It is a well-known fact that the world significance of Indonesia, or the Dutch East Indies as it was formerly called, is based mainly on two factors: its geographical location and its natural resources. These factors are of vital importance today, but they have existed all along and have had a profound influence on the shaping of the Indonesian past. Naturally, their relative importance did not remain constant throughout the centuries, and it is the very interplay between these two controlling elements which helps to explain or clarify some of the actual events, crises, and changes in the history of the archipelago. In fact, a careful study of that interplay might lead to a new periodization of Indonesian history, which would serve to supplement the traditional division according to the dominant cultural influence.