The Nutmeg’s Curse: A Story of Power, Exploitation, and the Fate of the Planet

Before the 18th century, every nutmeg in the world came from the tiny, volcanic Banda Islands—until European colonial powers waged war to control them. In 16th-century Europe, a handful of nutmegs could buy a house, making these spice-laden islands a battleground of conquest and devastation. The Bandanese people paid the ultimate price, their fate sealed by an insatiable hunger for profit and power.

In The Nutmeg’s Curse, Amitav Ghosh reveals how this bloody chapter in history is more than just the story of a spice—it is a blueprint for the destructive colonial mindset that continues to shape our world. From climate change to migration crises, from extractive economies to racial injustices, Ghosh traces how the past echoes in our present, exposing the violent forces that still govern geopolitics today.

Weaving together history, philosophy, and urgent contemporary debates, this is a gripping and revelatory book about the deep entanglement of human and non-human forces in shaping our world. As Ghosh writes, “The truth is that our world is still haunted by the specters of empire. The Banda Islands are everywhere.”