500 Years Ago
TIDORE, the sea, the old European fort: there are still remains on this tiny, clean and calm island. Here, 500 years ago, history and the world map shaped each other, tricked each other.
Goenawan Mohamad
Edition : 13 January 2020
500 Years Ago
In Tidore, we can begin the story on November 8, 1521. Three hours after sunset, two Portuguese ships entered the harbor. The crew were no longer robust soldiers. They were what remained of the first people who—after an exceedingly long voyage from Spain, and having suffered countless fatalities—were exhausted but indefatigable witnesses to the fact that the world was indeed round and the spice islands really did exist.
In th
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