1623: Amboyna Massacre

ExecutedToday.com ^ | February 27, 2010 | Headsman

[CheshireTheCat]

On February 27,* 1623, the Dutch East India Company beheaded twenty who had been waterboarded into confessing to a terrorist plot.

As in modern times, this scenario originated with resource competition in the Muslim world … in this case, competition for spice, in Indonesia.

European colonialism had pitted the Dutch East India Company against its British counterpart on the archipelago, both scrabbling after the lucrative trade in cloves and pepper, with garnishes of nutmeg, cinnamon, mace, and ginger.

The two rival powers had, as we lay our story, recently come to a tense truce, dividing the commerce between them — and swapping mutual accusations of violating that pact. The arrangement basically gave the Dutch a bigger slice of the pie, so we’ll find them when the cloves hit the fan having the balance of power on their side.....

[Irenic]

Thanks for the information— the East India Company, now there’s a story...

https://www.history.com/news/east-india-company-england-trade

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders

I started watching *The Real Adam Smith: Morality and Markets and The Real Adam Smith: Ideas That Changed the World* and that headed me down the East India Company road.

https://businesseconomist.blogspot.com/2011/04/adam-smith-on-east-india-company.html

That helped occupy my mind after the election.

Reading an interesting book now— The Red Corner: The Rise and Fall of Communism in Northeastern Montana, by Verlaine Stoner McDonald

I find some good books for a fair price at:https://www.betterworldbooks.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand-Pure-USA%20(PSDW)&utm_term=better%20world%20books&utm_content=~Better%20World%20Books

[CheshireTheCat]

Thanks for the book website. I saw something there that looked good.

[nicollo]

Ah, the Dutch enforcing disputed terms of a contract that the English had subverted. Is there any other thread to European history?

This is not pleasant stuff, although it’s a rather unique moment for the British come off looking good. And they put it to good use in home and European politics, including as an excuse to seize Manhattan.

The episode followed a horrid genocide of the Banda islands by the Dutch a few years earlier, as the Dutch punished the islanders for back-dealing w/ the Brits. There was serious money at stake. After the Portuguese figured out how to get to the spice islands, the profits were insane. Nutmeg sold in Europe 600 times the origin cost. King Manuel I became known as the “Grocer King.” From there, the Spanish, Dutch, French, and Brits went into their free-for-all that yielded the modern world.

And these pussies in 21st century cocoons complain about injustice? They have no idea.

[Irenic]

You’re welcome :)

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/giles-milton/nathaniels-nutmeg/