 Until after World War II the western part of the island of New Guinea was part of the Dutch colony of the Netherlands Indies.The Netherlands claimed sovereignty over New Guinea within the Netherlands Indies through its protection over Sultanate of Tidore, a sultanate on an island west of Halmahera in the Maluku Islands.In a 1660 treaty the Dutch East India Company (VOC) recognised the Sultanate of Tidore's supremacy over the Papuan people, the inhabitants of New Guinea.