Spice Islands gateway — nutmeg, papeda, and the World War II coral
Ambon is the capital of Maluku province — the fabled Spice Islands that sparked the Age of Exploration when their cloves, nutmeg, and mace were worth more than gold in 15th-century Europe. Today Ambon is an undersea photography capital (it hosts the world's annual Underwater Photo Competition), known for its extraordinary muck diving and the rare mimic octopus, while papeda (sago porridge with fish) remains the daily staple.
The Banda Islands south of Ambon produced the world's entire supply of nutmeg until the 18th century, making them one of the most contested plots of land in history. The Portuguese arrived in 1511, the Dutch VOC seized control in 1605 and held it until 1797, conducting the Banda massacre of 1621 that killed or enslaved virtually all the indigenous Bandanese people to control nutmeg production. Ambon itself was the VOC's first Asian capital before Batavia; its Fort Victoria (1575) is one of the oldest European structures in Southeast Asia.