The world's largest island group, the East Indies is sometimes known as the Malay Archipelago. The East Indies includes the Moluccas, which were once fabled as the Spice Islands. For centuries the East Indies was an important trading zone. The islands extend in a wide belt along both sides of the Equator for more than 3,800 miles (6,100 kilometers). They lie between the Asian mainland in the north and west and Australia to the south. The term East Indies has been used at different times to refer to different sections of these islands. In the broadest sense the term East Indies includes all of the islands in the area, as well as all of mainland Southeast Asia and India. More specifically, the group consists of the more than 13,000 islands that make up Indonesia, parts of Malaysia, Brunei, and Papua New Guinea. These include the islands of Borneo, Celebes, Java, Sumatra, the Moluccas, and New Guinea. The 7,000 islands of the Philippines are also sometimes included in the East Indies. Plants and animalsAnimals such as tigers, rhinoceroses, and apes are found on these islands. The plant life on the East Indies includes lush tropical forests, palms, ferns, bamboo, and brilliant flowers. HistoryThe East Indies, specifically the Moluccas, were famous for their spices at least 4,000 years ago. By that time the Arabs and Chinese had established the thriving spice trade. Alexandria in Egypt was a major trading point also. European traders bought spices from the East Indies to resell in European markets. Arab traders wished to keep the true source of these spices a secret. The Europeans, however, knew the source of the spices. When the Arabs began to charge higher prices for the spices they sold, Europeans set out to find a sea route to the islands themselves. In 1488, Bartholomew Diaz returned to Portugal from the first voyage around Africa to India. Four years later Christopher Columbus sailed to the west on behalf of Spain, hoping to find a shorter route. He believed that the Caribbean islands he found were the Indies and that the people living there were Indians. After Europeans realized Columbus' mistake, the Caribbean islands were named the West Indies. For centuries European powers fought over the riches of the East Indies. Finally, the Dutch ruled the Dutch East Indies, Britain ruled Malaya and northern Borneo, the Portuguese ruled Timor, and the Spanish were in the Philippines until the United States defeated them in the Spanish-American War of 1898. No European colonies remain in the East Indies today. Indonesia became independent in 1949. It annexed western New Guinea in 1969, and the eastern half of New Guinea now forms the nation of Papua New Guinea. Two states on the northern side of the island of Borneo, Sabah and Sarawak, became part of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. Brunei gained its independence in 1984. Singapore also joined with Malaysia in 1963, but it became an independent country in 1965. |