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 Netherlands formally recognized Indonesian sovereignty at the 1949 Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference with the exception of the Netherlands New Guinea (Western New Guinea), which was ceded to Indonesia 14 years later in 1963 under the provisions of the New York Agreement. The word "Indies" comes from (Names for India). The original name "Dutch Indies" () was translated by the English as the "Dutch East Indies", to keep it distinct from the "Dutch West Indies". The name "Dutch Indies" is recorded in the Dutch East India Company's documents of the early 1620s. Scholars writing in English use the terms "Indië", "Indies",