Detail

History-From Spices to the Pacific War

2009-01-22

Between Spain and Portugal

For Europeans, spices particularly cloves and nutmeg, were considered exotic commodities, not only because of their restorative power but also because of their mysterious place of origin. Several attempts were made to cut the monopoly of traders from Arabia, India and China and to press down the price. The success of Vasco da Gama (1497-1499) to reach India through Cape Good Hope opened up the sailing passage for Europeans to Asia. Not long afterward, Malacca was conquered by the Portuguese (1511).

 After the secret Portuguese expedition at the beginning of the 16^th century that involved Antonio d’Abreu and Francisco Serrao to the Moluccas, the subsequent expeditions by Ferdinand Magellan from Spain (1522) and Francis Drake  from England (1579) began to lift up the veil of mystery shrouding the location of the abundant source of spices in the Moluccas.

 In the 16^th century, Spain and Portugal competed with each other to establish their influence in the Moluccas. The Tordesillas Agreement (1494) stipulated that Spain had power over the Western part of the world while Portugal over the Eastern part. Initially the border was 129⁰ East Longitudinal, which meant that the Moluccas was divided into two parts. The Saragossa Agreement (1527) moved the border 17 degree eastward. Portugal obtained the right to exercise its power over the Moluccas while Spain was able to establish a post in Tidore, 1542-1545, but then concentrated in the Philippines. This explains Portuguese influence in the Moluccas during the 16^th century.

 Portugal was more advanced in weapon technology and had powerful armada to protect its spice trade in the Moluccas. They also built forts but gradually the local authorities managed to also master the technology. At the end of the 16^th century Portuguese hegemony began to fade. The area which it had to protect was too extensive for its army that began to suffer shortage in manpower and ships. Furthermore, other powers began to join the competition: Holland and England.

Between Dutch and the English

Dutch victory over the Portuguese in Bantam (Banten) in 1601 and in Ambon, 1605, signalled the beginning of Dutch leadership over the spice route in the Moluccas. At the same time the VOC (VerenigdeOost-Indische Compagnie) was established (1602) as a trading company and also to represent the kingdom in power, which included the right to conduct wars or to sign peace agreements in the area East of Cape Good Hope.

The principal objective of VOC was to have command over the spice trade in the Moluccas so it could be directly sold in Europe. Fort Victoria was built in Ambon (1605) and made as its centre of control. When Governor General J.P.Coen extended VOC’s power to trade throughout the whole of Asia, the government seat was moved to Batavia (1619). On December 31, 1799 VOC was officially declared bankrupt while Holland (the Republiek) was already under French power.

In 1600, England established EIC (English East India Company) to compete in the trade activities in Asia. VOC declared the Moluccas a closed area in 1616 but the English managed to remain on Run Island (1612-1621 & 1665-1667) and on Lonthoir (Lontar) Island in 1612-1621. The competition and strife between VOC and EIC was unavoidable, culminating in 1623 when many English people on Ambon Island were killed in the war against VOC. In 1684, England lost all its posts and forts in the Archipelago. However, in the following years, they concentrated their attention on the East coast of Sumatra.

In 1811 the English succeeded to put the Archipelago under its command not long after the Dutch Governor General W. Daendels (1808-1811) left Batavia. Stamford Raffles became the Lieutenant General and had the Archipelago under his power until it was returned to the Dutch in 1816, Java, and the rest in 1817.

Forts (Defence Structures)

The 16^th century belonged to the Portuguese era, while from the 17^th century to the first half of the 19^th century it was the Dutch era (VOC and the Dutch East Indies government) with a small influence of the English (EIC) in certain places and in short periods. The Dutch established trading posts and built forts in every strategic location, to control the trade routes and also for defence purposes. In a bigger scale, the forts included a whole town or parts of the town centre. The forts were built in a much simpler version than those built in their own country. The main objective was not to have comfort, but how to control the spice trade in as low cost as possible. In their development, the majority of forts were complemented by arrowhead bastions.

In general, the defence structures consisted of a main fort complemented by smaller forts (redoubts) built around the area, functioning as sentry posts at the outer ring.

The Pacific War

During the Pacific war, Papua and the Moluccas was a strategic location for both Japan and the Allied Forces to secure their respective victories. For Japan, the area was the key defence against attacks from the Allied Forces coming from the East and South. While for the Allied Forces, their war against the Japanese from the Philippines until Tokyo was determined whether or not they could conquer Papua and the Moluccas.

In modern warfare, it was no more necessary to have forts like those used by the Dutch, the English and the Portuguese in the past. The Japanese built many pillboxes which they scattered along the coastline as their outer defence line. Their defence in the interior depended mostly on caves (natural and man-made) as they proved to be most functional to hold back the armada of the Allied Forces.