r/Documentaries • u/xx_TCren • 4d ago
Exploration/Adventure NUTMEG: The Horrible History Behind The Popular Spice (2024) - Amateur documentary on Nutmeg: it's biogeography, history and legacy. [1:46:24]
https://youtu.be/9mqerkFWjKU?si=2CFkEe9o3_hxs9cf16
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u/Malthus1 4d ago
I’ll check this out when I can - looks interesting!
On a side note, nutmeg actually has a bizarre bit of geopolitical importance. Maybe it is explored in this video.
During the 17th century, the Dutch were in conflict with the English.
The English had control over the tiny island of Ran, one of the few places that grow nutmeg (its more complex than that - actually, a handful of English adventurers were helping out the locals - but as far as the powers were concerned, England controlled the island).
The Dutch wanted that Island, small as it was - they wanted to control a world monopoly over the spice. After a long conflict, they successfully seized the island.
At the end of the war, the two powers signed a treaty: both were to get back all territories seized in battle. That means the English would have to give back the island of Manhattan … which they had taken from the Dutch.
The English responded: fine, we will do that - if you hand back the Island of Ran. This the Dutch were unwilling to do, it would break their monopoly! So they argued for a trade - England to keep Manhattan, the Dutch to keep Ran. (Naturally, the opinions of the people living there counted for nothing).
Reluctantly, the English agreed.
The kicker: the English knew (but the Dutch did not) that they had successfully transplanted nutmeg trees to their colonies in India. So Ran was in fact completely worthless …
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u/xx_TCren 4d ago
Weird Explorer is an amateur YouTube channel mostly dedicated to tasting and describing fruiting plants from around the world. This is his first documentary exploring the history and legacy of those impacted first hand by the trade of fruiting plants, focusing on in-person accounts from indigenous people, historical analysis and travel footage from the various places Nutmeg grows today, before eventually visiting it's rather small native range of islands in the Indo-Pacific and the stories left behind there.
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u/unfnknblvbl 3d ago
This guy shows up in my YouTube feed every now and then with an interesting video, but each time I watch one, I end up mentally screaming at the TV for him to look at the camera lens, not the camera display ffs.
Still interesting content though
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u/WeirdExplorer 1d ago
I have already made the.. adjustment. 😅 Before YouTube I did a bit of TV and was told to never look into the camera lens. Without thinking much about it, I kept up the habit on YouTube. Somehow it has taken about 10 years for anyone to call me out on it. But yeah maybe a year ago I broke the habit.
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u/unfnknblvbl 1d ago
That's great to hear, well done :)
When I was a little kid, Mobil did a series of commercials with a famous racing driver for their engine oil. It drove me nuts that he didn't look at the camera in any of those commercials. It felt like he was hiding something, or being dishonest with me. Strange, I know haha
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u/GermaneRiposte101 4d ago
A very good video.
They were harsh times and both sides behaved badly.
The Bandanese broke a peace treaty and ambushed the Dutch causing a lot of the angst that was to come.
The Bandanese were ruled by the merchant ruling class: not an ideal means of Government!
The actions of the Dutch were well highlighted in the film.
I am not condoning nor judging either sides actions: it is was it was.
But I have a problem judging Historical actions through modern eyes. It was not only the white men that behaved badly.
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