Editing Nutmeg (section)

=== Colonial era ===
The Banda Islands became the scene of the earliest European ventures in Asia, to get a grip on the spice trade. In August 1511, [[Afonso de Albuquerque]] conquered [[Malacca City|Malacca]], which at the time was the hub of Asian trade, on behalf of the king of [[Portugal]]. In November of the same year, after having secured Malacca and learning of Banda's location, Albuquerque sent an expedition of three ships led by his friend [[António de Abreu]] to find it. Malay pilots guided them via [[Java]], the [[Lesser Sunda Islands|Lesser Sundas]], and [[Ambon Island|Ambon]] to the Banda Islands, arriving in early 1512. The first Europeans to reach the Banda Islands, the expedition remained for about a month, buying and filling their ships with Banda's nutmeg and mace, and with [[clove]]s in which Banda had a thriving [[Entrepot Trade|''entrepôt'' trade]]. An early account of Banda is in ''Suma Oriental'', a book written by the Portuguese apothecary [[Tomé Pires]], based in Malacca from 1512 to 1515. Full control of this trade by the Portuguese was not possible, and they remained participants without a foothold in the islands.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

In order to obtain a [[monopoly]] on the production and trade of nutmeg, the [[Dutch East India Company]] (VOC) waged a bloody battle with the Bandanese in 1621. Historian [[Willard A. Hanna|Willard Hanna]] estimated that before this struggle the islands were populated by approximately 15,000 people, and only 1,000 were left (the Bandanese were killed, starved while fleeing, exiled, or sold as slaves).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Indonesian Banda: Colonialism and Its Aftermath in the Nutmeg Islands|last=Hanna|first=Willard|publisher=Yayasan Warisan dan Budaya Banda Neira.|year=1991|location=Moluccas, East Indonesia}}</ref> The Company constructed a comprehensive nutmeg plantation system on the islands during the 17th century.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

As a result of the Dutch [[interregnum]] during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the British [[Invasion of the Spice Islands|invaded and temporarily took control of the Banda Islands]] from the Dutch and transplanted nutmeg trees, complete with soil, to [[Sri Lanka]], Penang, [[Bencoolen (city)|Bencoolen]], and [[Singapore]].<ref>Giles Milton, ''Nathaniel's Nutmeg'', 1999, London: Hodder and Stoughton; {{ISBN|0-340-69675-3}}</ref> From these locations they were transplanted to their other colonial holdings elsewhere, notably [[Zanzibar]] and Grenada. The national [[flag of Grenada]], adopted in 1974, shows a stylised split-open nutmeg fruit. The Dutch retained control of the Spice Islands until [[World War II]].{{cn|date=October 2024}}

[[Connecticut]] may have received its nickname ("the Nutmeg State", "[[Nutmegger]]") from the claim that some unscrupulous Connecticut traders would whittle "nutmeg" out of wood, creating a "wooden nutmeg", a term which later came to mean any type of fraud.<ref name="furer">{{cite web |author1=Rebecca Furer |title=What is a Nutmegger? |url=http://www.wnpr.org/post/what-nutmegger |publisher=Connecticut Public Radio |access-date=29 October 2018 |date=12 August 2011 |archive-date=29 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029232653/http://www.wnpr.org/post/what-nutmegger |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ctstatelibrary.org/CT-nicknames|title=Nicknames for Connecticut|publisher=Connecticut State Library|date=2018|access-date=29 October 2018|archive-date=1 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150901150137/http://ctstatelibrary.org/CT-nicknames|url-status=live}}</ref> This narrative may have to do with the issue that one has to [[Grater|grate]] to obtain the spice powder, not crack a nutmeg, and this may not have been widely known by some purchasers of the product.<ref name=furer/>