by Robert Van Der Upwich (Author)
The Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands East Indies, was formed as a colony of the Netherlands in 1800 when the country nationalized the Dutch East India Company. Expansion included the annexation of the Bird's Head Peninsula in western New Guinea in 1920. Prior to World War II, the Dutch East Indies produced large quantities of coffee and tea (20% of the world's supply), cacao and coconut (25% of the world's supply), sugar, pepper, tobacco, rubber (35% of the world's supply), quinine (most of the world's supply), and oil (significant portion of the world's supply). The islands were the Netherland's main source of raw materials. Very little industry existed in the Dutch East Indies. The main interest for the Dutch colonial administration for the colony was trade. The Dutch language was never forced upon the local indigenous population.