Where does this come from, and can I check it?

For centuries the tiny archipelago held the world's entire supply. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a food fact?

Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Nutmeg grew only on the Banda Islands

For centuries the tiny archipelago held the world's entire supply The nutmeg tree is native to a handful of volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, and for centuries every nutmeg sold anywhere came from there. In 1667 the Dutch traded Manhattan to Britain for Run, one of the Banda islands, to complete their monopoly. The French botanist Pierre Poivre later smuggled seedlings to Mauritius, which helped break the cartel. It sits in Mondo's food collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Mace is the lacy coat of the nutmegThe crimson aril around the seed dries to an amber spice with its own flavour Cloves grew only in the MoluccasThe dried flower buds came from a few islands in eastern Indonesia Tempeh is bound by fungal myceliumCooked soybeans are fermented until white threads knit them into a cake Mount Tambora produced the largest volcanic eruption in recorded historyThe 1815 explosion ejecta triggered the famous Year Without a Summer Indonesia is the world largest archipelagic stateIndonesia comprises more than seventeen thousand islands stretching along the equator in Southeast Asia.Lake Toba fills a colossal volcanic calderaThe eruption that made it around 74,000 years ago was among the largest of the recent geological past

Tags: nutmeg, indonesia, monopoly

Nutmeg grew only on the Banda Islands: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: For centuries the tiny archipelago held the world's entire supply. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a food fact?: Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.