Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. The name for the region was first coined in the 20th century, it was previously known as Further India.
The subregion has 11 countries and the countries can be divided into the mainland (also known as Peninsular Southeast Asia) and the archipelago (also known as Insular Southeast Asia or Maritime Southeast Asia). The mainland countries include:
The archipelago nations are:
Malaysia has two parts and they are divided by the South China Sea. Peninsular Malaysia is on the mainland while East Malaysia is on Borneo, the largest islands in the region. Malaysia is considered as an archipelago nation, however.
Southeast Asia has an area of approx. 4,000,000 kmē (1.6 million sq. miles). As of 2004, more than 550 million people lived in the region, a fifth of them (110 million) on the Indonesian island of Java.
Other subregions of Asia
See also