Spice Islands

Meaning

Proper Noun

• The Moluccas or Maluku Islands, an archipelago in Indonesia comprising the provinces of Maluku and North Maluku.
• The Zanzibar Archipelago, in the Zanzibar semi-autonomous region of Tanzania.

Origin

• Refers to the importance of the islands for the supply of certain important spices. Clove trees are native to the Maluku Islands, and for some centuries a monopoly of supply existed, until plants were smuggled out and cultivated in Zanzibar.