Quick answer: The clove tree is native to the Moluccas, in Indonesia. The Dutch East India Company tried to keep a monopoly on it in the seventeenth century, without ever fully succeeding. In 1770, plants smuggled out of Ternate were shipped to Mauritius, on the initiative of the administrator Pierre Poivre, opening the way for its cultivation in the Indian Ocean, including Madagascar today.
The clove, that small dried bud known for its warm, powerful scent, comes from a tree that once grew only on a handful of islands on the other side of the world. Its history is one of a jealously guarded monopoly, followed by a famous theft that changed the geography of this spice for ever.
The islands of the clove tree
The clove tree (Syzygium aromaticum) is native to the Moluccas, in what is now Indonesia, and more precisely to the islands of Ternate, Tidore, Bacan, Makian and Moti. Before European colonisation, these few islands were the only place in the world where the tree grew, which made it a source of wealth coveted by merchants who had travelled from very far away.
A monopoly the Dutch never quite held
In the seventeenth century, the Dutch East India Company sought to control the entire clove trade, as it already did with nutmeg. But unlike nutmeg, confined to the Banda Islands alone, clove trees grew throughout the Moluccan archipelago, which made this monopoly very difficult to hold in full, despite the Company's repeated efforts to limit and monitor plantations on the islands it controlled directly.
The theft that changed the map of cloves
In 1770, French emissaries managed to take plants from the Afo tree of Ternate, a clove tree said to be very old, and ship them to Mauritius and the Seychelles. This operation was part of the policy of Pierre Poivre, administrator of the Île de France (now Mauritius) from 1766 to 1772, who organised several expeditions to bring cloves and nutmeg from the Moluccas to the Indian Ocean, thereby ending the Dutch monopoly on these spices.
From the Indian Ocean to Madagascar
Since this breakthrough, clove growing has spread to other tropical regions: Zanzibar, the Comoros and then Madagascar in turn became producing lands. Today, Indonesia remains the world's leading producer, but Madagascar features, alongside Tanzania, Sri Lanka and the Comoros, among the countries that still grow this spice from the Moluccas, far from its original home of a few centuries ago.
Where our cloves come from
Our family grows cloves in Vangaindrano, in south-eastern Madagascar. Our cloves are sold whole, to be ground at home as needed.
Frequently asked questions
Where do cloves originally come from?
From the Moluccas, in Indonesia, where the clove tree is native before spreading to other tropical regions.
Why is it said that the Dutch held a monopoly on cloves?
The Dutch East India Company tried to control the whole clove trade in the seventeenth century, although clove trees grew on several islands of the archipelago, making this control difficult to hold in full.
How did cloves reach the Indian Ocean?
In 1770, French emissaries took plants from the island of Ternate and shipped them to Mauritius and the Seychelles, on the initiative of Pierre Poivre, administrator of the Île de France from 1766 to 1772, ending the Dutch monopoly.
Is Madagascar a clove producer today?
Yes, Madagascar features, alongside Indonesia, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and the Comoros, among the countries that grow this spice today.
To go further, our products: Madagascar cloves
The Vanille Désiré team
