Once upon a time, the tiny Banda Islands, now a part of Indonesia’s Maluku province, were hyper-romanticised by Europeans for being part of the Spice Islands, along with Ternate and Tidore, some 500 kilometres away. The Banda islands have a rich history as the spice islands, famous for especially nutmeg, but also cloves, almonds and cinnamon. First colonised by the Portuguese, the Dutch soon took control of the islands and fought the Spice Wars with the British. In the Treaty of Breda in 1667 New Amsterdam was traded by the dutch for Rhun island, to obtain a monopoly of the Banda spice islands. Western traders centuries ago brought back tales of the Eastern islands’ beauty, as well as the spices themselves, which made many a merchant remarkably wealthy.