The region was previously mostly unclaimed, with the coastal regions and surrounding islands having a trading relationship with both the
Sultanate of Tidore and the
Sultanate of Ternate. Under the 1660 treaty between the Sultanate of Tidore and the Sultanate of Ternate which was under Dutch colony the Papuan people are recognized as subjects of Tidore sultanate. Under the 1872 treaty, the Sultanate of Tidore recognized Dutch control over its entire territory, which was used by
the Kingdom of the Netherlands to establish West Papua as a formal colony part of the
Dutch East Indies. For most of the colonial rule, there was no distinction made between Moluccans and Papuan. With parts of New Guinea is ruled administratively under Residentie Amboina. In 1922, Residentie Ternate was combined with Residentie Amboina and renamed Residentie Molukken. In 1935 the Residentie was renamed Gouvernement Molukken until the creation of Gouvernement Groote Oost in 1938, in which Gouvernement Molukken became residentie again. Under Dutch colonialism, West New Guinea is separated into two afdeeling, Afdeeling Nieuw-Guinea, and Afdeeling Zuid Nieuw-Guinea. In 1949 after the
Round Table conference, Netherlands kept part of its colony with the West New Guinea region known as
Dutch New Guinea. The Dutch planned to settle most of its mixed population from Dutch East Indies in West New Guinea. When that plan failed, the Dutch had planned to withdraw by 1970 and began "Papuanization" to prepare for independence. In February 1961, the Dutch organised
elections for the
New Guinea Council a Papuan representative body to advise the Governor. The Council appointed a National Committee to prepare a political manifesto for the future state. The Morning Star flag was declared as a national flag. The West Melanesia flag featured 14 stars with three colored bars of black, red and white. In December 2014, all West Papuan independence movement groups were united under a single umbrella organization the
United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). The organization is chaired by
Benny Wenda. In July 2019, the ULMWP claimed to have earlier in May united all West Papuan military factions under the one command forming the West Papua Army, including the
West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), that would be under "the political leadership of the ULMWP". The TPNPB released a statement in response denying that it had merged and called for a retraction and apology and said it had withdrawn from the ULMWP following a ULMWP summit in Vanuatu in 2017. On 1 December 2020, the ULMWP announced it was forming a provisional government for the Republic of West Papua with a provisional constitution and with Benny Wenda as interim president. ==See also==