Qualla: Dutch New Guinea

Dutch New Guinea: Introduction

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Papua Glosarium, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 1 December 1961, at a ceremony in Hollandia, Dutch officials raised a new flag beside the Dutch tricolor. It showed a white Morning Star on a red vertical band, with horizontal blue and white stripes beside it. A new anthem was sung. A New Guinea Council, elected earlier that year, prepared to lead a territory toward independence. Eighteen days later, in Jakarta, President Sukarno issued the Tri Komando Rakjat, the People's Triple Command: defeat the formation of an independent West Papua, raise the Indonesian flag there, be ready to mobilize. Within eighteen months the Morning Star was down and Dutch New Guinea was gone, transferred first to the UN and then to Indonesia.

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Image: Papua Glosarium | CC BY-SA 4.0

Dutch New Guinea: A Colony Nobody Wanted

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Antoni P. Uni, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Dutch claim to western New Guinea rested on a centuries-long chain of indirect rule. In a 1660 treaty, the Dutch East India Company recognized the Sultanate of Tidore's supremacy over "the Papuan people," even though Tidore never actually controlled the interior. In 1872, Tid...

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Image: Antoni P. Uni | CC BY-SA 3.0

Dutch New Guinea: A Homeland That Did Not Work

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kantoor voor Voorlichting en Radio Omroep Nederlands Nieuw Guinea, CC0. In the 1920s and 30s, a strange idea took hold among Dutch colonial planners: New Guinea could become a tropical homeland for the Indo-European population of the Dutch East Indies. Between 150,000 and 200,000 Eurasians, of mixed Dutch and Indonesian ancestry, held an uncomfortabl...

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Image: Kantoor voor Voorlichting en Radio Omroep Nederlands Nieuw Guinea | CC0

Dutch New Guinea: The Linggadjati Amendment

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit KIT photo studio, CC BY-SA 3.0. When the rest of the Dutch East Indies became the independent Republic of Indonesia in 1949, Dutch New Guinea was peeled off at the last minute. The Dutch government argued at the United Nations that Papuans were ethnically distinct from Indonesians, and it began, quite seriously...

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Image: KIT photo studio | CC BY-SA 3.0

Dutch New Guinea: The Vlakke Hoek Incident

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. The crisis became military in January 1962. Indonesia launched a seaborne infiltration against the disputed territory, and on 15 January Dutch destroyers Evertsen and Kortenaer intercepted the force off Vlakke Hoek. Among the Indonesian casualties was Commodore Yos Sudarso, Deput...

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Image: Public domain

Dutch New Guinea: The Act of Free Choice

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. UN administration began in October 1962. On 1 May 1963, the territory was transferred to Indonesia. The agreement stipulated that a plebiscite would be held to determine the final status of the population. In 1969, after Sukarno had fallen and Suharto's New Order government had c...

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Image: Public domain