Dutch (Civ3)/WWII in the Pacific/Civilopedia

In 1602 the Dutch East India Company was founded to protect the trading interests of
the Netherlands' in the Indian Ocean area. They were given a trade monopoly and allowed to maintain
an armed force. Over the following years the company took control of Java, Sumatra, southern Borneo
and many surrounding islands to form the Dutch East Indies. They also controlled the western section
of New Guinea known as Dutch New Guinea. By 1799, however, the Dutch East India Company found itself
in serious debt and the Dutch government assumed control of their debts, assets and the governing of
their colonies. 
With the Netherlands in Europe falling to the Germans in the summer of 1940, the rich raw
materials of the Dutch South Pacific colonies, particularly oil and rubber, were a target too
tempting for the resource-starved Japanese to pass up.World War II served to hasten the end of the
imperialistic ambitions of the Dutch in the South Pacific. Today the area is known as Indonesia.