Spanish East Indies together with the Spanish West Indies, were administered through the Viceroyalty of New Spain based in Mexico City. After Mexican independence, they were ruled directly from Madrid. As a result of the Spanish–American War in 1898, the Philippines and Guam were occupied by the United States while about 6,000 of the remaining smaller islands were sold to Germany in the German–Spanish Treaty of 1899. The few remaining islands were ceded to the United States when the Treaty of Washington was ratified in 1901. Spanish contact began on , when a Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan reached the Mariana Islands.
Dutch East Indies Residentie Ternate to Residentie Amboina, Residentie Amboina was renamed to Residentie Molukken. In 1935 the Residentie was renamed to Gouvernement Molukken until the creation of Gouvernement Groote Oost in 1938, in which Gouvernement Molukken became residencie again. The Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) and the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force (ML-KNIL) were established in 1830 and 1915 respectively. Naval forces of the Royal Netherlands Navy were based in Surabaya, but were never part of the KNIL. The KNIL was a separate branch of the Royal Netherlands Army, commanded by the Governor-General and funded by the colonial budget.