Copra Production at the “End” of the World

What is it about?

Often mentioned as a brief reference, the port town of Ende was a crucial player in a network connecting Arabic, Chinese, Indian, and Javanese merchants with the trade of valuable commodities from Timor and other Eastern Indonesian islands. The history of Ende extends over eight centuries, an entrepot that provided refuge from the intense monsoons and access to priceless items such as bird nests, bee’s wax, cinnamon, enslaved people, beads, and cotton. Known to the Dutch as a pirate and slaving centre, Endenese became the most significant force in the Savu Sea until a military intervention led to the city's burning in 1907. Rebuilt as a producer of agricultural staples such as coconuts, Ende experienced a minor boom by exporting copra. The decades that followed saw forced labor, Japanese occupation, and state assimilation. In this essay, I reconstruct the complex commodity dynamics including coconut production that silently shaped Ende as a fearless and independent society that despite military conflict, marginalisation, and poverty, still maintains a strong sense of character.

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