BANDA ISLANDS, in the Banda sea, Dutch East Indies, 130m. south-east of Amboyna, and 6om. south of Ceram, in the Residency of Amboyna. The ten islands cover only 20 sq.m. The three largest are Lontor, or Great Banda (71m. long), Banda Neira, and Gunong Api, grouped around an inland sea which forms the Banda harbour; Lontor, sickle-shaped, lies south and east, Banda Neira to the north, with Gunong Api to the west. The arrangement is comparable with that of Santorin in the Aegean sea, and undoubtedly these three islands form part of the rim of a crater. West and south-west of Gunong Api are Wai and Run, and north and north-west, Pisang and Suwangi. Channels on either side in the south of Banda harbour enable vessels to enter with safety during either monsoon, whilst a northern passage, between Gunong Api and Banda Neira, is navigable for small vessels. Lontor has coral rock to a height of 400f t., with lava and basalt above, and is certainly volcanic, whilst Gunong Api (1,858ft.), is an active volcano which caused destruction in 1820 and 1852. It is covered with bushes to within 700f t. of the summit, which exhibits various shallow and extinct crater-basins and a hot, smoking plain, sending forth sulphurous vapours and covered with split lava-blocks. The volcanic soil, however, is admirably adapted to the growth of the nutmeg, which is indigenous. The average amount of nutmegs and mace ex ported from Amboyna is 2,000,0001b. and 500,0001b. respectively, and most of this comes from Banda. Other products are cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, coconuts, tapioca and various tropical fruits and vegetables. The population of the islands is 10,364, of whom 6,000 live in Banda Neira, the capital, on the island of that name, the port for the group.
The people are a mixed race, mostly descendants of Javanese, Macassarese, and people from neighbouring islands brought in by the Dutch as slaves to work the nutmeg plantations in the place of the Bandanese, who refused to do so, and were either killed or banished; there exists still a colony of exiled Bandanese on one of the neighbouring Ke group, who, alone, use the old Bandanese language. On Gunong Api there is a small colony of Butonese. On Banda Neira there are many Arab and Chinese traders, and some Malays, with a few Europeans and Eurasians, officials and persons engaged in business. (The Dutch Govern ment is represented by a Controleur.) Agriculture and fishing are the occupations of the natives, many of whom are Christian.
Trade is in Chinese and Arab hands. The Royal Mail Packet Company provides communication with Amboyna. There are roads sufficient for the needs of the population, and a wireless station. The approach, especially from the north, is very beauti ful, likewise the scenery about the inland sea, whilst the marine gardens beneath this are probably unrivalled.
The Banda islands were discovered and annexed by the Portu guese Antonio d'Abreu in 1512, but in the beginning of the 17th century the Dutch expelled the Portuguese and established them selves, in spite of native opposition, on Banda Neira and built a fort there. An English expedition under Captain Keeling ar rived at Banda about this time and endeavoured unsuccessfully to establish a footing on Banda Neira, and about a year later Captain Middleton also failed. A small English settlement left on Wai was raided and destroyed by the Dutch as soon as the protecting English vessel had left, but, Dutch hostility notwith standing, English influence made headway on Lontor, Run and Wai, and in 1621 the Dutch, anxious to make an end of native rule, proposed a joint Anglo-Dutch conquest of the islands. The English declined to co-operate, whereupon the Dutch crushed Bandanese resistance in a ruthless fashion and ruled the islands under a governor, soon afterwards eliminating the English ele ment in the islands. It was alleged English participation against the Dutch in a native revolt on the island of Run which led to the Amboyna Massacre, as a result of which, in 1654, under pressure from Cromwell (see AMBOYNA), Run was awarded to the descendants of those who perished in Amboyna. It was held until the reign of Charles II. (1664), when the Dutch captured it. In 1796 the islands were taken by a British naval force, restored to the Dutch in i800, retaken during the Napoleonic War, and restored finally by the Treaty of Paris of 1814.