Indonesian workers occupy KPM offices during Dutch-company nationalization

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 reorganized the Kingdom after Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles gained internal self-government. It described the partners as countries within one Kingdom, but key matters such as...

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...

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...

The Netherlands recognized the Morning Star flag and Papuan anthem under colonial ordinances that took effect on 1 December. This limited symbolic recognition reflected Papuan demands for...

The New Guinea Council and Dutch officials raised the Papuan Morning Star flag and played the anthem “Hai Tanahku Papua.” The ceremony marked a public claim to Papuan nationhood during Dutch...