Spare a thought for the unfortunate Dutch soldiers who were posted to man a fort on Gunung Api, in the Banda Islands. Service on a tropical island sounds exotic, but the problem is that Gunung Api has been an active volcano since it was first sighted by Portuguese sailors in 1511, erupting over twenty times since then, and regularly rumbling and venting.
Gunung Api, 600-odd metres high and known as Vuurberg to the Dutch, forms part of the rim of a submerged caldera, itself a small part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Determined to maintain control over the riches of the nutmeg islands, the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC), built several forts on nearby Banda Neira, others on Lonthor and Ai, and a couple on the tiny island of Gunung Api, whose main feature is an angry, towering volcano.
What a job!
