Page "Banda Islands" Paragraph 5

In August 1511 on behalf of the king of Portugal, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Malacca, which at the time was the hub of Asian trade.

In November of that year, after having secured Malacca and learning of the Bandas ' location, Albuquerque sent an expedition of three ships led by his good friend António de Abreu to find them.

Malay pilots, either recruited or forcibly conscripted, guided them via Java, the Lesser Sundas and Ambon to Banda, arriving in early 1512.

The first Europeans to reach the Bandas, the expedition remained in Banda for about one month, purchasing and filling their ships with Banda's nutmeg and mace, and with cloves in which Banda had a thriving entrepôt trade.

D ' Abreu sailed through Ambon while his second in command Francisco Serrão went ahead towards the Maluku islands, was shipwrecked and ended up in Ternate.

Distracted by hostilities elsewhere in the archipelago, such as Ambon and Ternate, the Portuguese did not return until 1529 ; a Portuguese trader Captain Garcia landed troops in the Bandas.

Five of the Banda islands were within gunshot of each other and he realised that a fort on the main island Neira would give him full control of the group.

The Bandanese were, however, hostile to such a plan, and their warlike antics were both costly and tiresome to Garcia whose men were attacked when they attempted to build a fort.

From then on, the Portuguese were infrequent visitors to the islands preferring to buy their nutmeg from traders in Malacca.