Editing Mainland Southeast Asia

{{Short description|Continental portion of Southeast Asia}}
{{Redirect|Indochina|the French colonial regime|French Indochina}}
{{Use dmy dates |date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox Continent
|title               = Mainland Southeast Asia <br /> Indochinese Peninsula <br /> Indochina
|image               = Topographic30deg N0E90.png
|area                =
|population          = 243,201,036 (1 July 2019)
|density             =
|GDP_nominal         = 
|GDP_PPP             = 
|GDP_per_capita      =
|demonym             =
|countries           = {{ubl|{{Flag|Cambodia}}|{{Flag|Laos}}|{{Flag|Malaysia}} ([[Peninsular Malaysia|peninsular portion]] only)|{{Flag|Myanmar}}|{{flag|Singapore}}|{{Flag|Thailand}}|{{Flag|Vietnam}}}}
}}

'''Mainland Southeast Asia''' (historically known as '''Indochina''' and the '''Indochinese Peninsula''') is the continental portion of [[Southeast Asia]]. It lies east of the [[Indian subcontinent]] and south of [[Mainland China]] and is bordered by the [[Indian Ocean]] to the west and the [[Pacific Ocean]] to the east. It includes the countries of [[Cambodia]], [[Laos]], [[Myanmar]], [[Singapore]], [[Thailand]] and [[Vietnam]] as well as [[Peninsular Malaysia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Southeast Asia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Southeast-Asia |access-date=2025-04-08 |publisher=Britannica}}</ref>

The term ''Indochina'' (originally ''Indo-China'') was coined in the early nineteenth century, emphasizing the historical cultural influence of [[culture of India|Indian]] and [[Chinese culture|Chinese civilization]]s on the area. The term was later adopted as the name of the colony of [[French Indochina]] (today's [[Cambodia]], [[Laos]], and [[Vietnam]]). Today, the term ''Mainland Southeast Asia'' is more commonly used, in contrast to [[Maritime Southeast Asia]] for the island groups off the coast of the [[peninsula]].

==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>

==Biogeography==
In [[biogeography]], the Indochinese bioregion is a major region in the [[Indomalayan realm]], and also a [[phytogeography|phytogeographical]] [[floristic region]] in the [[Oriental Paleotropical Kingdom]]. It includes the native flora and fauna of all the countries above. The adjacent [[Malesia|Malesian Region]] covers the [[Maritime Southeast Asia]]n countries, and straddles the Indomalayan and [[Australasian realm]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/science/biogeographic-region|title=Biogeographic region – Fauna|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=15 December 2019|archive-date=15 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315094207/https://www.britannica.com/science/biogeographic-region|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Geography ==
[[File:Koppen-Geiger Map v2 Southeastern Asia 1991–2020.svg|thumb|Climate of Southeast Asia]]
[[File:Mekong River in Laos (1490866472).jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Mekong River]]]]

The Indochinese Peninsula projects southward from the Asian continent proper. It contains several mountain ranges extending from the [[Tibetan Plateau]] in the north, interspersed with [[Upland and lowland|lowlands]] largely drained by three major river systems running in a north–south direction: the [[Irrawaddy River|Irrawaddy]] (serving [[Myanmar]]), the [[Chao Phraya River|Chao Phraya]] (in [[Thailand]]), and the [[Mekong]] (flowing through [[Northeastern Thailand]], [[Laos]], [[Cambodia]] and [[Vietnam]]). To the south it forms the [[Malay Peninsula]], located on which are [[Southern Thailand]] and [[Peninsular Malaysia]]; the latter is variably considered part of Mainland Southeast Asia or separately as part of [[Maritime Southeast Asia]].{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} Most of it has a [[tropical climate]] except for [[subtropical]] places such as [[Northern Vietnam]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worlddata.info/asia/vietnam/climate.php |title=Vietnam Climate |website=WorldData.info |access-date=2023-11-24}}</ref>

==Culture==
[[File:Ethnolinguistic Groups of Mainland Southeast Asia.png|thumb|right|190px|[[Ethnic groups of Southeast Asia|Ethnolinguistic groups]] of mainland Southeast Asia]]
Mainland Southeast Asia contrasts with [[Maritime Southeast Asia]], mainly through the division of largely land-based lifestyles in Indochina and the sea-based lifestyles of the [[Indonesian archipelago]] and [[Philippine archipelago]], as well as the dividing line between the [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]], [[Tai–Kadai languages|Tai–Kadai]], and [[Sino-Tibetan languages]] (spoken in Mainland Southeast Asia) and the [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] languages (spoken in Maritime Southeast Asia). The languages of the mainland form the [[Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area]]: although belonging to several independent language families, they have converged over the course of history and share a number of typological similarities.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

The countries of mainland Southeast Asia received cultural influence from both India and China to varying degrees.<ref name="HMDOG">{{cite book|title=The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary Of Geography|year=1997|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|isbn=0-395-86448-8|editor=Marion Severynse|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/houghtonmifflind00houg}}</ref> Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand are all influenced by [[Indian culture]], only Vietnam is influenced by [[Chinese culture]] but still has minor influences from India, largely via the [[Champa]] civilization that Vietnam conquered during its southward expansion.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

Overall, Mainland Southeast Asia is predominantly [[Buddhist]]<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia| publisher = Central Intelligence Agency| title = Malaysia| encyclopedia = The World Factbook| date = 2016-09-28| url = https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/malaysia/| access-date = 24 January 2021| archive-date = 15 October 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211015225421/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/malaysia/| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia| publisher = Central Intelligence Agency| title = Thailand| encyclopedia = The World Factbook| date = 2016-09-28| url = https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/thailand/| access-date = 24 January 2021| archive-date = 10 June 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210610164345/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/thailand/| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |title=Myanmar |encyclopedia=The World Factbook |date=2016-09-28 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burma/ |access-date=24 January 2021 |archive-date=1 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201171209/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burma/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia| publisher = Central Intelligence Agency| title = Cambodia| encyclopedia = The World Factbook| date = 2016-09-28| url = https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/cambodia/| access-date = 24 January 2021| archive-date = 10 June 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210610095311/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/cambodia/| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia| publisher = Central Intelligence Agency| title = Vietnam| encyclopedia = The World Factbook| date = 2016-09-28| url = https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/vietnam/| access-date = 24 January 2021| archive-date = 10 June 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210610173010/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/vietnam/| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report| publisher = U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor| title = 2008 Report on International Religious Freedom| access-date = 2016-12-19| date = September 2008| url = https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2008| archive-date = 6 July 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190706154039/https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2008/| url-status = live}}</ref> with minority [[Muslims|Muslim]] and [[Hindus|Hindu]] populations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=SIDDIQUE|first=SHARON|date=1981|title=Some Aspects of Malay-Muslim Ethnicity in Peninsular Malaysia|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25797648|journal=Contemporary Southeast Asia|volume=3|issue=1|pages=76–87|jstor=25797648|issn=0129-797X|access-date=27 July 2021|archive-date=1 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401140444/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25797648|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Minority Muslim Experience in Mainland Southeast Asia: A Different Path|url=https://www.routledge.com/The-Minority-Muslim-Experience-in-Mainland-Southeast-Asia-A-Different-Path/Goodman/p/book/9781032005171|access-date=2021-07-27|website=Routledge & CRC Press|language=en|archive-date=27 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427161138/https://www.routledge.com/The-Minority-Muslim-Experience-in-Mainland-Southeast-Asia-A-Different-Path/Goodman/p/book/9781032005171|url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Asia|Geography}}

; Related regional concepts
* [[Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area]]
* [[Southeast Asian Massif]]
* [[Zomia]]

; Sub-regions
* [[Golden Chersonese]]
* [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]]
* [[Greater Mekong Subregion]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author=Bernard Philippe Groslier|title=The art of Indochina: including Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia|url=https://archive.org/details/artofindochinain00gros|url-access=registration|year=1962|publisher=Crown Publishers}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070615035222/http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADG750.pdf History of the mountain people of southern Indochina up to 1945 (Bernard Bourotte, i.e. Jacques Méry), U.S. Agency for International Development, 195?] (PDF)

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}

{{Timeline of sovereign states in Mainland Southeast Asia since the 1st century AD}}
{{Regions of Asia}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Geography of Southeast Asia]]
[[Category:Peninsulas of Southeast Asia]]
[[Category:Southeast Asian studies]]
[[Category:Names of places in Asia]]