Indies Committee for Scientific Investigations (Dutch: Indisch Comité voor Wetenschappelijke Onderzoekingen, ICWO), founded in 1897 in Batavia, Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

, with the mission of exploring the land and people of the East Indies, for the interests of agriculture and industry.

The Committee gave opinions on scientific research, with special areas of geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

, botany

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

, zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

, physical anthropology

Physical anthropology

Biological anthropology is that branch of anthropology that studies the physical development of the human species. It plays an important part in paleoanthropology and in forensic anthropology...

 and anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

 and worked as much as possible in accordance with the Society for the Promotion of the Physical Exploration of the Dutch Colonies

Society for the Promotion of the Physical Exploration of the Dutch Colonies

The Society for the Promotion of the Physical Exploration of the Dutch Colonies was founded on 14 May 1890 in Amsterdam, with the mission of increasing the knowledge of the botany of the Dutch colonies.This knowledge had applications both in pure science, as well as the fields of...

, a similar institution in Amsterdam.

It represented the interests of those in the Dutch East Indies Company, prepared the expeditions of Dutch research teams and provided advice and support given to individual scientists.

Thus ICWO sponsored the Central New Guinea Expedition

Central New Guinea Expedition

The Central New Guinea Expedition was a Dutch scientific expedition which was seeking from the north coast of the island to reach snow-covered Wilhelminatop of the Central Plateau of Dutch New Guinea...

 of 1920-1922 and the Dutch participation in the Dutch-American Central New Guinea Expedition in 1926-1927, better known as the Stirling Expedition.