The British Southeast Indies (British Indonesia)

I once made a game in the Small Worlds forum in which one possibility was that the British took the Dutch East Indies at some point,and intergrated it as part of Australia. I remember reading of the theory somehwere on this forum,and that's where I got the idea from.

But it was just a single sentence,but I've always thought that the theory was rather decent..and that it might be possible. But is it? Realistically,could the British have taken the Dutch colony? If so,would it be intergrated into Australia? If not,would a indepedent British East Indies..be called Indonesia upon possible independence? Or another name? I somewhat see all of it being called Malaysia..not OTL though.

I mean,the British had Malaya and Australia..only other power in the region would be the American controlled Philippines. What would a British Indonesia be like?
 
Well, the desire for trade with the East Indies (Indonesia) is what put the East Indies into the British East India Company originally. I am inclined to believe that the whole region could be unified, eventually, into a single Dominion. However, I'm not familiar with the historia of the region before the Dutch moved in. If there are a multitude of Sultans and the like (such as the Sultan of Brunai, its possible that the region could be a Federation more losely structured than a dominion. The various sultans and rajas could be kept in power by the British who will govern from Singapore.
 
There were several Anglo-Dutch wars OTL. I suppose the British could seize control of the Dutch East Indies in one of those and refused to give them up during the peace process. Though I'm unsure of how the British could take complete control or why they would refuse to give them up...
 
Geography. Once they had Singapore they controlled all trade going into or out of the Indies anyway. This is why they handed back the Dutch possessions they had occupied in the East Indies after the Napoleonic Wars- they didn't need the hassle of actually having to occupy and administer them. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 specifically ensured that Singapore would be regarded as British territory and Britain made no further claims on the Duth East Indies. It took the Dutch the better part of a century to get all the little sultanates under their control- Britain was able to sit back and fiddle with the more coherent Malayan sultanates and let the money come rolling in.

Thus, to sum up, unless the Netherlands is actively hostile to the UK, there's no actual incentive for the British to occupy the Dutch East Indies.
 
Geography. Once they had Singapore they controlled all trade going into or out of the Indies anyway. This is why they handed back the Dutch possessions they had occupied in the East Indies after the Napoleonic Wars- they didn't need the hassle of actually having to occupy and administer them.

Surely that can't be the reason? Singapore became British in 1819, while the Dutch colonies were returned in 1816.
 
Surely that can't be the reason? Singapore became British in 1819, while the Dutch colonies were returned in 1816.

Yes but there was quite a jurisdictional squabble going on until 1824. Remember, Raffles' mission was to establish a port which would give Britain strategic control of the Indies. Once Singapore was established in 1819, Britain pretty much withdrew from the rest of the Indies and patched up things with the Dutch.
 
Geography. Once they had Singapore they controlled all trade going into or out of the Indies anyway. This is why they handed back the Dutch possessions they had occupied in the East Indies after the Napoleonic Wars- they didn't need the hassle of actually having to occupy and administer them. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 specifically ensured that Singapore would be regarded as British territory and Britain made no further claims on the Duth East Indies. It took the Dutch the better part of a century to get all the little sultanates under their control- Britain was able to sit back and fiddle with the more coherent Malayan sultanates and let the money come rolling in.

Thus, to sum up, unless the Netherlands is actively hostile to the UK, there's no actual incentive for the British to occupy the Dutch East Indies.

In this Anglo Dutch treaty of 1824 the Dutch and British settled their issues; the Netherlands agreed to give up (claims) Malacca, the Malay peninsula and the Dutch possessions in (modern day) India and the UK agreed to give up their possessions in (modern day) Indonesia. Although the Dutch East Indies were returned in 1816 (as agreed in the Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1814); but this still left issues, like Singapore on the Malay peninsula, which was established in a disputed sphere of influence. This was one of the issues settled in 1824, which basically was a consolidation of colonial possessions within their respective spheres of influence.
 
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