LITMIR.BIZ

      EUROPEANS

      Rumors of

       Gold and

       Exotic Trade

      Within a few months of the conquest of Malacca in 1511 by the Portuguese, an expedition was dispatched to locate the fabled spice islands. Some sources state that Antonio D'Abreu, the captain of this pioneer expedition, sighted West Papua's coast in 1512, but this is doubtful. But soon thereafter, references to New Guinea begin to appear in the western literature.

      In 1521, 27 months out of Spain, Antonio Pigafetta, the chronicler of Magellan's epic world circumnavigation, received a first whiff of information about West Papua while loading cloves in Ternate: "...the king of these heathens, called Raja Papua, is exceedingly rich in gold and lives in the interior of the island." This, however, was a decidedly false lead.

      In 1526, the first Portuguese governor of the Moluccas, Jorge de Meneses, landed on Warsai (which he called "Versija") on the northwest coast of the Bird's Head, not far from Sorong. Meneses was on his way to take up a new post at Ternate, when he was driven eastward by adverse winds. He baptized the island Ilhas dos Papuas from the Malay orang papuwah, meaning "frizzy haired man."

      Search for the 'Isla de Oro'

      After this initial forced landing, the more dynamic Spaniards made contact with West Papua as a result of their colonization of the Philippines. In Mexico, on the other side of the Pacific, Hernan Cortez, that prince of the conquistadores, also heard reports of this island of gold. Already in Mexico, and soon in Peru, the Spaniards had plundered a vast store of gold from the Aztecs and Incas. But this had been accumulated over generations, and after their initial euphoria, the Spaniards had to settle for the more mundane mining of silver. But if the Americas held no El Dorado, why not seek one on the other side of the Pacific?

      In 1528 Cortez equipped and sent one of his lieutenants, Alvaro de Saavedra, to relieve a Spanish outpost under siege at Tidore by the Portuguese—and, not so incidentally, to discover and conquer the island of gold. While trying to return to Mexico from the Moluccas, Saavedra reached Biak, which he promptly dubbed "Isla de Oro." Spending one month among "naked black people," Saavedra made plans for further discovery and settlement even though not a trace of gold was found. He tried twice to return to Mexico along the equator but was turned back both times by contrary winds. Later, the Spaniards discovered that the only way to reach the Americas from Asia was to sail north to the latitude of Japan before catching the winds that would carry them east.

      In 1537, the ever-optimistic Cortez directed Hernando de Grijalva to discover the island of gold. The expedition ended in disaster—not only did they find no gold, but the crew mutinied and murdered their captain. The disintegrating ship was abandoned in Cenderawasih Bay, and the seven survivors were captured and enslaved by the natives, becoming West Papua's first white "settlers." Years later they were ransomed by the Portuguese governor of Ternate.

      In 1545, Ynigo Ortiz de Retes, another Mexican-based Spanish captain, gave New Guinea its name, while at the same time claiming it for the King of Spain. He chose the name "Nueva Guinea" either because of the people's resemblance to Africans, or because of the island was on the other side of the globe from Africa. New Guinea first appeared on Mercator's world map in 1569.

      Retes' explorations dispelled the illusion of easy gold for the taking, so Spain soon lost interest in the island. (There in fact is plenty of gold in New Guinea, but the first gold rush, in Laloki, near Port Moresby, did not take place until 1878.)

      In 1606, the last Spanish exploration of New Guinea took place. Luis Vaez de Torres, a Portuguese in the service of Spain (as had been Magellan), sailed the length of New Guinea's south coast and, in two places, landed and claimed possession for Spain. The annexation was ephemeral, but the strait Torres discovered still bears his name. He was first to prove that Australia was separate from New Guinea. Spain maintained the fiction of its claim to New Guinea, based on Torres' voyage, until the treaty of Utrecht in 1714 formally "relinquished" the island to Holland and England.

      In an era of conflicting claims, might made right. In her push for a monopoly on the spice trade in the Moluccas, Holland muscled aside the Spaniards, the Portuguese and, for good measure, her own English allies. Nor did the Dutch neglect explorations to the east.

      In 1606, the same year that Torres made his discovery, Dutch navigator Willem Jansz sailed along New Guinea's west and south coasts. Also looking for gold, he touched land at various points, including the mouth of what has since been called the Digul River.

      Luigi D'Albertis ascending the Fly River in the Neva, in 1876. D'Albertis harrassed the people of the Fly by shooting off fireworks and stealing artifacts. He made few friends even among his own crew, one of whom he beat to death in a fit of anger, but he did make it 930 kilometers upriver.

      In 1616, two more Dutchmen, Jacob le Maire and Willem Schouten, surveyed New Guinea's north coast, including the islands of Cenderawasih Bay. Then, in 1623, Jan Carstensz sighted snow-capped peaks while sailing along West Papua's southern coast. His reports were ridiculed in Europe, as no one believed that there could be snow so near the equator (4°S). None of the doubters bothered to check with the Spaniards about the Andes, and 200 years would pass before whites saw the snows of Kilimanjaro.

      Birds of paradise and slaves

      Although West Papua harbored no gold, there were nonetheless valuable trade items emanating from the island, as the Dutch belatedly discovered. Javanese, Bugis, Bandanese and Seramese traders

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