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Cargando... Nathaniel's Nutmeg: Or the True and Incredible Adventures of the Spice Trader Who Changed the Course of History by Giles Milton (2000-07-01) (2001)por Giles Milton; (Autor)
Información de la obraEl Hombre que tuvo el coraje de cambiar la historia por Giles Milton (2001)
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. Clearly the author made a deep investment as to his research, and came out brilliantly, though a bit obviously biased. This is a real adventure, fast-paced, full of commerce, torture, high-seas piracy and warfare, street fights and horrors on numerous kind...all with a backdrop of sensuous spice and allegiance to one's crown, daring and hope. This story has a bearing not only on the obvious but also our American history as it pertains to New York, which Milton spins out very well. Certainly not easy to read the barbarous acts, the injustices, the dashed hopes, but an exciting, important read for sure. Fascinating and detailed research into the 16-17th century spice trade, in which Britain vied with the Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish to control the lucrative trade. The disputes between Britain and the Netherlands were particularly bitter and brutal, resulting in several Anglo-Dutch wars. Spoiler alert, Britain had the last laugh over the Dutch, exchanging the tiny Spice Islands Run for New Amsterdam, otherwise known as Manhattan!
The British acquisition of Manhattan was due as much to other factors, not least of which was the propensity of the island's already self-absorbed residents to steal chunks of timber and stone from its main fort for use in building their own homes. As for Manhattan's rise and rise, that would seem to have a little to do with the inhabitants who remained when the British sailed out through the Verrazano Narrows in 1783, leaving the place in rubble. But this overreaching detracts only slightly from what is a rousing historical romp. Milton leaves one both yearning for a time when the world seemed full of infinite adventure and appalled by what greed did to such a paradise. It is particularly sobering to read of the tendency of the Europeans to slaughter anyone they came across. A Dutch sailor's reaction to another orgy of bloodletting visited upon the Bantam Javanese for asking too high a price for their nutmeg sums it up splendidly: ''There was nothing missing and everything was perfect except what was wrong with ourselves.'' Pertenece a las series editorialesDistinciones
In 1616, an English adventurer, Nathaniel Courthope, stepped ashore on a remote island in the East Indies on a secret mission - to persuade the islanders of Run to grant a monopoly to England over their nutmeg, a fabulously valuable spice in Europe. This infuriated the Dutch, who were determined to control the world's nutmeg supply. For five years Courthope and his band of thirty men were besieged by a force one hundred times greater - and his heroism set in motion the events that led to the founding of the greatest city on earth. A beautifully told adventure story and a fascinating depiction of exploration in the seventeenth century, NATHANIEL'S NUTMEG sheds a remarkable light on history. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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The title is a misnomer. The said Nathaniel (Courthope) only played a minor (and ineffectual, albeit heroic) role in the struggle over Run island (one of the smallest of the six Banda spice islands). In the end the writer makes a plea for celebrating Nathaniel for his heroic, but futile, resistance to Dutch supremacy over Run island and its inhabitants, because ultimately an exchange was agreed between New Amsterdam (present-day New York) and Run island. This exchange supposedly gave the British the better end of the deal (if we ignore the subsequent American war of Independence and loss of British suzerainty over their American colonies). This is a typical case of imposing logics that only make sense with hindsight, but hardly influenced the exchange at the time.
Moreover, Milton presents Nathaniel’s struggle as one of British loftiness over crude Dutch extractionism – civilization over suppression. While such a view is refreshing, when contrasted with the dominant narrative on the Dutch East India Company (VOC), it is equally misleading – the British Empire was hardly less dominating or extractionist than its Dutch version. And ultimately New York and its inhabitants rose against British Imperialism in the name of freedom and civilization. So in the long run Milton’s argument backfires.
Yet, the fact that Courthope struck a reasonable deal with the inhabitants of Run stands. What we do not know, but can reasonably suppose, is that the more inclusive and autonomous aspects of that deal would have fallen victim to the God of colonial Greed in the long run.
What I ultimately take from this book, is a better understanding of the initial failure of the East India Company, which almost ceased to exist in 1657 (one hundred years before the unexpected British victory at Plassey, Bengal, which secured the ascent of the British Raj). Ultimately it was the backing of King Charles II and an extension of the mandate of the East India Company, to include local rule, military empowerment and the use of force, that explain its success after 1657 (one could argue that the British finally managed to copy the lethal mix of powers that made the Dutch East India Company so successful). In light of these changes, one may wonder whether the inhabitants of Run would have been better off under British rule. Milton avoids such painful, reflective questions. Rather than probing the viciousness of both the Dutch and British colonial projects, Milton prefers a gung-ho, white-supremacist adventure narrative. Go and read Amitav Ghosh for a very different narrative on the Nutmeg’s curse! ( )