Product Description

The tiny island of Run is an insignificant speck in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago--remote, tranquil, and now largely ignored. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, however, Run's harvest of nutmeg turned it into the most lucrative of the Spice Islands, precipitating a fierce and bloody battle between the all-powerful Dutch East India Company and a small band of ragtag British adventurers led by the intrepid Nathaniel Courthope. The outcome of the fighting was one of the most spectacular deals in history: Britain ceded Run to Holland, but in return was given another small island, Manhattan.

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.

"An exciting account of the dangerous voyages, bizarre transactions and desperate battles of the Spice Wars."--The Washington Post

"Fascinating . . . an epic tale, told superbly . . . There is plenty of gore, chance, and piracy to the story."--The Wall Street Journal

"A rousing historical romp. . . a tale of courage, treachery, endurance, cowardice, greed and derring-do."--The New York Times Book Review

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74977 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-01
• Released on: 2000-07-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.com Review
Would you believe that nutmeg formed the basis of one of the most bitter international conflicts of the 17th century, and was also intimately connected to New York City's rise to global preeminence? Strange but true: nutmeg was, in fact, one of the most prized commodities in Renaissance Europe, and its fascinating story is told in Giles Milton's delightful Nathaniel's Nutmeg.

The book deals with the competition between England and Holland for possession of the spice-producing islands of Southeast Asia throughout the 17th century. Packed with stories of heroism, ambition, ruthlessness, treachery, murder, torture, and madness, Nathaniel's Nutmeg offers a compelling story of European rivalry in the tropics, thousands of miles from home, and the mutual incomprehensibility which often comically characterized relations between the Europeans and the local inhabitants of the prized islands.

At the center of the action 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. To avenge his death, and the loss of the island, the British took the Dutch North American colony at Manhattan. (As Milton wittily remarks, although Courthope's death "robbed England of her nutmeg, it gave her the biggest of apples").

Inevitably inviting comparisons with Dava Sobel's Longitude, Nathaniel's Nutmeg is a charming story that throws light on a neglected period of European history, and analyzes its fascination with the "spicy" East. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk

From Publishers Weekly
Exotic spices such as nutmeg, mace and cloves were treasured in the kitchens and pharmacopoeias of 16th- and 17th-century Europe. Nutmeg was even believed to be an effective remedy against plague. Small wonder, then, that traders of the time ventured to the ends of the earth to secure it. With high drama and gracefully integrated research, Milton (The Riddle and the Knight) chronicles this "Spice Race," profiling the leading participants and recording the ruthless violence with which this very real trade war was conducted. The maritime powers of Europe sent companies of adventurers to the Spice Islands (now part of Indonesia), each nation intent on establishing a monopoly and reaping the stupefying profits that the spice trade could produce. The book concentrates on the competition between the Dutch and English East India Companies to control the spice trade nearly 400 years ago. In 1616, Nathaniel Courthope led an English expedition to occupy the Spice Island of Run, a few square miles of land thickly forested with nutmeg trees. As Milton explains, Courthope's assertion of English ownership of Run Island was rejected by the Dutch, who besieged the island for four years before ousting the English (and killing Courthope). However, Courthope's apparent failure led to an unexpected benefit for his country when, in 1667, a treaty confirmed Holland's seizure of Run but, in exchange, validated England's seizure of another piece of land on the opposite side of the worldAthe island of Manhattan. Sprinkled with useful maps and illustrations, Milton's book tells an absorbing story of perilous voyages, greed and political machinations in the Age of Exploration.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The rocky islet of Run, two miles long and half a mile wide, lies amidst the Banda Islands in the remote Pacific. In the 17th century it was distinguished by the precious nutmeg tree that grew there in wild profusion "so that the whole countrey seemes a contrived orchard." In 1616, the Englishman Nathaniel Courthope took possession of the island for the East India Company, holding it for three years against vastly superior Dutch forces. In 1620, Courthope was ambushed on an expedition to a neighboring island; fatally wounded, he threw himself over the side of his boat. In the 1660s, the English gained possession of Run one last time, but the nutmeg groves were gone, uprooted by the Dutch. In one of history's ironies, England finally ceded ownership of Run to the Dutch in exchange for another Dutch island: Manhattan. Nathaniel's Nutmeg is a pleasant historical trifle, but Milton (The Riddle and the Knight, Allison & Busby, 1998) needs, and lacks, a focal event or figure. Not a necessary purchase.ADavid Keymer, California State Univ., Stanislaus
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Atrocious editing--why the English lost the war w/ the colonies
I give the author 2 stars for taking on an interesting topic and having done exhaustive research in a difficult area (very few documented narratives, and many of those destroyed at sea or over time). After getting through half the book, I skipped to the later parts and put it away. It is a linear timeline of voyages by English entrepeneurs to get a piece of the spice trade that was dominated by the Dutch and Portuguese. Each voyage begins with a brief introduction of what was known about the captain, ship and crew, then describes what went wrong during the voyage (and usually things went very wrong). There is a quaint quote from someone's journal along the lines of "nearley the entyre crewe dyed frome the bloody fluxe". The book's title character doesn't get introduced until around page 200 (out of 375 pages) and doesn't dominate the narrative until p. 240.

I think there was a good book in this material, but apparently Mr. Milton's editor couldn't get up the nerve to ask for a re-write. There isn't really much of a theme here, except to reiterate how lucrative the spice trade was at the time. From what I can tell, the author's intent is to give example after example of British pluck, moving forward against daunting odds and all that. That's why the English lost the war with the colonies (among other reasons), and why I'm so disappointed with this book.

A Connecticut Nutmegger
I call it 'Connecticut Nutmegger' because like the nutmeggers, who were peddlers from Connecticut who would sell small carved nobs of wood shaped to look like nutmeg to unsuspecting customers, Milton tries to sell us his book as a special look at an interesting piece of 'history.'

Here is a story that should be fascinating. (One of my favorite books is "Salt: A World History"). Milton's inept handling of the writing makes it a long and boring read. It seems to be one sea voyage following another. Milton likes to end every paragraph with quotations from the original reference, in the difficult language and grammatical construction of the time; complete with the strange spelling. This slows the reading down considerably. It took me several tries to understand that by 'Pooloway' and 'Poolaroone' he was talking about Pulau (Indonesian for Island) Ai and Pulau Run.

While we don't learn anything about how native populations responded to the European conquerers or what the natives thought of them, we do get a true feeling for the evil and sadism of these colonists, both British and Dutch.

Why the book is called "Nathaniel's Nutmeg" is a bit of a mystery, except that a British factor spent several years on Run Island fighting the Dutch. He seemed to have very little to do with the discovery, cultivation, or promotion of the spice, but Milton chooses him as the hero of this story. We don't even meet Nathaniel Courthope until half way through the book and he is a rather pitiful hero, who admittedly steals from his own company. It is true hyperbole to try to convince the reader that Nathaniel is a 'spice trader who changed the course of history."

All in all, with good editing this book could have been written in 200 pages. It is a hodge podge of information about European sea voyages to the South Pacific looking for spices and why economically they mattered so much. Milton covers the venality of the VOC (Dutch East Indies Company) and British East India Company extremely well. But he never proves his case that Courthope was someone who changed the course of history.

Still with all this fascinating data at hand, Milton forces the reader to suffer through his poor writing style. A style, which detracts from the immensely interesting story of the 17th century spice trade.

I have added an extra star to my review; because, had I not read this book, I would never have known of the little island of Run.

Enlightening, gripping
An energized look into the harrowing spice race of the seventeenth century.
Spices were a valuable commodity during this time period, especially nutmeg which was allegedly the panacea for the plague and other medical ailments. Nutmeg grew only on one tropical island and it was called Run.

The author diligently takes the reader through the cut-throat competition between the English and Dutch for possession of not only Run but also other Spice Islands. Some chapters are very descriptive of torture and mistreatments of prisoners and may not be for the squeamish. Nonetheless, the rivalry between these two countries is taut, fierce and intricately detailed.

I, like a few reviewers, fail to make the connection between the author's leading character Nathaniel Courthope and the ultimate land exchange fifty years later of Manhattan for Run Island. Maybe it is a declaration of Courthope's courage and determination to quell Dutch uprisings for four years which eventually led to the land swap five decades later (?)
A good read, and above all a most informative study of these contested times.