Governorate of the Great East Gouvernement Groote Oost (Dutch)
Governorate of theDutch East Indies
1938–1946
Flag Emblem[a]
The Great East region of the Dutch East Indies
Capital	Makassar
Government
Monarch
• 1938–1946	Wilhelmina
History
• Merger of the Constituent Entities	25 May 1938
• Japanese occupation	1942–1945
• Became theState of the Great East	24 December 1946
Preceded by Succeeded by Dutch East Indies Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies State of East Indonesia
Today part of	Indonesia

TheGreat East (Dutch:Groote Oost) was agovernorate (gouvernement) of theDutch East Indies between 1938 and 1946. It comprised all the islands to the east of Borneo (Celebes, theMoluccas, andWest New Guinea, with their offshore islands) and of Java (Bali and theLesser Sunda Islands). Its capital wasMacassar on Celebes.^[1]

The Great East was created with the merger of its constituent residencies on 25 May 1938 and was ruled by a governor.^[2] The first governor was G. A. W. Ch. de Haze Winkelman. FollowingWorld War II, the governorate (except forNetherlands New Guinea) became theState of the Great East (later theState of East Indonesia) on 24 December 1946. This state became a constituent of the federalUnited States of Indonesia in 1949 and was integrated into a unitary Indonesia in 1950 (except West New Guinea, which was only integrated in 1963). As of December 2022, the area is divided into the eastern 17 ofIndonesia's 38 provinces.

The Great Eastgouvernement consisted of the following residencies:^[3]

• Bali and Lombok (Singaradja)
• Celebes en Onderhoorigheden (Macassar), including southern Celebes and neighbouring islands
• Menado (Menado), including all of northern Celebes
• Moluccas (Amboina), including the Moluccas, West New Guinea, and other outlying islands such asWetar andAru
• Timor en Onderhoorigheden (Kupang), including westernTimor and the otherLesser Sunda Islands (except for Bali and Lombok)

• State of East Indonesia

• Cribb, Robert (2000).Historical Atlas of Indonesia. Curzon Press.ISBN 0-7007-0985-1.
• Elout, Cornelis Karel (1930),De Groote Oost, The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W.P. Van Stockum & Zoon.
• Harvey, Barbara Sillars (1974).Tradition, Islam, and Rebellion: South Sulawesi 1950-1965(PDF) (PhD). Cornell University.

• States and territories established in 1938
• States and territories disestablished in 1946
• Subdivisions of the Dutch East Indies
• Indonesia in World War II
• History of New Guinea
• History of Timor
• West Timor
• Western New Guinea
• 1938 establishments in the Dutch East Indies
• 1940s disestablishments in the Dutch East Indies
• 1946 disestablishments

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Dutch-language text
• Pages using infobox former subdivision with unknown parameters