Dutch New Guinea
Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1949 to 1962. It contained what are now Indonesia's six easternmost provinces, Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua, which were administered as a single province prior to 2003 under the name Irian Jaya, and now comprise the Papua region of the country.
During the Indonesian Revolution, the Dutch launched politionele acties to capture territory from the Indonesian Republic. The harsh methods of the Dutch drew international disapproval. With international opinion shifting towards support of the Indonesian Republic, the Dutch managed in 1949 to negotiate for the separation of Dutch New Guinea from the broader Indonesian settlement, with the fate of the disputed territory to be decided by the close of 1950. The Dutch in the coming years stated at the UN that the indigenous population of Dutch New Guinea represented a separate ethnic group from the people of Indonesia and thus should not be absorbed into the Indonesian state. The Indonesian Republic, as successor state to the Netherlands East Indies, claimed Dutch New Guinea as part of its natural territorial bounds. The dispute over New Guinea was an important factor in the quick decline in bilateral relations between the Netherlands and Indonesia after Indonesian independence. The dispute escalated into low-level conflict in 1962 following Dutch moves in 1961 to establish a New Guinea Council.
Following the Vlakke Hoek incident, Indonesia launched a campaign of infiltrations designed to place pressure on the Dutch. Facing diplomatic pressure from the United States, fading domestic support and continual Indonesian threats to invade the territory, the Netherlands decided to relinquish control of the disputed territory in August 1962, agreeing to the Bunker Proposal on condition that a referendum to determine the final fate of the territory be conducted at a later date. The territory was administered by the UN temporarily before being transferred to Indonesia on 1 May 1963. A plebiscite, the Act of Free Choice, was eventually held in 1969, but the fairness of the election is disputed.
Pre-World War II
Before 1898, Papuans lived in isolated, competitive, and autonomous clan and tribal environments. In 1898, the Dutch came and established their presence. Their claim, which was made in 1848, was based on the Sultanate of Ternate's claim on Papua based on Ternatean tributary relation. The Dutch first divided Papua into two afdeelings: Afdeeling Noord-Nieuw-Guinea, and Afdeeling West-En-Zuid-Nieuw-Guinea, both led by controleurs under the Residentie Ternate. The afdeelings were led by controleurs normally responsible for onderafdeeling instead of the usual asistent-resident due to newly established nature of the land. The colonial government set Tanjung Goede Hoop or Jamoer Seba as the boundary of the two afdeelingIn 1901 to subdue the headhunting Ugeris and increase colonial control, Afdeeling West-En-Zuid-Nieuw-Guinea was split into Afdeeling West-Nieuw-Guinea and Afdeeling Zuid-New-Guinea. Afdeeling West-Nieuw-Guinea consisted of the part of Dutch New Guinea from Cape Jamoer Seba to Cape Steenboom and surrounding islands, including the group of Radja Ampat, under a Controller at Fakfak. While Afdeeling Zuid-New-Guinea consisted of the part of Dutch New Guinea from Cape Steenboom to the mouth of the Bensbach river and surrounding islands, under an assistent-resident with a to be determined capital. Later it would be Merauke which was founded on 12 February 1902 for the express purpose of being the capital.
Since their creation, Afdeeling West-Nieuw-Guinea would remain part of the Residentie Ternate until it was transferred into Residentie Amboina in 1911. While the Afdeeling Zuid-Nieuw-Guinea would be an independent afdeeling until it was put under Residentie Amboina in 1913.
In 1920, the three Afdeelings were made into its own residentie Nieuw Guinea. However it did not last as in August 1923 the Governor-General decided to merge the residency into Residentie Amboina. It followed the fate of Residentie Ternate which was also merged into Residentie Amboina in 1922. The merging process was done on 1 April 1924. The Afdeelings themselves were kept the same at the time.
In 1925, the status of the Residentie Amboina was upgraded to the Gouvernement der Molukken, which was divided into two residencies, namely Residentie Amboina and Residentie Ternate. Six onderafdeelings of New Guinea were under the Residentie Ternate. While only one, the Onderafdeeling of Zuid-Nieuw Guinea was under the Residentie Amboina. The reduction in the status of the three afdeelings in Papua to onderafdeeling, and before that the Residentie Nieuw Guinea into Amboina, was caused by the decline in the regional income since the ban of hunting Cendrawasih in 1922.
In 1934, the status of the Gouvernement der Molukken was downgraded into Residentie der Molukken. The residency oversaw Afdeeling Ternate, Ambon, Tual, and North and West New Guinea. The Onderafdeeling Zuid-Nieuw-Guinea and Onderafdeeling Boven Digul were placed under Afdeeling Tual. Afdeeling Noord-Nieuw-Guinea and Afdeeling West-Nieuw-Guinea were combined into one afdeeling called Afdeeling Noord-En-West-New Guinea which oversaw 5 onderafdeeling namely Manokwari, Sorong, Serui, Hollandia and Fak-Fak.
In 1936 the Dutch colonial government shuffled a new territorial division in the residency. The residency was divided into two afdeelings, namely the Afdeeling Noord-Nieuw-Guinea which oversaw 5 onderafdeelings ; and the West-En-Zuid-Nieuw Guinea Afdeeling also oversaw 5 onderafdeeling
In 1937 Onderafdeeling Boven Digul and Onderafdeeling Zuid-Nieuw-Guinea were placed back under Afdeeling Tual. The Afdeeling West-Niuew-Guinea was separated from the afdeeling of Zuid-Niuew-Guinea. Both Afdeling Noord-Niuew-Guinea and Afdeling West-Niuew-Guinea oversaw 4 onderafdeeling each. Afdeling North New Guinea oversaw Fak-Fak, Central Vogelkop, Inanwatan and Mimika, while Afdeeling West New Guinea oversaw Manokwari, Sorong, Serui and Hollandia. The return of West Guinea's Afdeeling status was related to the increase in private oil exploration activities carried out by the Nederlandsche Nieuw Guinea Petroleum Maatschappij in Babo which began its activities in New Guinea on 23 April 1935.
In 1938, Gouvernement Groote Oost was created to encompass all Dutch East Indies residencies east of Java and Kalimantan.
In 1940 there was another shuffle, and Afdeeling Noord-Niuew-Guinea oversaw five onderafdeeling, namely Manokwari, Sorong, Serui, Sarmi and Hollandia. West New Guinea included three onderafdeelings, namely Fak-Fak, Inanwatan and Mimika. While Onderafdeeling Boven Digul and Onderafdeeling Zuid-Nieuw-Guinea were placed under Afdeeling of Tual.
Until after World War II, the western part of the island of New Guinea was part of the Great East governorate of the Dutch East Indies. The Netherlands claimed sovereignty over New Guinea within the colony through its protection over the Sultanate of Tidore, a sultanate on an island west of Halmahera in the Maluku Islands. In a 1660 treaty, the Dutch East India Company recognised the Sultanate of Tidore's supremacy over the Papuan people, the inhabitants of New Guinea. Probably this referred to some Papuan islands near the Maluku Islands as well as coastal areas like Fakfak, through familial relations with local rulers, although Tidore never exercised actual control over the interior and highlands of New Guinea. In 1872, Tidore recognised Dutch sovereignty and granted permission to the Kingdom of the Netherlands to establish administration in its territories whenever the Netherlands Indies authorities would want to do so. This allowed the Netherlands to legitimise a claim to the New Guinea area.
The Dutch established the 141st meridian as the eastern frontier of the territory. In 1898, the Netherlands Indies government decided to establish administrative posts in Fakfak and Manokwari, followed by Merauke in 1902. The main reason for this was the expansion of British and German interests in the east. The Dutch wanted to make sure the United Kingdom and Germany would not move the border to the west. This resulted in the partition of the island of New Guinea.
In reality, most of New Guinea remained outside colonial influence. Little was known about the interior; large areas on the map were white and the number of inhabitants of the island was unknown, and numerous explorations were made into the interior from the turn of the 20th century on. The indigenous inhabitants of New Guinea were Papuans, living in tribes. They were hunter-gatherers.
Pre-World War II economic activity was limited. Only coastal and island dwellers traded to some extent, mostly with the Maluku Islands. A development company was founded in 1938 to change this situation, but it was not very active. So, until World War II, New Guinea was a disregarded and unimportant territory within the Netherlands Indies.
Homeland for the Eurasians
The group that was most interested in New Guinea before the war were the Eurasians or Indo people. Before the war, some 150,000 to 200,000 Eurasians were living in the Netherlands Indies. They were of mixed European and Indonesian descent and identified with the Netherlands and the Dutch way of life. In the colonial society of the Netherlands Indies, they held a higher social status than indigenous Indonesians. They were mostly employed as office workers. As the educational level of indigenous Indonesians was on the rise, more and more Indonesians got jobs previously held by Eurasians. These had no other means of making a living, because, as Europeans, they were forbidden to buy land on Java. This situation caused mental and economic problems to the Eurasians. In 1923, the first plan to designate New Guinea as a settlement territory for Eurasians was devised. In 1926, a separate Vereniging tot Kolonisatie van Nieuw-Guinea was founded. In 1930, it was followed by the Stichting Immigratie Kolonisatie Nieuw-Guinea. These organisations regarded New Guinea as an untouched, almost empty land that could serve as a homeland to the sidelined Eurasians, a kind of tropical Holland, where Eurasians could create an existence.These associations succeeded in sending settlers to New Guinea and lobbied successfully for the establishment of a government agency to subsidise these initiatives. However, most settlements ended in failure because of the harsh climate and natural conditions, and because of the fact the settlers, previously office workers, were not skilled in agriculture. The number of settlers remained small. In the Netherlands proper, some organisations existed that promoted a kind of "tropical Holland" in New Guinea, but they were rather marginal. They were linked to the NSB party and other fascist organisations.