The Isle of Amboina

Ambon was one of the most important islands for the spice trade in the seventeenth century as it was one of the only sources of cloves in the world. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to land on Ambon in 1513, and it became the new centre for Portuguese trading activities after they were expelled from Ternate. The Portuguese were dispossessed in 1605 and Ambon then became the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) until the founding of Batavia in 1619. There was intense rivalry between the English and Dutch East India Companies over the island, which came to the fore during the Amboyna Massacre in 1623, when twenty men, some in the employ of the British East India Company, were allegedly tortured and executed by agents of the VOC.