Queen Juliana signs the Charter for the Kingdom

Dutch, Republican, and federal-state delegations began negotiations over the transfer of sovereignty. The talks addressed the future of the archipelago, but West New Guinea was excluded from the...

The parties agreed to transfer sovereignty to the United States of Indonesia while leaving West New Guinea under Dutch control for later negotiation. The settlement ended Dutch sovereignty over most...

The transfer formally ended Dutch sovereignty over most of the former Dutch East Indies after a revolution and war. West New Guinea was explicitly excluded, leaving Papuans under Dutch colonial rule...

The Round Table settlement excluded West New Guinea from the transfer to Indonesia. Dutch administration continued, and Papuans were not given a decisive role in determining the territory’s future....

President Sukarno announced the return to a unitary Republic of Indonesia. The federal structure had been established during Dutch negotiations and military pressure; its dissolution expressed...

The Charter was solemnly proclaimed in The Hague, Willemstad, and Paramaribo. Its language of partnership marked a constitutional shift, but it did not give Suriname or the Antilles full sovereignty...

Labor actions against Dutch-owned companies escalated after the Netherlands refused to transfer West New Guinea. Indonesian law later treated 3 December 1957 as the effective date for...

Indonesia ended diplomatic relations as the dispute over Dutch-held West New Guinea intensified. The rupture followed the incomplete 1949 transfer and Indonesia’s demand that the territory be...

The Dutch colonial administration inaugurated a representative council whose members included both elected and appointed representatives. It created a limited forum for Papuan political participation,...

Council members adopted a manifesto and developed national symbols, including the Morning Star flag and the name West Papua. The initiative articulated Papuan political identity under Dutch rule as...