Dutch East Indies

   The name given to the island colonies founded by the Dutch East India Company, mostly in present-day Indonesia, starting in the seventeenth century. As the Netherlands became part of France when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded in 1795 and was annexed outright in 1811, British hostility toward France was extended to the Netherlands and all Dutch possessions. Britain therefore assumed colonial authority in the East Indies in 1811, yet in 1814 England was obliged by the Treaty of Vienna to return the territory. This was only imperfectly implemented, and disputes arising from continuing British interest in the Indies produced the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1823, which divided the islands between British control in Singapore and Malacca and Dutch control of Sumatra along with the islands between Malacca and Sumatra. Principal Dutch interest focused on the island of Java, but a rebellious population made it difficult to reestablish control. The Java Uprising of 1825–1829 - also referred to as the Great Java War and also the Dippa Negara War - cost the Dutch colonial garrison 15,000 soldiers.

   FURTHER READING:

    Spruyt, J., and J. B. Robertson. History of Indonesia. New York: St. Martin’s, 1967;

    Vandenbosch, Amry. The Dutch East Indies. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1942.

   CARL CAVANAGH HODGE