Commonplace items sometimes play surprising roles in world development. For example, though most people today associate nutmeg with simple baked goods, this common spice once altered the course of political history. For centuries, the nutmeg tree grew only in the Banda Islands, a small chain in the southwest Pacific. Locals harvested the aromatic nuts of the tree and sold them to traders. Eventually these nuts, from which the spice is made, ended up as a luxury item in the European market, via Venetian spice merchants. Eager to establish a monopoly over this valuable spice, the Dutch attacked the Bandas, subjugating the native people in a mostly successful attempt to control the nutmeg trade.
However, one island in the Banda chain remained in the hands of the British and was the object of much conflict between the Netherlands and England. After many battles, the British offered to cede control of the island in exchange for New Amsterdam, a Dutch outpost on the east coast of North America. At the time, the Dutch, inveterate traders, were more interested in the spice trade than in the mercantile value of New Amsterdam and so accepted the offer. In 1667, the Treaty of Breda gave the Dutch complete control of the Banda Islands, and thus of the nutmeg trade, and gave the British New Amsterdam, which they promptly renamed New York.


The passage suggests which of the following about the Banda Islands?

A, The British arrived in the islands before the Dutch.
B, Nutmeg was the only spice that grew on the islands.
C, Natives of the islands produced nutmeg from the nuts of the nutmeg tree.
D, The Banda Islands are still in the possession of the Dutch.
E, The local economy of the islands depended completely on nutmeg

OA is A but i think it is not enough evidence to infer British arrived earlier. What if the Dutched arrived there before but not invade the islands at that time?

Ron, could you help me?
Thank you

The word "remained" indicates that the British had territorial claim over the Banda before the Dutch invaded. This is true especially because up to this point in the passage, the British had not been mentioned. During this period of colonization, whoever arrived at a place first claimed it. Answer choice (A) is the best choice.

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Ben Ku
Instructor
ManhattanGMAT

The passage suggests which of the following about the Banda Islands?


The question is about Islands (plural) instead of Island (singular). Although I understand your explanation, it doesn't correlate with the question. Could you clarify further? Thank you.

You don't consider that Banda Islands is the name of the collection of islands. Therefore an island in this set of islands. In which case A is correct. I was also stumped with this one too, but it turned out to be the most plausible answer of eliminating the other answer choices.

this is actually a good point. in order to conform to the exacting standards of gmac inference questions, we should include some additional words in there to guarantee that the dutch invasion (mentioned in the passage) is actually the first incursion by the dutch into the islands.

this wouldn't require much of a change. in fact, if we just change "the Dutch attacked the Bandas" to "the Dutch, who had never before occupied the Bandas, attacked the islands", then we're all good. we'll make it happen.

"Eager to establish a monopoly over this valuable spice, the Dutch attacked the Bandas, subjugating the native people in a mostly successful attempt to control the nutmeg trade."

clearly dutch took over some of the bandana islands directly from native people, therefore britishers dint arrive there first. therefore A is definately wrong

Please Explain???

vikram,
Please go back and read Ben Ku's answer. He explains that the first sentence of the second paragraph gives this information.

Thank you,

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Jamie Nelson
ManhattanGMAT Instructor