Meaning of Spice Islands | Babel Free

Definitions

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

Equivalents

Examples

“Blue leagues beckoned him, the Humboldt Current helped him north along the western Patagonian shore, fair trade winds sped him westerly when he set his course for the Spice Islands.”

“There followed a remarkable period of maritime expansion by the Portuguese, who by the end of the century would establish a sea route to the Indies, rounding Africa and crossing the Indian Ocean to reach the subcontinent itself and the Spice Islands that lay beyond.”

“The Portuguese established trading ports at Goa, India, and Sri Lanka and moved farther east to Malacca, Malaysia, and the Spice Islands (the Moluccas) bringing back pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and mace.”

“Halmahera is the largest of the Spice Islands. In contexts involving foreign exploitation of spices, the term Spice Islands sometimes refers only to the five tiny clove-growing islands that lie off the western coast of Halmahera.”

“2008, Andrew Young, Memoirs of a World Traveler, Volume 1: Journeys of a Lifetime, page 170, I decided to prolong my stay in the Spice Islands until the upcoming Zanzibar Cultural Festival and International Film Festival, before heading back to Nairobi.”

CEFR level