In an era where history is often rewritten to fit ideological trends and shallow revisionism, some questions invite us to look back with a more balanced perspective. One such comparison highlights the vastly different legacies left behind by colonial powers — particularly when contrasting the Dutch presence in Indonesia with the Spanish legacy in Latin America.
Few people are aware that Indonesia, now home to over 270 million people, remained a Dutch colony until after World War II. For centuries, companies like Shell profited from extracting Indonesian oil, while the local population was left in poverty and neglect.
The Netherlands left little to no lasting contribution in terms of culture, education, or infrastructure. Not even a trace of the Dutch language remained — not a single word in daily use. There were no schools, no hospitals, no universities. The Dutch left behind nothing but exploited land and a disenfranchised people.
Now contrast that with Spain’s legacy in the Americas. While no colonial history is without conflict, Spain built more than one hundred cities and over thirty universities throughout Latin America — institutions established centuries before their counterparts in North America. Furthermore, they founded a network of hospitals offering free care to Black, Indigenous, and mixed-race populations.
This raises a crucial question: If Spain came only “to steal, kill, and destroy,” as some modern narratives claim, why build universities like San Marcos in Lima (1551) or the University of Mexico (1551), long before Harvard (1636) or Yale (1701) even existed?
Why establish hospitals that served people of all races during a time when racial inequality was the global norm?
This type of comparison is not about romanticizing or justifying every aspect of colonialism — rather, it’s about seeking truth through documented facts instead of ideological slogans. As independent historians often note: the truth does not fear scrutiny.
It is time we revisit our understanding of colonial history — not to erase it, but to see it in full.
