In 1616, fearing the Dutch, the natives of the island pledged their allegiance to the employees of English East India Company, who accepted it on behalf of the Crown.

On December 25, 1616,[3] Captain Nathaniel Courthope and 1st mate Zachary Barnett Duncan reached Run to defend it against the claims of the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

[4] Finally in possession of Run, the Dutch proceeded to kill or enslave all adult men, exile the women and children and chop down every nutmeg tree on the island to prevent the English from retaking it.

After the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667), England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands agreed in the Treaty of Breda to the status quo: the English kept the island of Manhattan, which the Duke of York (the future James II, brother of Charles II), had occupied in 1664, renaming the city on that island from New Amsterdam to New York.

[citation needed] The Dutch monopoly on nutmeg and mace lasted up till the Napoleonic Wars; when in 1810 the British led by Captain Cole invaded and captured the Spice islands.

The transfer of nutmeg trees to Ceylon, Grenada, Singapore and other British colonies in 1817 led to the decline of the Dutch supremacy in the spice trade.