Banda Neira

Banda Neira, also Pulau Naira, is an Indonesian island, is one of the Banda Islands and is part of the Moluccas, Maluku Utara Province.

It is located in the Banda Sea, 160 km south of the island of Seram. Their north-south length is about 3.3 km, and its width is 1.3 km away. Only 100 meters to the west lies the island of Banda Api and 1.5 km to the south or southeast, Banda Besar. The highest elevation is the Pape mountain with 250 meters.

Banda Neira is the main island of the Banda islands and has a small airfield. A total of approximately 14,000 people live on the island.

To the south is the main town of the same name, which is the largest town on the island group with about 7000 inhabitants. The weddings of the spice trade with nutmeg, which then grew only on the Banda Islands, Bandaneira was an important trading center. The old Dutch fort Belgica ( Indonesian: Benteng Belgica ) was completely restored and bears the title since 1995 a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History

Until the early 17th century the Banda Islands were ruled by local people, the Orang Kaya ( means " rich men "). The Portuguese were the first Europeans dominated the spice trade. 1609 built by the Dutch in Banda Neira Fort Nassau ( Indonesian: Benteng Nassau ), in 1611 they built the larger Fort Belgica. 1621 conquered the newly appointed Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company Vereenigde, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the islands and thus ended the reign of the Orang Kaya. The population was killed or enslaved; Bandanese many fled to other islands, including the Kai Islands.

1810 British troops conquered Banda Neira gave the islands but later the Dutch.

From January 1936 to February 1942, the two fighters for independence and later Indonesian politician Mohammad Hatta and Sutan Syahrir were sent by the Dutch colonial power to exile to Banda Neira - after having previously been in January 1935 in Boven Digoel in Papua and then to March 1942 in Sukabumi on West Java had to spend. The homes of the two politicians can be visited.