The Spice Islands
Long ago, Indonesia was famous for its spices. Part of Indonesia was known as the Spice Islands. The people of Europe greatly prized the spices of Indonesia. Merchants carried the spices back to Europe, where black pepper was more valuable than gold! Europeans fought over Indonesia throughout the 1500s and early 1600s. The Dutch eventually won, and they took control of Indonesia. The Dutch forced Indonesian people to grow spices and other valuable crops, and they took all the wealth back to Europe. Indonesia did not gain its freedom until 1949.