Paper short abstract:

The centres of Moluccan trade networks were vulnerable low-lying islands which persisted over many centuries, coping with physical hazards and biodiversity loss. This paper reviews the evidence, showing how system resilience through social exchange was able to accommodate perturbations.

Paper long abstract:

The central places of networks that we know to have been crucial in regional and long-distance trade in the Moluccan archipelago of eastern Indonesia between 1500 and 1950 were often environmentally vulnerable low-lying coral atolls, banks and volcanic islands. Nevertheless, they persisted over many centuries, riding periodic denudations and coping with physical hazards and biodiversity loss. This paper reviews the data we have for these hazards and the evidence for erosion and degradation in such locations, building upon and re-evaluating the analysis provided in the author's 'On Edge of the Banda Zone' (2003), based on fieldwork between 1980 and 1986. The paper attempts to show the importance of an historical ecology approach in explaining how the resilience of local systems through social exchange has been able to accommodate the consequences of specific perturbations. The paper concluded with some reflections on the implications for current assumptions concerning the impact of climate change and sea-level rise on small island systems.