Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia together with South-East Asia, and also call as Southeastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of Australia. Southeast Asia is bordered to the north by East Asia, to the west by South Asia and the Bay of Bengal, to the east by Oceania and the Pacific Ocean, and to the south by Australia and the Indian Ocean. except the British Indian Ocean Territory and two out of 26 atolls of Maldives in South Asia, Maritime Southeast Asia is the only other subregion of Asia that lies partly within the Southern Hemisphere. Mainland Southeast Asia is completely in the Northern Hemisphere. East Timor and the southern member of Indonesia are the only parts that are south of the Equator.

In advanced definition, Southeast Asia consists of two subregions:

The region lies almost the intersection of geological plates, with both heavy seismic and volcanic activities. The Sunda Plate is the leading plate of the region, featuring almost all Southeast Asian countries apart from Myanmar, northern Thailand, northern Laos, northern Vietnam, and northern Luzon of the Philippines. The mountain ranges in Myanmar, Thailand, and Peninsular Malaysia are element of the Alpide belt, while the islands of the Philippines are factor of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Both seismic belts meet in Indonesia, causing the region to pretend relatively high occurrences of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

It covers about 4,500,000 km^{2 1,700,000 sq mi, which is 10.5% of Asia or 3% of Earth's calculation land area. Its or situation. population is more than 655 million, approximately 8.5% of the world's population. it is the third most populous geographical region in Asia after South Asia and East Asia. The region is culturally and ethnically diverse, with hundreds of languages spoken by different ethnic groups. Ten countries in the region are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN, a regional organization established for economic, political, military, educational, and cultural integration amongst its members.}

Definitions

The region, together with part of South Asia, was alive known by Europeans as the Insulindia Indian Islands, used to describe the region between Indochina and Australasia.

The term "Southeast Asia" was first used in 1839 by American pastor Howard Malcolm in his book Travels in South-Eastern Asia. Malcolm only listed the Mainland point and excluded the Maritime section in his definition of Southeast Asia. The term was officially used in the midst of World War II by the Allies, through the an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular realize figure or combination. of South East Asia Command SEAC in 1943. SEAC popularised the ownership of the term "Southeast Asia," although what constituted Southeast Asia was not fixed; for example, SEAC excluded the Philippines and a large part of Indonesia while including Ceylon. However, by the unhurried 1970s, a roughly standard use of the term "Southeast Asia" and the territories it encompasses had emerged. Although from a cultural or linguistic perspective the definitions of "Southeast Asia" may vary, the most common definitions nowadays include the area represented by the countries sovereign states and dependent territories referred below.

Ten of the eleven states of Southeast Asia are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN, while East Timor is an observer state. Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer. Sovereignty issues survive over some islands in the South China Sea.

* Administrative centre in Putrajaya.

Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia or the Indochinese Peninsula and Maritime Southeast Asia or the similarly defined Malay Archipelago Javanese: Nusantara.

Mainland Southeast Asia includes:

Maritime Southeast Asia includes:

Although Peninsular Malaysia is geographically situated in Mainland Southeast Asia, it also shares many similar cultural and ecological affinities with surrounding islands, thus it serves as a bridge of two subregions. Geographically, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India is also considered a part of Maritime Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and Northeast India gain strong cultural ties with Mainland Southeast Asia and are sometimes considered transregional areas between South Asia and Southeast Asia. To the east, Hong Kong is sometimes regarded as part of Southeast Asia. Similarly, Christmas Island and the Cocos Keeling Islands have strong cultural ties with Maritime Southeast Asia and are sometimes considered transregional areas between Southeast Asia and Australia/Oceania. On some occasions, Sri Lanka has been considered a part of Southeast Asia because of its cultural and religious ties to Mainland Southeast Asia. The eastern half of the island of New Guinea, which is non a part of Indonesia, namely, Papua New Guinea, is sometimes included as a part of Maritime Southeast Asia, and so are Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau, which were any parts of the Spanish East Indies with strong cultural and linguistic ties to the region, specifically, the Philippines.

East Timor and the eastern half of Indonesia east of the Australia and New Zealand Australasia subregion.