Belitung Island or Billiton is located just about 1 hour flight from Jakarta, the biggest and the busiest city in Indonesia. However, did you know the history behind everything that happened in Belitung Island? Perhaps there are few things that you might not know. So here is the history of Belitung!
Let’s not forget why Belitung was one of the invaded province by the dutch colony hundreds years ago. Belitung was once a huge gem for tin and kaolin resources, and yeah it is also true that Belitung is the largest and finest tin and kaolin producer in Indonesia. You can see the trail all over the island and some even have their own uniqueness, for example the kaolin lake. Things just got serious up until the government ban the mining forever, both for tin and kaolin, as it is damaging the environment, but for some businessmen, laws are made to be broken, and they keep doing what they did. The rest of the local miners started their life as farmers and some choose to be fishermen in this blessed island.
One of their best agricultural product as farmers are the peppercorn, especially when you go to the southern side of Belitung, most of the field is fill with peppercorn farm, and it is proved that Belitung peppercorns are one of the best quality in Indonesia and yes it is also an export quality. With almost zero maintenance fee, that is the answer why the dutch colony risking their lives hundred years ago to get Indonesian spices, especially Pepper. More interestingly, Belitung pepper divided into 2 kind, the white pepper and the black pepper, which came from the same peppercorn, but processed differently. So, which is your favorite black pepper or white pepper.
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