Establishment of trade and shipping networks in the gulf of tomini from 1870 to 1930

The influence of geography is one of the factors that support shipping and trade in a marine area, especially the high seas. It is undeniable that the archipelago in the late 19th to early 20th centuries was very crowded with shipping and trade activities. The rush of shipping and trading activities is triggered by trade commodities. During this period, trade commodities were not only spices but also sea and land products. In other words, in this period commodities in the archipelago are heterogeneous. The heterogeneity of commodities is triggered by the decreasing demand for spices. The decline in spices was not only due to the growing knowledge of ingredients processing other than spices, but also spice plants no longer lived in one place. One example is the discovery of a cooling machine. This invention reduces the function of the herb as a preservative. The development of health technology, in this case the production of chemical drugs, shifts the position of herbs as medicine. The development of technology drives trade commodities. In the late 19th to early 20th centuries, one of the commodities that was popular in the international market was mining, one of which was gold. There is a large amount of gold production in the Gulf of Tomini Region. This can be seen from the efforts of the Mandar People and the Dutch East Indies Government to control the mining-producing regions of Moutong and Gorontalo. Gold is one of the main commodities in the Tomini Bay region, but forest products in Parigi and Sea products located in the Togian Islands, are also commodities that attract outside traders, especially from China. Natural potential in some of these areas has triggered trade by seafarers. This trading activity forms a bay trading network which is different from the high seas. This study analyzes the trade and shipping network in the Gulf of Tomini, which is different from the Nusantara trade network, using historical methodology. The intended network is the bay-shipping-network (short distance). One characteristic of the bay shipping network is that shipping can be done throughout the year without waiting for the west or east monsoons. In addition, this network was also formed due to the presence of commodities scattered in the Tomini Bay region which can be reached by seafarers.