East Indies a European perspective), archaically called Hither India and Further India. The first is the former British India, the second is Southeast Asia. Regions of the East Indies are sometimes known by the colonial empire they once belonged to, hence, "British East Indies" refers to Malaysia, "Dutch East Indies" means Indonesia, and "Spanish East Indies" means the Philippines. Historically, the king of Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) was identified with "Prester John of the Indies", since that part of the world was imagined to be one of "Three Indias". Exploration of these regions by European powers first began in the late 15th century
Dutch East Indies East Indies. In 1811 Daendels was replaced by Governor-General Jan Willem Janssens, but shortly after his arrival British forces occupied several Dutch East Indies ports including Java, and Thomas Stamford Raffles became Lieutenant Governor. Following Napoleon's defeat at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo and the Congress of Vienna, independent Dutch control was restored in 1816. Under the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty, the Dutch secured British settlements such as Bengkulu in Sumatra, in exchange for ceding control of their possessions in the Malay Peninsula (Malaya) and Dutch India. The resulting borders between former British and Dutch possessions remain today between modern Malaysia