JALUR REMPAH Photo: Gorontalo before 1880, Woodbury & Page (Batavia), KITLV 26755.
Spice Trading Network in Tomini Bay
T
omini Bay is not very popular with millennials or Indonesians in general. We are more familiar
with Manado, Gorontalo, Makassar, Sulawesi, and other land-oriented areas. Tomini Bay is not well known not because of its position, which is quite far from the centre of Indonesia, but because, for some reasons, historians are not that interested in telling the stories of Tomini Bay when, in fact, Tomini Bay is one of the largest bays in the world and was an important part of the spice trade network.
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58 INDONESIANA VOL. 11, 2021
Tomini Bay is a marine area that connects
Shipping and trade in Tomini Bay have
the provinces of North Sulawesi, Goron-
a different character from the shipping
talo, and Central Sulawesi. This area acts
and trade of the other parts of the
as the “launchpad” for commodity trade
archipelago. The differences in character
trajectories in the three regions. Tomini
are caused by geographical factors and
Bay has 56 islands spread over an area
various commodities, including turtle
of about 59,500 km2, with a coastline of
shells, resin, rattan, salt, gold, and various
about 1,179 km2. With a fairly large area,
land products including spices. Geo-
Tomini Bay holds quite a lot of historical
graphical factors and the wealth of these
complexity, especially regarding shipping
commodities have invited many traders
and trade.
from various places; even Chinese traders often visit Tomini Bay.
