend this to someone who has just arrived in Indonesia and is looking for information about the country. 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?I read too many book reviews, spend too much time on Goodreads, and pay attention to things like book awards to just randomly pick up a book off the shelf and start it. If you are curious at all about the Spice Trade, or about the roots of the British and Dutch East India Companies, or how the competing interests to control the Spice Trade from the Spice Islands in Indonesia were fought, or even how it all affected the founding of Manhattan (and it did) and the ultimate control of it by Britain, this is the book for you. not much bigger than a garden pea it scarcely had the same appeal as a golden ducat or finely hewn sapphire. In fawning language, Milton gushes about Courthope as a true English patriot forgotten in English history.

After riding out the gale, Sir Hugh re-established contact with the Confidentia and both headed towards the coastline.Nathaniel Courthope, our important Englishman, travelled to the spice island of Run near the present-day Maluku in the eastern part of Indonesia around 1616, the same year Shakespeare died. Yet Milton seems willing to impugn Dutch captains and bureaucrats on flimsier, more circumstantial evidence than we can read between the lines here against Keeling. I know this isn't the most important point in the book, but is that actually true, or does it just kind of "feel" true? the nutmeg but as he wearily admitted, `it is hard to get out of the flesh what is bred in the bone. His forthcoming book (UK: May 2024, US: Sept 2024) is THE STALIN AFFAIR: The Allies' Secret Mission to Wartime Russia.

What a History lesson,I was so pleased that I bought this authors book a real story of the suffering and hardship that was endured by the every day sailor and merchant just to get us the spices that England required , This is the history lessons that should be taught in school today ,and maybe the kids of the future. Giles Milton leaves many of his primary sources verbatim, quoted in 17th century English like what Shakespeare used. At the centre of the story lies Nathaniel Courthope, a trusty lieutenant of the East India Company, who took and held the tiny nutmeg-producing island of Run in the face of overwhelming Dutch opposition for more than five years, before being treacherously murdered in 1620.Surprisingly not very optimistic either, with a history of the failures of the English to develop a stronghold in the Spice Islands, and of the Dutch to learn to love. And everyone wanted it - the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English, though the last two were the greatest foes. The interesting stories of forgotten explorers, soldiers, and sailors in their quest to find spices and glory amidst the uncharted vastness of the region was quite amazing. We get a vivid picture of the hardships and dangers but the wider picture which Milton tries to paint is lost in speculation.

Perhaps the author believes that “history speaks for itself” but overall it was not a pleasant reading experience for me. Brutality was undeniable on both sides, but Nathaniel Courthope's valiant stand on the island of Run made the English claim seem justified. Maybe one day people will laugh at the lenghts we go now to get access and control over the oil resources.The focus is on the English merchants and sailors of the East India Company but by necessity a lot also on their rival the Dutch East India Company. A brilliant adventure story of unthinkable hardship and savagery, the navigation of uncharted waters, and the exploitation of new worlds, Nathaniel's Nutmeg is a remarkable chapter in the history of the colonial powers.