In 1667, the Dutch and English finalized a deal that still sounds unbelievable: the Dutch gave up Manhattan, and in return received the tiny Indonesian island of Run, one of the few places on Earth where nutmeg naturally grew.

Nutmeg was one of the most valuable commodities in the world. In Europe, it was prized as a spice, a preservative, a medicine, and even a supposed protection against plague. Demand was enormous, supply was limited, and fortunes could be made controlling the trade.

The Banda Islands in present-day Indonesia were the center of global nutmeg production. Run Island was small, remote, and difficult to defend, but whoever controlled it could profit from one of the most lucrative spice trades on Earth.Manhattan, meanwhile, was still a relatively modest colonial outpost called New Amsterdam. Its future as one of the world’s great financial and cultural centers was impossible to predict.

The agreement became part of the Treaty of Breda, which ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The English kept Manhattan. The Dutch secured stronger control over the nutmeg trade.

For a time, the Dutch decision looked financially smart. Nutmeg prices remained extraordinarily high, and control of the spice trade brought in enormous wealth.

But over the following centuries, nutmeg trees were smuggled and planted elsewhere, global supply expanded, and the spice slowly lost its staggering value. 

Manhattan moved in the opposite direction. What began as a small colonial settlement eventually became the center of New York City, one of the world’s most influential financial and cultural capitals.

One island helped shape the global spice trade. The other became Manhattan.