Dutch East Indies

State · 1800–1949 CE · at its largest around 1915 CE

The Dutch colony across present-day Indonesia, governed from Batavia (Jakarta) after the Dutch state took over from the East India Company, until Indonesian independence.

On its lands while it lasted

Eruption of Mount Tambora (1815 CE): The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history, on Sumbawa in April 1815; it killed tens of thousands and caused the 'Year Without a Summer' in 1816.
Founding of modern Singapore (1819 CE): Stamford Raffles established a British trading post at Singapore in 1819, which grew into a major free port.
Java War (1825–1830 CE): Rebellion led by Prince Diponegoro against Dutch colonial rule in central Java, in which about 200,000 Javanese died.
Kuching (1827 CE): Capital of Kingdom of Sarawak (1842–1946).
Kuala Lumpur (1857 CE): Capital of Federation of Malaya (1958–1962), Malaysia (1963–today).
Wallace's essay on natural selection (1858 CE): Alfred Russel Wallace wrote from Ternate to Charles Darwin describing natural selection, prompting the joint presentation of their theory in 1858.
Aceh War (1873–1904 CE): Long war in which the Netherlands conquered the Sultanate of Aceh in northern Sumatra, at the cost of tens of thousands of lives.
Eruption of Krakatoa (1883 CE): Catastrophic eruption in the Sunda Strait in August 1883 whose tsunamis killed more than 36,000 people; its explosion was heard thousands of kilometres away.
Java Man discovered (1891 CE): Eugène Dubois found fossils at Trinil on the Solo River in 1891–92, the first known specimens of Homo erectus.
Sukarno (1901 CE – 1970 CE): Leader of the Indonesian nationalist movement who proclaimed independence in 1945 and was the country's first president until 1967.
Suharto (1921 CE – 2008 CE): Army general who seized power after 1965 and ruled Indonesia as president under the authoritarian New Order until 1998.
Lee Kuan Yew (1923 CE – 2015 CE): Founding prime minister of Singapore (1959–1990), who oversaw its transformation into a wealthy trading and financial hub.
Fall of Singapore (1942 CE): Surrender of the British garrison of Singapore to Japan on 15 February 1942, the largest capitulation in British military history.
Indonesian independence (1945 CE): Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed Indonesia's independence in Jakarta on 17 August 1945, two days after Japan's surrender.
Indonesian National Revolution (1945–1949 CE): Armed struggle and diplomacy against the returning Dutch that ended with the Netherlands recognising Indonesian sovereignty in December 1949.