The Last Perkenier of Banda Naira
Monday, December 14, 2020
NUTMEG, the main commodity of the Banda Naira islands, had its heyday in the 16th century. The Dutch, through the Dutch East-Indies Company (VOC), even sent 37 perkeniers (plantation owners) from the Netherlands to Banda to manage the plantations, in order to cover the nutmeg monopoly supply for Europe’s market. Only one descendant remains of the 16th-century perkeniers: Pongky Erwandi van den Broeke, who manages 12.5 hectares of land. He was the victim of unrest in 1999.
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SOOT covered the walls of the second floor of old rickety buildings. There were holes in the floors, made out of wood and bamboo. The wood cracked when tread upon. Under the floor, two furnaces were burning. During the day, the furnaces are used for cooking. When evening falls, they are used to smoke nutmeg seeds. “This is for nutmeg drying, built in 1729,” said Pongky Erwandi van den Broeke said in mid November.
This drying facility
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