Amitav Ghosh - The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis

FIGURE 2. Nicolas Bellin, The Banda Islands (ca. 1749 1755). Copper plate engraving.

To this day nobody knows exactly what transpired in Selamon on that April night, in the year 1621, except that a lamp fell to the floor in the building where Martijn Sonck, a Dutch official, was billeted.

Selamon is a village in the Banda

Yet here is Martijn Sonck, on April 21, 1621, halfway around the world from his homeland, in Selamons bale- bale, or meeting hall, which he has requisitioned as a billet for himself and his counselors. beautiful institution, made of white stone, airy and clean inside, with two large urns of water positioned at the entrance for congregants to wash their feet before stepping in. The elders of the village havent taken kindly to the seizure of their mosque, but Sonck has brusquely brushed aside their protests, telling them they have plenty of other places to practice their religion.

This is of a piece with everything else that Sonck has done in the short while that he has been on Lonthor Island. He has seized the best houses for his troops, and he has also sent soldiers swarming over the village, terrifying the inhabitants. But these measures are mere preliminaries, intended only to lay the groundwork for what Sonck actually has in mind: he has come to Selamon under orders to destroy the village and expel its inhabitants from this idyllic island, with its lush forests and sparkling blue seas.

The brutality of this plan is such that the villagers have not, perhaps, been able to fully comprehend it yet. But the Dutchman, for his part, has made no secret of his intentions; to the contrary, he has made it perfectly clear to the elders that he expects their full cooperation in the destruction of their own settlement and the expulsion of their fellow villagers.

Nor is Sonck the first Dutch official to deliver this message to Selamon. The villagers, and their fellow Bandanese, have already endured several weeks of threats and shows of force, always accompanied by the same demands: that they tear down the villages walls, surrender their arms and tools even the rudders of their boats and make preparations for their imminent removal from the island. The demands are so extreme, so outlandish, that the villagers have, no doubt, wondered whether the Dutchmen are in their right minds. But Sonck has been at pains to let them know that he is in earnest: his commanding officer, none other than the governor- general himself, has run out of patience. The people of Selamon will have to obey his orders down to the last detail.

HOW MUST IT FEEL to find yourself face- to- face with someone who has made it clear that he has the power to bring your world to an end, and has every intention of doing so?

Over the preceding couple of decades the people of Selamon, and their fellow Bandanese, have resisted the Dutch to the best of their abilities; on occasion they have even been able to drive the Europeans away. But they have never had to face a force as large and as well- armed as the one that Sonck has brought with him. Outmatched, they have tried hard to appease Sonck to the best of their ability: while some villagers have fled into the neighboring forests, a good many have stayed on, perhaps hoping that a mistake has been made and that the Dutch will leave if they manage to hold out.