The Great East ( nl, Groote Oost) was a governorate (''gouvernement'') of the Dutch East Indies between 1938 and 1946. It comprised all the islands to the east of Borneo (

Celebes Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sul ...

, the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ...

, and

West New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, or Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the Melanesian island of New Guinea which is administered by Indonesia. Since the island is alternatively named as Papua, the region ...

, with their offshore islands) and of Java ( Bali and the Lesser Sunda Islands). Its capital was Macassar on Celebes. The Great East was created with the merger of its constituent residencies on 25 May 1938 and was ruled by a governor. The first governor was G. A. W. Ch. de Haze Winkelman. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the governorate (except for Netherlands New Guinea) became the State of the Great East (later the State of East Indonesia) on 24 December 1946. This state became a constituent of the federal United States of Indonesia in 1949 and was integrated into a unitary Indonesia in 1950 (except West New Guinea, which was only integrated in 1963). As of March 2020, the area is divided into the eastern 13 of Indonesia's 34 provinces.

Administrative divisions

The Great East ''gouvernement'' consisted of the following residencies: * Bali and Lombok ( Singaradja) * Celebes en Onderhoorigheden ( Macassar), including southern Celebes and neighbouring islands * Menado (Menado), including all of northern Celebes *

( Amboina), including the Moluccas, West New Guinea, and other outlying islands such as

Wetar Wetar is a tropical island which belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku and is the largest island of the Maluku Barat Daya Islands (literally ''Southwest Islands'') of the Maluku Islands. It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which i ...

and Aru * Timor en Onderhoorigheden (

Kupang Kupang ( id, Kota Kupang, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 C ensus, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 455,850. It is the largest ci ...

), including western Timor and the other Lesser Sunda Islands (except for Bali and Lombok)

Notes

References

* *\* *{{cite thesis , last1=Harvey , first1=Barbara Sillars , type=PhD , year=1974, title=Tradition, Islam, and Rebellion: South Sulawesi 1950-1965 , url=https://www.oxis.org/theses/harvey-1974.pdf , publisher=Cornell University Indonesia in World War II History of New Guinea History of Timor West Timor Western New Guinea 1938 establishments in the Dutch East Indies 1946 disestablishments in the Dutch East Indies Defunct organizations based in the Dutch East Indies

Administrative divisions

See also

Notes

References