Amboyna

Amboyna, the most important of the Moluccas or Spice Islands belonging to the Dutch, lies SW. of Ceram, and NW. of Banda. Area, 365 sq. m. Pop. about 58,000, nearly a third Mohammedans. A bay runs into the island lengthways, forming two peninsulas, the northern called Hitu, and the southern, Leitimor. Amboyna is mountainous, well-watered, fertile, and healthy. Clove, sago, mango, and cocoa-nut trees are abundant, also fine timber for cabinet-work. The Dutch have diligently fostered the growth of the clove, and forced its culture by tyrannical methods. The Dutch took Amboyna from the Portuguese in 1605. The British settlement was destroyed by the Dutch in the infamous Amboyna massacre of 1623, for which, in 1654, Cromwell exacted compensation. The British held the island, 1796-1802. It became finally Dutch in 1814.