DURING the 16th century, the spice trade powered the global economy much as the trade of crude oil does today. Spices such as nutmeg and cloves, which came from the famed Spice Islands (now the provinces of Maluku and North Maluku in Indonesia), fetched fabulous prices in Europe.

Explorers Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, Samuel de Champlain, and Henry Hudson all sought routes to the Spice Islands. The search for Indonesian spices thus gave humans their first comprehensive understanding of the geography of the planet.