The Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands East Indies, (Dutch Nederlands-Indië; Indonesian Hindia-Belanda) was the Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II.
It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the former Dutch East India Company that came under the administration of the Netherlands in 1800. During the nineteenth century, Dutch possessions in the archipelago and its hegemony were expanded, reaching their greatest extent in the early twentieth century. Following the World War II Japanese occupation, Indonesian nationalists declared Indonesian independence in 1945. Following the subsequent Indonesian National Revolution, the Netherlands formally recognised Indonesian soverignty in December 1949.
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) had been set up in the early seventeenth century to maximize Dutch trade interests in the Malay archipelago. By 1700, a colonial pattern was well established; the VOC had grown to become a state-within-a-state and the dominant power in the archipelago. Its method of indirect rule was to survive it. After the bankrupt company was liquidated on 1 January 1800, its territorial possessions became the property of the Dutch government.
