Best POD for a united New Guinea?

New Guinea is the big island above Australia which is split between Papua New Guinea in the east and Indonesia in the west. It's quite strange that native Papuans own one half of the island and "foreign" Indonesians own the other half, you'd think it would either be Indonesians owning all of it, or PNG owning all of it. Anyway, what would be the best POD for a united New Guinea. I would prefer a colonial POD which is why it's in the pre-1900 category but any POD would be fine.

Also, is it plausible for New Guinea to become a settler colony for Britain (or the Netherlands) like Australia or New Zealand, or is the terrain too rugged.

Thanks
 
IMHO, I think you a very early PoD for such scenario, most probably in the late prehistoric times.

Eh? No you wouldn't.

The Dutch had some small interest in the Australian landmass as a whole. It's far from inconceivable that, under the right circumstances, they might have claimed the continent and colonised eastern New Guinea along with the western half when the time came.
 
Eh? No you wouldn't.

The Dutch had some small interest in the Australian landmass as a whole. It's far from inconceivable that, under the right circumstances, they might have claimed the continent and colonised eastern New Guinea along with the western half when the time came.
You don't need the Dutch claiming Australia. You just need the Dutch claiming all of New Guinea. I think a slightly stronger Netherlands could be good enough. changel the late 18th and early century and have the Dutch end up with Flanders and I think the Netherlands is strong enough to claim the entire island. After that you need a way to keep it falling into Indonesian hands, who greedily wanted everything in the neighbourhood, but since the POD is in the 18th/19th century that would easily butterfly away both world wars and decolonisation would be very different. Also the Dutch seperating New Guinea from the colony of the Dutch East Indies would help, creating a split early on. Maybe give the Dutch some Pacific islands to colonise and they wouldn't throw all the colonies in the east in one big pile.
 
New Guinea is the big island above Australia which is split between Papua New Guinea in the east and Indonesia in the west. It's quite strange that native Papuans own one half of the island and "foreign" Indonesians own the other half, you'd think it would either be Indonesians owning all of it, or PNG owning all of it. Anyway, what would be the best POD for a united New Guinea. I would prefer a colonial POD which is why it's in the pre-1900 category but any POD would be fine.

Also, is it plausible for New Guinea to become a settler colony for Britain (or the Netherlands) like Australia or New Zealand, or is the terrain too rugged.

Thanks

The native Papuans only own their half thanks to the fact they were colonised by the British/Australians. If the Dutch owned the whole place, Indonesia would own the whole place. Or it might not, since the western half has had a pretty active secessionist movement.

I'd love to see a New Guinea united by its own people, but the best and most obvious way is to get it colonised by one power. OTL it was colonised by three (Germans, Dutch, British). And hopefully not the power that owns the rest of Indonesia.

Even as it was during decolonisation, I'm not sure a successful result from West Papua would result in political unification of New Guinea, since many in West Papua wanted their own country and not just joining Papua New Guinea.
 
Unlike the rest of Indonesia, West Papua was given to Indonesia in the 60's due to American pressure. The early Indonesian republic was pretty unstable and could easily have gone communist. This would handwave American pressure on the Dutch, so the Dutch could keep West-Papua. When it goes independent in the 70's or 80's it could unite with PNG. But I could also see it staying part of the Netherlands, to shield itself from (agressive) Indonesia (assuming it doesnt collapse and split up ITTL).
 
maybe make the Dutch side with the CP in 1914. If the DEI are seized, perhaps the whole of the island is given to the Australians or the British as a mandate after the war? The most important thing IMO to achieve this is to try and get the western portion away from the Dutch and the Indonesians when they gain independence: if the Indonesians get it they will never relinquish it, and the Dutch keeled over IOTL and werent strong enough to prevent a hostile takeover.
 
maybe make the Dutch side with the CP in 1914. If the DEI are seized, perhaps the whole of the island is given to the Australians or the British as a mandate after the war? The most important thing IMO to achieve this is to try and get the western portion away from the Dutch and the Indonesians when they gain independence: if the Indonesians get it they will never relinquish it, and the Dutch keeled over IOTL and werent strong enough to prevent a hostile takeover.
a little problem with that, the netherlands during WW1 had extensive armed forces with a pretty good reputation (one of the reasons the germans didn't invade). this adds half a million troops to the equation (yes, the netherlands had mobilised that many).
and considering how close matched the whole affair was for 3+ years, this increases the likelihood of France collapsing and a quick central win.
 
a little problem with that, the netherlands during WW1 had extensive armed forces with a pretty good reputation (one of the reasons the germans didn't invade). this adds half a million troops to the equation (yes, the netherlands had mobilised that many).
and considering how close matched the whole affair was for 3+ years, this increases the likelihood of France collapsing and a quick central win.
And there is still no chance of the Netherlands keeping its colonies when the UK overruns them after destroying the Dutch navy. The only chance that exists is that the central powers defeat France extremely quickly, before the UK and allies conquer the colonies and the UK willing to make peace with the central powers, or else the central powers will lose their colonies.
 
oh i agree, but getting back would be part of the post-conflict peace negotiations
General consensus on this board is that there is no way that the British and their dominions (and Japan) would return the German colonies. I suspect the same is true about the Dutch colonies, especialy since the Dutch East Indies were a far better colony than the German colonies. The UK and certainly the Dominions were not under thread of theCentral powers (the Netherlands joining or not).Germany can not read the UK. So the UK would have all the time they want to make peace. Since the Dutch were only a minor power and would barely have any influence on the negotiation table, it is extremely likely they will lose their colonies. Also since the UK went into the peace defending Belgium, there is a good chance Belgium would be restored completely and the Dutch would be happy to walk away from the war with just their European area and outside the German "Mittel Europe". Actualy most likely this would just turn the Netherlands into a German puppet. The Netherlands was realy lucky to sit the war out. It can only lose by joining Germany.

That said, it would be a good way to create a united New Guinea. The British, well Australisn, would probably unite the colony and it probably would not become part of a united Indonesia.
 
I believe that the western half of New Guinea was already claimed by the Dutch (wikipedia says 1828), so that wouldn't work.
Is it plausible for the Netherlands to claim the whole of New Guinea in 1828 or is it too unrealistic
 
Is it plausible for the Netherlands to claim the whole of New Guinea in 1828 or is it too unrealistic
With a POD after the Napoleonic wars? Probably not. I think you need a stronger and richer Netherlands than the impoverished country that was left after the Napoleonic wars.
 
With a POD after the Napoleonic wars? Probably not. I think you need a stronger and richer Netherlands than the impoverished country that was left after the Napoleonic wars.
Does anyone know why they claimed only half? I mean, even with claiming half the island they still only had a few scattered trade posts around the coast so why not just claim the whole island?
 
Does anyone know why they claimed only half? I mean, even with claiming half the island they still only had a few scattered trade posts around the coast so why not just claim the whole island?
My guess is that they didn't think they can hold it all. That is why you need an earlier POD, to get a stronger Netherlands willing to claim all of it.
 
Does anyone know why they claimed only half? I mean, even with claiming half the island they still only had a few scattered trade posts around the coast so why not just claim the whole island?

I'd actually argue that it would be due to the Dutch not having any need for the eastern half of the island. It wasn't until the second half of the 19th century that the Dutch managed to completely control their East Indies colonies. Most of the initial possessions on the island were small coastal ports. The inland push didn't occur until later, and the colonial borders are an afterthought to what is most important: possession of the ports. The land in the middle is chump change compared to the coastal possessions.

Speculating, the Dutch likely established ports throughout the region to expand their spice trade, among other resource extraction in the region, while also eliminating as much of the potential for competition within Indonesia as possible. As such, the western expanse of the island, being in the general vicinity and having been colonized by similar people, fell into the Dutch sphere.

In comparison, possession of the eastern expanse of the island would only be practical as a projection of power into the Pacific itself: the various ports have little bearing for the core of the Dutch East Indies, but instead would serve as ancillary ports of call on a route to expansion in the east. See the British in Southeast New Guinea, which straddles Australia and their Pacific island protectorates/colonies in what is now Kiribati, and the Germans in Northeast New Guinea, which was a colonial claim by a nation that was picking through the leftover remnants throughout the world. (It also served as a good anchor for German Micronesia as well).

So, to make the Dutch desire the eastern half of New Guinea, it shouldn't fall down to the Dutch being stronger. It needs to fall under the Dutch needing an eastern, Pacific facing port in addition to the western ports that face their colonial jewel. (Note that OTL this wasn't needed; the coast was the important part, and the jungle was practically impenetrable until much later. There is no threat of losing the ports by land). Eastern New Guinea isn't necessary for complete control of the Indonesian littoral, it is needed to connect the Dutch with any feasible colonies that are in the Pacific.

I would propose that the PoD start with the Dutch maintaining one of their colonies in Oceania. Van Dieman's Land, Nieuw Zeeland, etc. That way, you have the purpose for ports to be established on the eastern side of the island, especially in a time before steam and telegraph becomes a thing. You don't need Australia in total for this, but the addition of the other territories to the Dutch East Indies would give a practical reason for the establishment of ports along the island. By the time that territorial boundaries are drawn, the ownership of pretty much the entire littoral would end up making the island united, de facto. (This doesn't mean that the islands nearby would also be united with New Guinea. Same reasoning applies, especially if the more southerly route is the one needed.)
 
Top