Editing Mainland Southeast Asia (section)

==Terminology==
[[File:Indochina map 1886.jpg|thumb|1886 map of Indochina, from the [[Scottish Geographical Magazine]]]]

In Indian sources, the earliest name connected with Southeast Asia is {{ill|Yavadvipa|ms|Empayar Yawadwipa|lt=''Yāvadvīpa''}}.<ref name="Wheatley">{{cite book|first=Paul|last=Wheatley|author-link=w:Paul Wheatley (geographer)|title=The Golden Khersonese: Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula before A.D. 1500|url=https://archive.org/details/goldenkhersonese0000unse|url-access=registration|location=Kuala Lumpur|publisher=[[w:University of Malaya|University of Malaya Press]]|year=1961|oclc=504030596|pages= [https://archive.org/details/goldenkhersonese0000unse/page/177 177]–184}}</ref> Another possible early name of mainland Southeast Asia was ''[[Suvarṇabhūmi]]'' ("land of gold"),<ref name="Wheatley"/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Kitiarsa |first=Pattana |title=Missionary Intent and Monastic Networks: Thai Buddhism as a Transnational Religion |journal=Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia |volume=25 |issue=1 |date=2010 |jstor=41308138 |doi=10.1355/sj25-1e |issn=0217-9520 |pages=115–116 |quote=King Asoka in the third century BC is widely cited as the model monarch who organized networks of missionaries to preach the teachings of the Buddha outside India including to Suvarnabhumi or mainland Southeast Asia.}}</ref> a toponym, that appears in many ancient Indian literary sources and Buddhist texts,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&q=Suvarnabhumi+was+situated+in+Bengal.&pg=PA519 |title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization | author=Sailendra Nath Sen |year= 1999|publisher=New Age International |isbn= 9788122411980| access-date= November 30, 2018 }}</ref> but which, along with ''[[Suvarṇadvīpa]]'' ("island" or "peninsula of gold"),<ref name="Wheatley"/> are also thought to refer to insular Southeast Asia.<ref name="Wheatley"/>

The origins of the name Indo-China are usually attributed jointly to the Danish-French geographer [[Conrad Malte-Brun]], who referred to the area as {{lang|fr|indo-chinois}} in 1804, and the Scottish linguist [[John Leyden]], who used the term ''Indo-Chinese'' to describe the area's inhabitants and their languages in 1808.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Vimalin Rujivacharakul |display-editors=etal |title=Architecturalized Asia : mapping a continent through history |date=2013 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |isbn=9789888208050 |page=89 }}</ref> Scholarly opinions at the time regarding China's and India's historical influence over the area were conflicting, and the term was itself controversial—Malte-Brun himself later argued against its use in a later edition of his ''Universal Geography'', reasoning that it overemphasized Chinese influence, and suggested ''Chin-India'' instead.<ref>{{cite book |last=Malte-Brun |first=Conrad |title=Universal Geography, Or, A Description of All the Parts of the World, on a New Plan, According to the Great Natural Divisions of the Globe: Improved by the Addition of the Most Recent Information, Derived from Various Sources : Accompanied with Analytical, Synoptical, and Elementary Tables, Volume 2 |url = https://archive.org/details/universalgeogra20maltgoog |year=1827 |publisher=A. Finley |pages=[https://archive.org/details/universalgeogra20maltgoog/page/n294 262]–3 }}</ref> Nevertheless, ''Indo-China'' had already gained traction and soon supplanted alternative terms such as ''[[Further India]]'' and the ''Peninsula beyond the Ganges''. Later, however, as the French established the colony of [[French Indochina]] (covering present-day Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam), use of the term became more restricted to the French colony,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wesseling |first1=H. L. |title=The European Colonial Empires: 1815–1919 |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317895060 }}</ref> and today the area is usually referred to as Mainland Southeast Asia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Keyes |first1=Charles F. |title=The golden peninsula : culture and adaptation in mainland Southeast Asia |date=1995 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824816964 |edition=Pbk. reprint |page=1 }}</ref>