Dutch Empire lost a number of its colonial possessions and trade monopolies to the British Empire. Nevertheless, major portions of the empire survived until the advent of global decolonisation following World War II (1939–1945), namely the East Indies (Indonesia) and Dutch Guiana (Surinam). Three former colonial territories in the West Indies islands around the Caribbean Sea—Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten—remain as constituent countries represented within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The territories that would later form the Dutch Republic began as a loose federation known as the Seventeen Provinces, which Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and (as "Carlos I") King of Spain,
Republic of Independent Guiana Republic of Independent Guiana The Republic of Independent Guiana () commonly referred to by the name of the capital Counani (rendered "Cunani" in Portuguese by the Brazilians), was a short-lived independent state in South America. "Counani" was created on 23 July 1886 in the area that was disputed by France (as part of French Guiana) and Brazil in the late nineteenth century. The state was founded by French settlers and existed from 1886 to 1891. The territory of the former state of Counani is now located in the Brazilian state of Amapá. Some years after, in 1904 a Frenchman named