East Indies
_-_Geographicus_-_EastIndies-cary-1801.jpg)
The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the
Overview
 |
During the era of
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 American Indians. In colonial times, they were just "natives".
Peoples of the East Indies comprise a wide variety of cultural diversity, and the inhabitants do not consider themselves as belonging to a single
Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism are the most popular 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 families such as the Austronesian and Sino-Tibetan languages, and should not be confused with the term Indo-Aryan, a group of languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent.
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 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
Exploration of the East Indies by European powers began in the last three years of the 15th century and continued into the 16th century, led by the Portuguese explorers.[4] 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.[5]
These regions were important sources of trading goods, particularly
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 American Indian who were once simply referred to as Indians (see the Native American name controversy for more information).
See also
- Spanish East Indies
- Dutch East Indies
- Insulindia
- Portuguese East Indies
- French Indochina
- List of governors-general of the Philippines
- Global Southeast, largely coterminous with historic meaning of East Indies
- Greater Philippines
- Straits Settlements
- Malayness
- Bumiputera
- Pribumi
- Malay world
- Malay Archipelago
- Malay race
- Maphilindo
- Maritime Southeast Asia
- Nusantara
- Greater Indonesia
- History of the Americas
References
- ^ "A map of the East-Indies and the adjacent countries, with the settlements, factories and territories, explaning [sic] what belongs to England, Spain, France, Holland, Denmark, Portugal & c with many remarks not extant in any other map". 1720.
- ^ "East Indies | islands, Southeast Asia | Britannica".
- ^ "East Indies | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com.
- ^ "The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe". World Digital Library. 1778. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
- ^ Kitchin, Thomas (1778). The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe. London: R. Baldwin. p. 3.
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
