Names of Indonesia Oceania and Maritime Southeast Asia. During that era, the East Indies portion now called "Indonesia" fell under Dutch colonial control and therefore was referred to as Dutch East Indies. Insulindia or Insulinde, is an archaic geographical term for Maritime Southeast Asia, encompassing the entire area situated between Australasia and Indochina. More common in Portuguese and Spanish, it is a combined word (portmanteau) from "insula" ("island") and "india" (India). "Indonesia" derives from the Latin and Greek "Indus" (Ἰνδός), and the Greek "nésos" (νῆσος), meaning "island". The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850,
Indos in colonial history indigenous islanders distinctive creole languages evolved. The most spoken creole was Pecok and the oldest one Portugis. But other variations such as Javindo also existed. Most languages have died out due to the loss of its function and loss of its speakers. The Pecok mix language reflects the ethnic origin of Indos. Typified as a mixed marriage language, the grammar of Pecok is based on the maternal Malay language and the lexicon on the paternal Dutch language. At the beginning of colonisation Indos were at least bi-lingual and as off the VOC era Indos have always been used as translators