The Scents of Eden: A Narrative of the Spice Trade

The Moluccas, or Spice Islands, located at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, held the European imagination in thrall since 1509, when Magellan's attempt to establish an outpost there ended in defeat. The Catholic explorer led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe in search of these islands fabled for nutmeg, clove, mace, ginger and cinnamon. Corn (Distant Islands) serves up a mesmerizing blend of rambunctious history, exotic travelogue and seafaring adventure as he tracks the exploits of European and American colonizers vying for supremacy in the spice trade over four centuries. His cast of characters includes dispossessed Basque aristocrat Francis Xavier, who cofounded the Jesuits, and Jonathan Carnes, a Salem, Mass., sea captain. Corn explores how the confrontation between Europeans and islanders resonated in many areas; the encounter influenced metaphysical poetry, set Holland and England at loggerheads and spawned an interracial society that upset the planters' hierarchy. The author also unveils a vipers' nest of politics among the islands' Muslim rulers. In an epilog he records his 1994 trip to Sumatra and the Spice Islands, which are far more hospitable than they were in the age of discovery. (Feb.)