第1段

The nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans, is a large evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia. Until the late 18th century, it only grew in one place in the world: a small group of islands in the Banda Sea, part of the Moluccas – or Spice Islands – in northeastern Indonesia. The tree is thickly branched with dense foliage of tough, dark green oval leaves, and produces small, yellow, bell-shaped flowers and pale yellow pear-shaped fruits. The fruit is encased in a fleshy husk. When the fruit is ripe, this husk splits into two halves along a ridge running the length of the fruit. Inside is a purple-brown shiny seed, 2-3 cm long by about 2cm across, surrounded by a lacy red or crimson covering called an ‘aril’. These are the sources of the two spices nutmeg and mace, the former being produced from the dried seed and the latter from the aril.

第2段

Nutmeg was a highly prized and costly ingredient in European cuisine in the Middle Ages, and was used as a flavouring, medicinal, and preservative agent. Throughout this period, the Arabs were the exclusive importers of the spice to Europe. They sold nutmeg for high prices to merchants based in Venice, but they never revealed the exact location of the source of this extremely valuable commodity. The Arab-Venetian dominance of the trade finally ended in 1512, when the Portuguese reached the Banda Islands and began exploiting its precious resources.

第3段

Always in danger of competition from neighbouring Spain, the Portuguese began subcontracting their spice distribution to Dutch traders. Profits began to flow into the Netherlands, and the Dutch commercial fleet swiftly grew into one of the largest in the world. The Dutch quietly gained control of most of the shipping and trading of spices in Northern Europe. Then, in 1580, Portugal fell under Spanish rule, and by the end of the 16th century the Dutch found themselves locked out of the market. As prices for pepper, nutmeg, and other spices soared across Europe, they decided to fight back.

第4段

In 1602, Dutch merchants founded the VOC, a trading corporation better known as the Dutch East India Company. By 1617, the VOC was the richest commercial operation in the world. The company had 50,000 employees worldwide, with a private army of 30,000 men and a fleet of 200 ships. At the same time, thousands of people across Europe were dying of the plague, a highly contagious and deadly disease. Doctors were desperate for a way to stop the spread of this disease, and they decided nutmeg held the cure. Everybody wanted nutmeg, and many were willing to spare no expense to have it. Nutmeg bought for a few pennies in Indonesia could be sold for 68,000 times its original cost on the streets of London. The only problem was the short supply. And that’s where the Dutch found their opportunity.

第5段

The Banda Islands were ruled by local sultans who insisted on maintaining a neutral trading policy towards foreign powers. This allowed them to avoid the presence of Portuguese or Spanish troops on their soil, but it also left them unprotected from other invaders. In 1621, the Dutch arrived and took over. Once securely in control of the Bandas, the Dutch went to work protecting their new investment. They concentrated all nutmeg production into a few easily guarded areas, uprooting and destroying any trees outside the plantation zones. Anyone caught growing a nutmeg seedling or carrying seeds without the proper authority was severely punished. In addition, all exported nutmeg was covered with lime to make sure there was no chance a fertile seed which could be grown elsewhere would leave the islands. There was only one obstacle to Dutch domination. One of the Banda Islands, a sliver of land called Run, only 3 km long by less than 1 km wide, was under the control of the British. After decades of fighting for control of this tiny island, the Dutch and British arrived at a compromise settlement, the Treaty of Breda, in 1667. Intent on securing their hold over every nutmeg-producing island, the Dutch offered a trade: if the British would give them the island of Run, they would in turn give Britain a distant and much less valuable island in North America. The British agreed. That other island was Manhattan, which is how New Amsterdam became New York. The Dutch now had a monopoly over the nutmeg trade which would last for another century.

第6段

Then, in 1770, a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre successfully smuggled nutmeg plants to safety in Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa. Some of these were later exported to the Caribbean where they thrived, especially on the island of Grenada. Next, in 1778, a volcanic eruption in the Banda region caused a tsunami that wiped out half the nutmeg groves. Finally, in 1809, the British returned to Indonesia and seized the Banda Islands by force. They returned the islands to the Dutch in 1817, but not before transplanting hundreds of nutmeg seedlings to plantations in several locations across southern Asia. The Dutch nutmeg monopoly was over.

第7段

Today, nutmeg is grown in Indonesia, the Caribbean, India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka, and world nutmeg production is estimated to average between 10,000 and 12,000 tonnes per year.

肉豆蔻树（学名：Myristica fragrans）是一种大型常绿树，原产于东南亚。直到18世纪末，它只在世界上的一个地方生长：印度尼西亚东北部的马鲁古群岛中的班达海的一个岛群，也被称为香料群岛。这棵树枝繁叶茂，叶子是坚韧的深绿色椭圆形，开黄色钟形花和淡黄色梨形果实。果实被肉质的外壳包裹着。当果实成熟时，外壳会沿着果实的长度分裂成两半。里面是一个紫褐色闪亮的种子，长约2-3厘米，宽约2厘米，周围有一个红色或深红色的薄层叫做"外种皮"。这些是肉豆蔻和肉豆蔻皮的来源，前者是由干燥的种子制成，后者是由外种皮制成。

肉豆蔻在中世纪的欧洲烹饪中是一种极受珍视和昂贵的成分，被用作调味品、药物和防腐剂。在这个时期，阿拉伯人是将这种香料独家进口到欧洲的。他们以高价将肉豆蔻卖给以威尼斯为基地的商人，但他们从未透露这种极其珍贵商品的确切来源。阿拉伯人-威尼斯对贸易的统治最终在1512年结束，当时葡萄牙人到达班达群岛并开始开发其宝贵资源。

葡萄牙人始终面临来自邻近西班牙的竞争威胁，开始将他们的香料分销业务外包给荷兰商人。利润开始涌入荷兰，荷兰商船队迅速发展成为世界上最大的商船队之一。荷兰悄悄地控制了北欧大部分的航运和香料贸易。然后，在1580年，葡萄牙沦为西班牙统治，到16世纪末，荷兰发现自己被排除在市场之外。随着胡椒、肉豆蔻和其他香料在整个欧洲的价格飙升，他们决定反击。

1602年，荷兰商人成立了东印度公司，即荷兰东印度公司。到1617年，荷兰东印度公司成为世界上最富有的商业机构。该公司在全球拥有5万名员工，私人军队拥有3万人，船队拥有200艘船只。与此同时，全欧洲有数千人死于瘟疫，这是一种高度传染性和致命的疾病。医生们迫切需要一种停止这种疾病传播的方法，他们认为肉豆蔻有疗效。每个人都想要肉豆蔻，许多人愿意不惜一切代价得到它。在印度尼西亚以几便士的价格购买的肉豆蔻可以在伦敦街头以原价的68,000倍出售。唯一的问题是供应短缺。这就是荷兰人找到机会的地方。

班达群岛由当地苏丹统治，他们坚持对外国势力保持中立的贸易政策。这使他们避免了葡萄牙或西班牙军队在他们土地上的存在，但也使他们无法抵御其他入侵者。在1621年，荷兰人到来并接管了这片土地。一旦牢牢控制了班达群岛，荷兰人开始保护他们的新投资。他们将所有的肉豆蔻生产集中到几个容易守护的区域，连树外种皮都连根拔起并销毁。任何被发现种植肉豆蔻幼苗或携带种子而没有适当授权的人都会受到严厉的惩罚。此外，所有出口的肉豆蔻都被涂抹石灰，以确保没有机会离开岛屿的肥沃种子。荷兰的统治只有一个障碍。班达群岛中的一个岛屿，名为Run，长仅3公里，宽不到1公里，一直在英国的控制下。经过几十年的争夺这个小岛的控制权，荷兰人和英国人在1667年达成了一个妥协协议，即布雷达条约。为了确保他们对每个产肉豆蔻的岛屿的控制，荷兰人提出了一个交易：如果英国将Run岛交给他们，他们将以一个遥远且价值远低于班达群岛的岛屿作为回报交给英国。英国同意了。那个岛屿就是曼哈顿，这就是为什么新阿姆斯特丹变成了纽约。荷兰现在垄断了肉豆蔻贸易，这种垄断持续了一个世纪。

然后，在1770年，一位名叫皮埃尔·普瓦尔的法国人成功地将肉豆蔻植物走私到非洲海岸附近的毛里求斯岛。其中一些后来出口到加勒比地区，特别是格林纳达岛，发展得很好。接下来，在1778年，班达地区发生了一次火山喷发，引发了一场海啸，摧毁了一半的肉豆蔻林。最后，在1809年，英国人重新回到印度尼西亚，并武力夺取了班达群岛。他们在1817年将这些岛屿归还给荷兰，但在此之前，他们将数百棵肉豆蔻幼苗移植到南亚的几个种植园。荷兰的肉豆蔻垄断结束了。

如今，肉豆蔻在印度尼西亚、加勒比地区、印度、马来西亚、巴布亚新几内亚和斯里兰卡等地种植，全球肉豆蔻产量估计平均每年在1万到1.2万吨之间。