Spanish East Indies Spanish East Indies The Spanish East Indies were the colonies of the Spanish Empire in Asia and Oceania from 1565 until 1899. At one time or another, they included the Philippines, Marianas, Carolines, Palaos and Guam, as well as parts of Formosa (Taiwan), Sulawesi (Celebes) and the Moluccas (Maluku). The King of Spain traditionally styled himself "King of the East and West Indies". Administratively, the Spanish East Indies was part of the Captaincy General of the Philippines and the Real Audiencia of Manila. Cebu was the first seat of government, later transferred to Manila. From 1565 to 1821 these territories,
West Indies the Caribbean. From the 17th through the 19th century, the European colonial territories of the West Indies were the French West Indies, British West Indies, the Danish West Indies, the Netherlands Antilles (Dutch West Indies), and the Spanish West Indies. In 1916, Denmark sold the Danish West Indies to the United States for US$25 million in gold, per the Treaty of the Danish West Indies. The Danish West Indies became an insular area of the U.S., called the United States Virgin Islands. Between 1958 and 1962, the United Kingdom re-organised all their West Indies island territories (except the British Virgin