 The first clove and nutmeg plantations in Balik Pulau were set up by the British East India Company in 1794.During the early years of Company rule on Penang Island (then the "Prince of Wales Island"), spice cultivation was encouraged as a means to cover the administrative costs of the island.The British also intended to turn the "Prince of Wales Island" into a centre for spice production in Southeast Asia in order to break the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade at the time.