Editing East Indies

{{Short description|Historical term referring to non-Burmese Southeast Asia}}
{{Redirect|Indies|other uses|Indies (disambiguation)}}
{{Other uses|East Indies (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|East India (disambiguation){{!}}East India}}

[[File:Map of the East Indies by Jodocus Hondius in 1606.jpg|thumb|250px| A 1606 map of the East Indies]]
[[File:1801 Cary Map of the East Indies and Southeast Asia ( Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Philippines) - Geographicus - EastIndies-cary-1801.jpg|thumb|250px| An 1801 map of the East Indies]][[File:East and West Indies.svg|right|thumb|300px|{{legend|#F60|'''East Indies'''}}
{{legend|#F96|[[Greater India|Indies]] ([[Indian subcontinent]] and [[Myanmar]])}}
{{legend|#F5DEB3|[[Western New Guinea]]}}
{{legend|#1E90FF|[[West Indies]] (present-day; historically included the [[Americas]] entirely)}}
{{legend|#ADD8E6|'''Countries sometimes included in West Indies'''}}]]

The '''East Indies''' (or simply the '''Indies''') is a term used in historical narratives of the [[Age of Discovery]]. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in [[Eastern world|the East]] or the [[Eastern Hemisphere]], particularly the [[island]]s and [[mainland]]s found in and around the [[Indian Ocean]] by [[Portuguese explorers]], soon after the [[Cape Route]] was discovered. In a narrow sense, the term was used to refer to the [[Malay Archipelago]], which today comprises the [[list of islands of the Philippines|Philippine Archipelago]], [[Indonesian Archipelago]], [[Borneo]], and [[New Guinea]]. Historically, the term was used in the [[Age of Discovery]] to refer to the [[coast]]s of the [[landmass]]es comprising the [[Indian subcontinent]] and the [[Mainland Southeast Asia|Indochinese Peninsula]] along with the [[Malay Archipelago]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth298421/ | title=A map of the East-Indies and the adjacent countries, with the settlements, factories and territories, explaning &#91;sic&#93; what belongs to England, Spain, France, Holland, Denmark, Portugal & c with many remarks not extant in any other map | year=1720 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Indies | title=East Indies &#124; islands, Southeast Asia &#124; Britannica }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/asia/southeast-asia-physical-geography/east-indies|title=East Indies &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

==Overview==
{{unreferenced section|date=January 2023}}
During the era of [[History of colonialism|European colonization]], territories of the [[Spanish Empire]] in Asia were known as the [[Spanish East Indies]] for 333 years before the [[Treaty of Paris (1898)|American conquest]] and later the [[Treaty of Manila (1946)|independence of the Philippines]]. [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]] occupied colonies in the area were known for about 300 years as the [[Dutch East Indies]] until [[Proclamation of Indonesian Independence|Indonesian independence]]. The East Indies may also include the former [[French Indochina]], former British territories [[Brunei]], [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] and [[Singapore]] and former [[Portuguese Macau]] and [[Timor]]. It does not, however, include the former [[Netherlands New Guinea|Dutch New Guinea]], which is geographically considered to be part of [[Melanesia]].

The inhabitants of the East Indies are never called ''East Indians'', as they are not linguistically related to South Asia, most specifically the [[Indo-Aryan languages]]. It distinguishes them both from inhabitants of the [[Caribbean]] (which is also called the [[West Indies]]) and from the [[indigenous peoples of the Americas]] who are often called ''[[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]]''. However, in colonial times, the non-Indian Southeast Asians were also called "Indians".

Peoples of the East Indies comprise a wide variety of cultural diversity, and the inhabitants do not consider themselves as belonging to a single [[ethnic group]]. The region is mostly populated by the [[Austronesians]], who first expanded from the island of [[Geography of Taiwan|Taiwan]], and later on during the [[early modern period]], when East Asians such as the [[Han Chinese]] started to migrate south and became known as the [[Peranakans]] or Straits Chinese.

[[Buddhism]], [[Christianity]], [[Islam]] and [[Hinduism]] are the most popular [[Major religious groups|religions]] throughout the region, while [[Sikhism]], [[Jainism]], [[Chinese folk religion]] and various other traditional beliefs and practices are also prominent in some areas. The major languages in this area draw from a wide variety of [[language family|language families]] such as the [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] and [[Sino-Tibetan languages]], and should not be confused with the term [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]], a group of languages spoken in the [[Indian subcontinent]]. Speakers of [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]], [[Kra–Dai languages|Tai–Kadai]], and [[Hmong–Mien languages]] also live in the region.

Regions of the East Indies are sometimes known by the colonial empire they once belonged to, hence, ''Spanish East Indies'' means the [[Philippines]], ''Dutch East Indies'' means [[Indonesia]], and ''British East Indies'' refers to [[Malaysia]].

Historically, the king of [[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinia]] (modern [[Ethiopia]]) was identified with "[[Prester John]] of the Indies", since that part of the world was imagined to be one of "Three Indias".

==History==
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Rivier Kali Besar in de benedenstad van Djakarta West Java TMnr 10014936.jpg|left|thumb|[[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]], [[Dutch East Indies]].]]

Exploration of the ''East Indies'' by [[Europe]]an powers began in the last three years of the 15th century and continued into the 16th century, led by the [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portuguese]] [[Exploration|explorers]].<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4397/ |title = The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe |website = [[World Digital Library]] |date = 1778 |access-date = 2013-08-30 }}</ref>  The Portuguese described the entire region they discovered as the ''Indies''. Eventually, the region would be broken up into a series of ''Indies'': The East Indies, which was also called "Old Indies" or "Great Indies", consisting of [[India]], and the West Indies, also called "New Indies" or "Little Indies", consisting of the [[Americas]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kitchin|first=Thomas|title=The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe|year=1778|publisher=R. Baldwin|location=London|page=3|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4397/view/1/12/}}</ref>

These regions were important sources of trading goods, particularly [[cotton]], [[Indigo dye|indigo]] and [[spice]]s after the establishment of European trading companies: the [[British East India Company]] and [[Dutch East India Company]], among others, in the 17th century.

The [[New World]] was initially thought to be the easternmost part of the ''Indies'' by explorer [[Christopher Columbus]], who had grossly underestimated the westerly distance from Europe to Asia. Later, to avoid confusion, the New World came to be called the "West Indies", while the original Indies came to be called the "East Indies".

The designation ''East Indian'' was once primarily used to describe people of all of the East Indies, in order to avoid the potential confusion from the term [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|American Indian]] who were once simply referred to as ''Indians'' (see the [[Native American name controversy]] for more information).

==See also==
*[[West Indies]]
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*[[Spanish East Indies]]
*[[Dutch East Indies]]
**[[List of governors of the Dutch East Indies]]
*[[Malay Archipelago#Insulindia|Insulindia]]
*[[Portuguese East Indies]]
*[[French Indochina]]
*[[Governor-General of the Philippines|List of governors-general of the Philippines]]
*[[Global Southeast]], largely coterminous with historic meaning of East Indies
*[[Greater Philippines]]
*[[Straits Settlements]]
**[[List of governors of the Straits Settlements]]
*[[Malayness]]
**[[Bumiputera (Malaysia)|Bumiputera]]
**[[Pribumi]]
*[[Malay world]]
*[[Malay Archipelago]]
*[[Malay race]]
*[[Maphilindo]]
*[[Maritime Southeast Asia]]
*[[Nusantara (archipelago)|Nusantara]]
*[[Greater Indonesia]]
*[[History of the Americas]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Regions of the world|state-collapsed}}
{{Southeast Asia}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Archipelagoes of Southeast Asia]]
[[Category:Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Maritime Southeast Asia]]
[[Category:Regions of Asia]]
[[Category:European colonisation in Asia]]
[[Category:Geography of Southeast Asia]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]