East Indies and Australia - 1652

The first Dutch arrival to East Indies occurred on the 5th of June 1596, just at the time when various East India Companies were being formed. In 1602, the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) or the Dutch East India Company was formed. At this time, the local empires of East Indies were the Aceh Sultanate (or the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam) on the Sumatra island that existed till 1903, the Sultanate of Ternate that covered islands of the Philippines and the Moluccas island group of Indonesia (and existed till 1914), the Banjar Sultanate on Borneo existing till 1860 and the Sultanate of Tidore, again in the Moluccas island group that existed till 1967. Among all these Islamic Sultanates, there were the Dutch, the Portuguese and even the British and the French for a brief amount of time. 

While on one hand the East Indies were flourishing with empires and was at the brink of colonisation, the island of Australia was largely untouched by the Europeans. In fact, the only empires or kingdoms in the entire Oceanian belt were the Fijian Confederacies (made up of Burebasaga, Kubuna, Niumataiwalu and Tovata chiefdoms), the Tonga Empire (or the Tu'i Tonga Empire; existing till 1805) and the Samoan clans on the Samoa Islands. Even much before the christening of New Holland (which came much later in the 19th century), the western and northern coast of the country was explored by Europeans. In the early 17th century, the term Eendrachtsland or Eendraghtsland was given to the explored coastline of Australia after it was discovered by the Dutch ship Eendracht. 

Since the East Indies was already civilised and were in a conflict between the Asian and European powers, the exploration to every island was possible and old maps could find names of almost every part of the East Indies. Most of their nomenclature such as Sumatra (written as Svmatra), Borneo, Java (written as Iava) etc. are still valid. But here's a closer look at the smaller islands and their naming by Europeans in the early 17th century. The following is the division of East Indies islands spread across today's Indonesia, East Timor, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the Philippines. 

Indonesia

• Svmatra (Sumatra island)
• Iava (Java island)
• Banca (Bangka island)
• Engano (Enggano island, Lampung province)
• Revich (Pagai-Selatan island, Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra province)
• Nabau (Pagai-Utara island, Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra province)
• Goe Fortuyns (Sipura island, Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra province)
• Pulo Mintuon (Siberut island, Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra province)
• Pulo Nyas (Nias island, North Sumatra province)
• Pulo de Achem (Breueh island, Aceh province)
• Pulo Way (Weh island, Aceh province)
• Poluirea (Rupat island, Bengkalis Regency, Riau province)
• Bintam (Bintan island, Riau Islands)
• Billiton (Belitung island, Bangka-Belitung Islands)
• Linga (Lingga island, Lingga Regency, Riau Islands)
• Bintang (Anambas island, Anambas Regency, Riau Islands)
• Dalus (Siantan island, Anambas Regency, Riau Islands)
• Celebes (Sulawesi island)
• Iauboc (Bawean island, Greater Sunda Islands, East Java, Indonesia)
• Madura island
• Bally (Bali island)
• Banditen (Nusa Penida island, Lesser Sunda Islands, Bali)
• Lomboc (Lombok island, Lesser Sunda Islands, West Nusa Tenggara province)
• Cumbaya (Sumbawa island, Lesser Sunda Islands, West Nusa Tenggara province)
• Flores 
• Sandelbosch (Sumba island, Lesser Sunda Islands, East Nusa Tenggara province)
• Saeuyo (Sawu island,  Lesser Sunda Islands, East Nusa Tenggara province)
• Rotthe (Rote island, East Nusa Tenggara province)
• Solor (Pulau Lembata island, Lembata Regency, East Nusa Tenggara)
• Ombo (Wetar island, Barat Daya Islands, Maluku province)
• Timor Liaut (Kobroor island, Aru Islands, Maluku province)
• Ceram (Seram island)
• Koy (Kai Besar island, Kai Islands, Maluku province)
• Bouru (Buru island, Maluku province)
• St. Matheus (Wakatobi island, Southeast Sulawesi province)
• Ouby (Peleng island, Central Sulawesi province)
• Pangay (Banggai island, Central Sulawesi province)
• Xulla (Taliabu island, North Maluku province)
• Xulla Bessy (Sulabes or Sanana island, North Maluku province)
• Sapelalla (Mangoli island, North Maluku province)
• Gilolo (Halmahera island, North Maluku province)
• Moluccæ (Maluku islands or Moluccas province)
• Amboina (Ambon island, Maluku province)
• Banda (Banda Islands)

Indonesia / Timor-Leste

• Timor (divided into Timor region of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste)

Malaysia 

• I. de S. Maria (Balambangan island, Kudat Division, Sabah)
• Malacca (Malaya peninsula)

Indonesia / Malaysia / Brunei

• Borneo

Philippines

• I. de S. Micheal (Tawi-Tawi island, Bangsamoro)
• Paragoa (Palawan island)
• Mindanao
• I. S. Juan (Caraga, Mindanao)
• Loyta (Bohol island)
• Negros
• Panay
• Sebu (Cebu island)
• Tandaia (Leyte island)

Indonesia

The Dutch East India Company held territories in East Indies till 1801, after which the VOC was dissolved and the Dutch government took over the administration, although the entire 19th century witnessed conflicts between the Dutch and the English over territorial expansions. It's interesting to note that it was the Dutch trading monopoly that had lured the English to open a trading company in the early 1600s, that lead to their India's expedition. An interesting trivia behind the formation of the East India Company, that while it was being formed by English merchants and traders in London, just behind their office William Shakespeare was writing the epic, Hamlet. 

Talking about naming the islands, the Europeans used the term 'Indonesia' which's still the official name of the country. But as many others have, a local name called Nusantara is given a more patriotic angle. In 1334, the great Majapahit Empire used the term 'Nusantara' referring to the maritime routes around their dominions in Sumatra and Malaya peninsula. although none of the geographers or cartographers used either the term Indonesia or Nusantara to denote this large group of islands, and they were marked with their individual names such as Sumatra, Java, Borneo etc. On some maps, the entire East Indies is labelled as 'Indian Islands' and the same goes for the etymology of the word 'Indonesia'. Interestingly, the currency of Indonesia is the Rupiah whose origin is the same as that of the Indian currency (and several other countries) Rupee. 

The same naming rule shall also be applied to other island groups such as Malaysia, Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. As the 19th century approached, independent Sultnatates started dwindling under the Dutch and other European influences, but still, there were parts of the island chain that retained their independence even when the Dutch had formally ceded the islands as Dutch East Indies in 1816. The Dutch colonisation in Indonesia can be compared to the British in India where the subcontinent was divided into British provinces and the numerous Princely States, although its number in East Indies was a mere four - Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Mangkunegaran and Pakualaman. By the end of the 19th century, almost the entire East Indies was now under the Dutch administration. During the Second World War, the Indonesian islands became part of the mighty Japanese empire, which was followed by its complete independence (recognised by the Dutch) in 1949. 

Australia 

Restricting Australian exploration only to the 17th century, the name Eendrachtsland was present on navigational charts for some time. While the coast of Western Australia was named Eendrachtsland, the northern tip of Northern Territory, around the city of Darwin and the Kakadu National Park was also named as Van Dieman's Land, although it got more into the limelight when the island of Tasmania was given the same name. The northeastern coast of the Northern Territory was identified with Arnhem's Land while the northwestern coast of Queensland was denoted as Carpentaria. These were the initial European findings on the Australian mainland in the 17th century, much before the word 'New Holland' was used. 

Below here is a recreation of a 1652 dated map by the Dutch cartographer Huych Allard (Huych Allardt) showing only the East Indies and Australian coast and parts of the Philippines.