page_title: Banda Islands
section_title: English-Dutch rivalry
hierarchical_section_title: Banda Islands / History / English-Dutch rivalry
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Repronegatief. Militairen bij het standbeeld van Koning Willem III op Banda
context_page_description: The Banda Islands are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about 140 km south of Seram Island and about 2,000 km east of Java, and constitute an administrative district within the Central Maluku Regency in the Indonesian province of Maluku. The main town and administrative centre is Bandanaira, located on the island of the same name. They rise out of 4-to-6-kilometre deep ocean and have a total land area of approximately 172 square kilometres. They had a population of 18,544 at the 2010 Census. Until the mid-19th century the Banda Islands were the world's only source of the spices nutmeg and mace, produced from the nutmeg tree. The islands are also popular destinations for scuba diving and snorkeling.
context_section_description: While Portuguese and Spanish activity in the region had weakened, the English had built fortified trading posts on tiny Ai and Run islands, ten to twenty kilometres from the main Banda Islands. With the English paying higher prices, they were significantly undermining Dutch aims for a monopoly. As Anglo-Dutch tensions increased in 1611 the Dutch built the larger and more strategic Fort Belgica above Fort Nassau.
  In 1615, the Dutch invaded Ai with 900 men whereupon the English retreated to Run where they regrouped. Japanese mercenaries served in the Dutch forces. That same night, the English launched a surprise counter-attack on Ai, retaking the island and killing 200 Dutchmen. A year later, a much stronger Dutch force attacked Ai. This time the defenders were able to hold off the attack with cannon fire, but after a month of siege they ran out of ammunition. The Dutch slaughtered the defenders, and afterwards strengthened the fort, renaming it 'Fort Revenge'.
caption: Colonial soldiers standing guard next to the statue of King Willem III of the Netherlands, representing Dutch dominance on Banda.
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