Fishing in Banda Islands, 17th-century artwork. This scene is from a Dutch voyage to the East Indies (Indonesia). The Banda Islands (part of the Spice Islands or Moluccas) were a prized destination for their spices. Artwork from 'Rerum et urbis Amstelodamensium historia' (1611) a history of Amsterdam by Dutch-Danish royal historiographer Johannes Isacius Pontanus (1571-1639). This book includes descriptions of the first Dutch voyage to the East Indies in 1595 by Cornelis de Houtman. The route taken by Houtman did not extend as far east as the Banda Islands, but later expeditions travelled here.