CLOVE TRADE IN AMBON, 1607–1679: VOC MONOPOLY AND POLITICAL-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION

Abstract

This article examines the transformation of the clove trade in Ambon from 1607 to 1679, focusing on the Dutch East India Company (VOC), its monopolistic practices, and their consequences for communities in South Maluku. It adopts a historical approach encompassing heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography, drawing on historical studies and archival references reported in the research materials. The analysis suggests that VOC control evolved through exclusive trading agreements with local authorities, administrative consolidation, regulation of purchasing and exports, and armed maritime surveillance. Hongi expeditions and clove-tree extirpation were employed to restrict competing trade networks and regulate supply. These measures reduced producers’ marketing options, reshaped local political authority, and contributed to resistance and conflict. The study argues that the clove monopoly was not simply a market arrangement but a mechanism through which commercial objectives and colonial state-building became mutually reinforcing. Its conclusions remain interpretive because independent archival verification and the assessment of quantitative claims require further investigation.