Damar

In 1652 the VOC settlement on the island of Dammer was attacked by people from the neighbouring island. Nine Company employees, including a native of Maccassar, were murdered. A year earlier the VOC had forced the Damme population to destroy more than 14,000 nutmeg trees on the nearby island of Nila, in a move aimed at preventing competing traders from buying the nutmeg and driving up the price. The attack led the Dutch to establish a post elsewhere, on the nearby island of Babar. Later the outpost on Dammer, known as Wilhelmus, was restored.