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,
Dutch East Indies the declaration of war with Japan, over 100,000 natives volunteered. The KNIL hastily and inadequately attempted to transform them into a modern military force able to protect the Dutch East Indies from Imperial Japanese invasion. On the eve of the Japanese invasion in December 1941, Dutch regular troops in the East Indies comprised about 1,000 officers and 34,000 men, of whom 28,000 were indigenous. During the Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–42 the KNIL and the Allied forces were quickly defeated. All European soldiers, which in practice included all able bodied Indo-European males were interned by the Japanese as POW's.