Spanish East Indies the early 19th century. Spain's influence on its former colonies in Asia-Pacific is significant to this day. The majority of the people of the Philippines, Guam and the Mariana Islands belong to the Roman Catholic faith which was introduced by Spanish missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries. A large part of the population in these countries use Spanish names and surnames. Also, because of the introduction of new tools, products, crops and technology by Spaniards and Mexicans in the three centuries of colonial rule, many Spanish loanwords entered the native languages of these countries. Art forms such as music,
Dutch East Indies they moved south in late 1941 in search of Dutch oil. On 10 January 1942, during the Dutch East Indies Campaign, Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies as part of the Pacific War. The rubber plantations and oil fields of the Dutch East Indies were considered crucial for the Japanese war effort. Allied forces were quickly overwhelmed by the Japanese and on 8 March 1942 the Royal Dutch East Indies Army surrendered in Java. Fuelled by the Japanese "Light of Asia" war propaganda and the Indonesian National Awakening, a vast majority of the indigenous Dutch East Indies population first