Run

Run was one of the five Bandanese nutmeg islands. In 1616 it became an English colony. In 1621, the VOC took possession of Run without English permission. Around 1627, the VOC decided to concentrate the cultivation of nutmeg on the islands of Banda Lontar, Ai and Banda Neira. Run was rendered uninhabitable and all the mutmeg trees were cut down. De population was forced to leave. From 1629 the island was virtually uninhabited. In 1654 England and the Dutch Republic signed the Treaty of Amboyna, in which it was arranged that the VOC should cede the island back to the English. The acutal transfer took place in 1665. Because of the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, Run was retaken by the VOC in that same year. In the Peace of Breda in 1667 Run, along with Surinam, was ceded to the Dutch, in exchange for, among others, New Amsterdam, which is present-day New York.