East Indies East Indies The East Indies or the Indies are the lands of South and Southeast Asia. In a more restricted sense, the Indies can be used to refer to the islands of Southeast Asia, especially the Indonesian Archipelago and the Philippine Archipelago. The name "Indies" is derived from the River Indus and is used to connote parts of Asia that came under Indian cultural influence. Dutch-occupied colonies in the area were known for about 300 years as the Dutch East Indies before Indonesian independence, while Spanish-occupied colonies were known as the Spanish East Indies before the American conquest and later
Dutch East Indies European fabrics was considered too hot to wear in tropical climate. Thus, the light clothing of thin kebaya fabrics and the comfortable and easy to wear batik sarong are considered quite suitable for everyday clothing in hot and humid climate of the East Indies. Later on in the history of the Dutch East Indies, as a new wave of Europeans were brought into the colony, many adopted the Indonesian styles, many even went so far as to wear traditional Javanese kebaya at home. Batik was also a big influence for the Dutch. The technique was so fascinating to them that