Southeast Asia

Subregion of the Asian continent

Southeast Asia

Ethnic groups		Sino-Tibetan, and Tai peoples East Asians South Asians
Religions	Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Tai folk, Taoism, and Vietnamese folk
Demonym	Southeast Asian
Countries	11  Brunei  Cambodia  Indonesia[note 1]  Laos  Malaysia  Myanmar  Philippines  Singapore  Thailand  Timor-Leste  Vietnam
Languages	Official languages Burmese English Filipino Khmer Lao Indonesian Malay Mandarin Portuguese Tamil Tetum Thai Vietnamese Other languages Arabic Austroasiatic: Mon Aslian Austronesian: Moken Creoles : Tok Pisin Kristang Betawi Ambonese Dravidian: Malayalam Great Andamanese: Aka-Jeru (Present Great Andamanese) Indo-European: Bengali English French Persian Portuguese Spanish Hindi/Urdu Dutch Sinhala Rohingya Ongan: Onge Jarawa Sentinelese ? Tai–Kadai : Thai Lao Shan Sino-Tibetan: Zomi Thadou Meitei Languages of Asia – All of the languages of Asia
Time zones	5 time zones UTC+9:00: East Timor • Indonesia
Internet TLD	.bn, .id, .kh, .la, .mm, .my, .ph, .sg, .th, .tl, .vn
Calling code	Zone 6 & 8
Largest cities	Capital cities Bandar Seri Begawan Phnom Penh Jakarta Vientiane Kuala Lumpur Nay Pyi Daw Manila Singapore Bangkok Dili Hanoi Largest cities Bandung Bekasi Bangkok Can Tho Da Lat Da Nang Cebu City Davao City Denpasar Depok George Town Hanoi Hai Phong Ho Chi Minh City Jakarta Kuala Lumpur Johor Bahru Makassar Manila Medan Palembang Quezon City Semarang Singapore Surabaya Tangerang Yangon Yogyakarta Banda Aceh Padang Ambon, Maluku Jayapura
UN M49 code	035 – South-eastern Asia 142 – Asia 001 – World

Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical

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. Timor-Leste and the southern portion of Indonesia are the only parts of Southeast Asia that are south of the Equator

.

The region lies near the intersection of

Timor-Leste are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Both seismic belts meet in Indonesia, causing the region to have relatively high occurrences of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, particularly in the Philippines and Indonesia.^[7]

It covers about 4,500,000 km² (1,700,000 sq mi), which is 8% of Eurasia and 3% of Earth's total land area. Its total population is more than 675 million, about 8.5% of the world's population. It is the third most populous geographical region in Asia after South Asia and East Asia.^[8] The region is culturally and ethnically diverse, with hundreds of languages spoken by different ethnic groups.^[9] Ten countries in the region are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional organisation established for economic, political, military, educational, and cultural integration amongst its members.^[10]

Southeast Asia is one of the most culturally diverse regions of the world. There are many different languages and ethnicities in the region. Historically, Southeast Asia was significantly influenced by

Chinese, Muslim, and colonial cultures, which became core components of the region's cultural and political institutions. Most modern Southeast Asian countries were colonized by European powers. European colonisation exploited natural resources and labour from the lands they conquered, and attempted to spread European institutions to the region.^[11] Several Southeast Asian countries were also briefly occupied by the Japanese Empire during World War II. The aftermath of World War II saw most of the region decolonised. Today, Southeast Asia is predominantly governed by independent states.^[12]

Definition

States and regions of Southeast Asia

The region, together with part of South Asia, was well known by Europeans as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Chinese sources referred the region as Nanyang ("南洋"), which literally means the "Southern Ocean". The mainland section of Southeast Asia was referred to as Indochina by European geographers due to its location between China and the Indian subcontinent and its having cultural influences from both neighbouring regions. In the 20th century, however, the term became more restricted to territories of the former French Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam). The maritime section of Southeast Asia is also known as the Malay Archipelago, a term derived from the European concept of a Malay race.^[13] Another term for Maritime Southeast Asia is Insulindia (Indian Islands), used to describe the region between Indochina and Australasia.^[14]

The term "Southeast Asia" was first used in 1839 by American pastor Howard Malcolm in his book Travels in South-Eastern Asia. Malcolm only included the Mainland section and excluded the Maritime section in his definition of Southeast Asia.^[15] The term was officially used in the midst of World War II by the Allies, through the formation of South East Asia Command (SEAC) in 1943.^[16] SEAC popularised the use 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 late 1970s, a roughly standard usage of the term "Southeast Asia" and the territories it encompasses had emerged.^[17] 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) listed 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 exist over some islands in the South China Sea.

Political divisions

Sovereign states

State	Area (km2)	Population (2020)[18]	Density (/km2)	GDP (nominal), USD (2020)[4]	GDP (PPP) per capita, Int$ (2020)[4]	HDI (2021)[19]	Capital
Brunei	5,765[20]	449,002	77	12,003,000,000	$85,011	0.829	Bandar Seri Begawan
Cambodia	181,035[21]	16,718,965	92	25,192,000,000	$5,044	0.593	Phnom Penh
East Timor	14,874[22]	1,320,942	89	1,777,000,000	$5,321	0.607	Dili
Indonesia	1,904,569[23]	273,753,191	144	1,059,638,000,000	$14,841	0.705	Jakarta
Laos	236,800[24]	7,425,057	31	18,820,000,000	$8,684	0.607	Vientiane
Malaysia	329,847[25]	33,573,874	102	337,008,000,000	$34,567	0.803	Kuala Lumpur *
Myanmar	676,578[26]	53,798,084	80	81,257,000,000	$7,220	0.585	Nay Pyi Taw
Philippines	300,000[27]	115,559,009	380	361,489,000,000	$10,094	0.699	Manila
Singapore	719.2[28]	5,921,231	8,261	339,981,000,000	$105,689	0.939	Singapore
Thailand	513,120[29]	71,601,103	140	501,712,000,000	$21,361	0.800	Bangkok
Vietnam	331,210[30]	97,468,029	294	343,114,000,000	$8,677	0.703	Hanoi

* Administrative centre in Putrajaya.

The UN Statistics Division for Asia are based on convenience rather than implying any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories:^[31]

  Central Asia

  Eastern Asia

  Northern Asia

  South-eastern Asia

  Southern Asia

  Western Asia

A political map of Southeast Asia

Geographical divisions

Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia (or the Indochinese Peninsula) and Maritime Southeast Asia.

Mainland Southeast Asia includes:

• Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam:
  • Cambodia
  • Laos
  • Vietnam
• Myanmar, Thailand and West Malaysia:
  • Myanmar
  • Thailand
  • West Malaysia

Maritime Southeast Asia includes:

• Brunei
• East Malaysia
• East Timor
• Indonesia
• Philippines
• Singapore^[32]

While Peninsular Malaysia is geographically situated in Mainland Southeast Asia, it shares many similar cultural and ecological affinities with surrounding islands, thus it is often grouped with them as part of Maritime Southeast Asia.^[33] Geographically, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India is also considered a part of Maritime Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and Northeast India have strong cultural ties with Mainland Southeast Asia and are sometimes considered transregional areas between South Asia and Southeast Asia.^[34] To the east, Hong Kong is sometimes regarded as part of Southeast Asia.^{[35][36][37][38][39][40][41]} 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.^[17][42] The eastern half of the island of New Guinea, which is not 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 all parts of the Spanish East Indies with strong cultural and linguistic ties to the region, specifically, the Philippines.^[43]

East Timor and the eastern half of Indonesia (east of the Wallace Line in the region of Wallacea) are considered to be geographically associated with Oceania due to their distinctive faunal features. Geologically, the island of New Guinea and its surrounding islands are considered as parts of the Australian continent, connected via the Sahul Shelf. Both Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are located on the Australian Plate, south of the Sunda Trench. Even though they are geographically closer to Maritime Southeast Asia than mainland Australia, these two Australian external territories are not geologically associated with Asia as none of them is actually on the Sunda Plate. The United Nations geoscheme has classified both island territories as parts of Oceania, under the Australia and New Zealand (Australasia) subregion.

Some definitions of Southeast Asia may include Taiwan. Taiwan has sometimes been included in Southeast Asia as well as East Asia but is not a member of ASEAN.^[44] Likewise, a similar argument could be applied to some southern parts of Mainland China, as well as Hong Kong and Macau, may also considered as part of Southeast Asia as well as East Asia but are not members of ASEAN.^[35]

Andaman Sea

Arafura Sea

Bali Sea

Banda Sea

Ceram Sea

Flores Sea

Java Sea

Molucca Sea

Savu Sea

South China Sea

Timor Sea

Bohol Sea

Camotes Sea

Philippine Sea (Pacific Ocean)

Samar Sea

Sibuyan Sea

Sulu Sea

Visayan Sea

Celebes Sea

Bismarck Sea

Coral Sea

Solomon Sea

Gulf of Thailand

Gulf of Tonkin

Bay of Bengal

Indian Ocean

Strait of Malacca

Makassar Strait

Gulf of Carpentaria

Karimata Strait

Luzon Strait

Gulf of Tomini

Sunda Strait

Moro Gulf

Madura Strait

class=notpageimage|

Oceans and Seas in Southeast Asia

History

Main article: History of Southeast Asia

Prehistory

Megalithic statue found in Tegurwangi, Sumatra

, Indonesia 1500 CE

The region was already inhabited by

Middle Pleistocene age.^[45] Distinct Homo sapiens groups, ancestral to Eastern non-African (related to East Asians as well as Papuans) populations, reached the region by between 50,000BC to 70,000BC, with some arguing earlier.^[46][47] Rock art (parietal art) dating from 40,000 years ago (which is currently the world's oldest) has been discovered in the caves of Borneo.^[48] Homo floresiensis also lived in the area up until at least 50,000 years ago, after which they became extinct.^[49] During much of this time the present-day islands of western Indonesia were joined into a single landmass known as Sundaland

due to lower sea levels.

Ancient remains of hunter-gatherers in Maritime Southeast Asia, such as one Holocene hunter-gatherer from South Sulawesi, had ancestry from both the Papuan-related and East Asian-related branches of the Eastern non-African lineage. The hunter-gatherer individual had approximately ~50% "Basal-East Asian" ancestry, and was positioned in between modern East Asians and Papuans of Oceania. The authors concluded that East Asian-related ancestry expanded from Mainland Southeast Asia into Maritime Southeast Asia much earlier than previously suggested, as early as 25,000BC, long before the expansion of Austroasiatic and Austronesian groups.^[50]

Distinctive Basal-East Asian (East-Eurasian) ancestry was recently found to have originated in Mainland Southeast Asia at ~50,000BC, and expanded through multiple migration waves southwards and northwards respectively. Geneflow of East Asian-related ancestry into Maritime Southeast Asia and Oceania could be estimated to ~25,000BC (possibly also earlier). The pre-Neolithic Papuan-related populations of Maritime Southeast Asia were largely replaced by the expansion of various East Asian-related populations, beginning about 50,000BC to 25,000BC years ago from Mainland Southeast Asia. The remainders, known as Negritos, form small minority groups in geographically isolated regions. Southeast Asia was dominated by East Asian-related ancestry already in 15,000BC, predating the expansion of Austroasiatic and Austronesian peoples.^[47]

Austronesian expansions

into Maritime Southeast Asia.

In the late

Austronesian Expansion. They arrived in the northern Philippines between 7,000 BC to 2,200 BC and rapidly spread further into the Northern Mariana Islands and Borneo by 1500 BC; Island Melanesia by 1300 BC; and to the rest of Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Vietnam, and Palau by 1000 BC.^[51][52] They often settled along coastal areas, replacing and assimilating the diverse preexisting peoples.^[53][54][47]

The

Magellan's voyage

as a translator.

Studies presented by the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) through genetic studies of the various peoples of Asia show empirically that there was a single migration event from Africa, whereby the early people travelled along the south coast of Asia, first entered the Malay peninsula 50,000–90,000 years ago. The Orang Asli, in particular the Semang who show Negrito characteristics, are the direct descendants of these earliest settlers of Southeast Asia. These early people diversified and travelled slowly northwards to China, and the populations of Southeast Asia show greater genetic diversity than the younger population of China.^[57][58]

Solheim and others have shown evidence for a Nusantao maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD.^[59] The Bronze Age Dong Son culture flourished in Northern Vietnam from about 1000 BC to 1 BC. Its influence spread to other parts Southeast Asia.^[60][61][62] The region entered the Iron Age era in 500 BC, when iron was forged also in northern Vietnam still under Dong Son, due to its frequent interactions with neighbouring China.^[45]

Sông Đà

, northern Vietnam. Mid-1st millennium BC

Most Southeast Asian people were originally

Nalanda.^[65]

It is still the dominant branch of Buddhism practised by Indonesian and Malaysian Buddhists.

The spread of these two Indian religions confined the adherents of Southeast Asian indigenous beliefs into remote inland areas. The Maluku Islands and New Guinea were never Indianised and its native people were predominantly animists until the 15th century when Islam began to spread in those areas.^[71] While in Vietnam, Buddhism never managed to develop strong institutional networks due to strong Chinese influence.^[72] In present-day Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the only country where its folk religion makes up the plurality.^[73][74] Recently, Vietnamese folk religion is undergoing a revival with the support of the government.^[75] Elsewhere, there are ethnic groups in Southeast Asia that resisted conversion and still retain their original animist beliefs, such as the Dayaks in Kalimantan, the Igorots in Luzon, and the Shans in eastern Myanmar.^[76]

Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms era

Main articles: Greater India and History of Indian influence on Southeast Asia

Spread of Hinduism from South Asia

to Southeast Asia

After the region came under contact with the Indian subcontinent circa 400 BCE, it began a gradual process of

Kingdom of Tondo was established in Luzon.^[79] Vietnam, especially its northern part, was never fully Indianised due to the many periods of Chinese domination it experienced.^[80]

The first Indian-influenced polities established in the region were the Pyu city-states that already existed circa second century BCE, located in inland Myanmar. It served as an overland trading hub between India and China.^[81] Theravada Buddhism was the predominant religion of these city states, while the presence of other Indian religions such as Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism were also widespread.^[82][83] In the first century, the Funan states centered in Mekong Delta were established, encompassed modern-day Cambodia, southern Vietnam, Laos, and eastern Thailand. It became the dominant trading power in mainland Southeast Asia for about five centuries, provided passage for Indian and Chinese goods and assumed authority over the flow of commerce through Southeast Asia.^[55] In maritime Southeast Asia, the first recorded Indianised kingdom was Salakanagara, established in western Java circa second century CE. This Hindu kingdom was known by the Greeks as Argyre (Land of Silver).^[84]

Borobudur temple in Central Java

, Indonesia

By the fifth century CE, trade networking between East and West was concentrated in the maritime route. Foreign traders were starting to use new routes such as

Chinese Empire enabled the Cholas to influence the local cultures. Many of the surviving examples of the Hindu cultural influence found today throughout Southeast Asia are the result of the Chola expeditions.^{[note 2]}

Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia

As Srivijaya influence in the region declined, The Hindu Khmer Empire experienced a golden age during the 11th to 13th century CE. The empire's capital

1471 Vietnamese invasion of Champa, ransacking and burning Champa, slaughtering thousands of Cham people, and forcibly assimilating them into Vietnamese culture.^[89]

During the 13th century CE, the region experienced Mongol invasions, affected areas such as Vietnamese coast, inland Burma and Java. In 1258, 1285 and 1287, the Mongols tried to invade Đại Việt and Champa.^[90] The invasions were unsuccessful, yet both Dai Viet and Champa agreed to become tributary states to Yuan dynasty to avoid further conflicts.^[91] The Mongols also invaded Pagan Kingdom in Burma from 1277 to 1287, resulted in fragmentation of the Kingdom and rise of smaller Shan States ruled by local chieftains nominally submitted to Yuan dynasty.^[92][93] However, in 1297, a new local power emerged. Myinsaing Kingdom became the real ruler of Central Burma and challenged the Mongol rule. This resulted in the second Mongol invasion of Burma in 1300, which was repulsed by Myinsaing.^[94][95] The Mongols would later in 1303 withdrawn from Burma.^[96] In 1292, The Mongols sent envoys to Singhasari Kingdom in Java to ask for submission to Mongol rule. Singhasari rejected the proposal and injured the envoys, enraged the Mongols and made them sent a large invasion fleet to Java. Unbeknownst to them, Singhasari collapsed in 1293 due to a revolt by Kadiri, one of its vassals. When the Mongols arrived in Java, a local prince named Raden Wijaya offered his service to assist the Mongols in punishing Kadiri. After Kadiri was defeated, Wijaya turned on his Mongol allies, ambushed their invasion fleet and forced them to immediately leave Java.^[97][98]

After the departure of the Mongols, Wijaya established the

Majapahit Empire in eastern Java in 1293. Majapahit would soon grow into a regional power. Its greatest ruler was Hayam Wuruk, whose reign from 1350 to 1389 marked the empire's peak when other kingdoms in the southern Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and Bali came under its influence. Various sources such as the Nagarakertagama also mention that its influence spanned over parts of Sulawesi, Maluku, and some areas of western New Guinea and southern Philippines, making it one of the largest empire to ever exist in Southeast Asian history.^[99]: 107 By the 15th century CE however, Majapahit's influence began to wane due to many war of successions it experienced and the rise of new Islamic states such as Samudera Pasai and Malacca Sultanate around the strategic Strait of Malacca. Majapahit then collapsed around 1500. It was the last major Hindu kingdom and the last regional power in the region before the arrival of the Europeans.^[100][101]

Spread of Islam

Main articles:

Spread of Islam in Southeast Asia and Islam in Southeast Asia

Wapauwe Old Mosque

is the oldest surviving mosque in Indonesia, and the second oldest in Southeast Asia, built in 1414

Parameswara married the princess of Pasai, and the son became the first sultan of Malacca. Soon, Malacca became the center of Islamic study and maritime trade, and other rulers followed suit. Indonesian religious leader and Islamic scholar Hamka (1908–1981) wrote in 1961: "The development of Islam in Indonesia and Malaya is intimately related to a Chinese Muslim, Admiral Zheng He."^[105]

There are several theories to the

Islamization process in Southeast Asia. Another theory is trade. The expansion of trade among West Asia, India and Southeast Asia helped the spread of the religion as Muslim traders from Southern Yemen (Hadramout) brought Islam to the region with their large volume of trade. Many settled in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. This is evident in the Arab-Indonesian, Arab-Singaporean, and Arab-Malay populations who were at one time very prominent in each of their countries. Finally, the ruling classes embraced Islam and that further aided the permeation of the religion throughout the region. The ruler of the region's most important port, Malacca Sultanate, embraced Islam in the 15th century, heralding a period of accelerated conversion of Islam throughout the region as Islam provided a positive force among the ruling and trading classes. Gujarati Muslims played a pivotal role in establishing Islam in Southeast Asia.^[106]

Trade and colonisation

Strait of Malacca

Trade among Southeast Asian countries has a long tradition. The consequences of colonial rule, struggle for independence, and in some cases war influenced the economic attitudes and policies of each country.[107]

Chinese

See also:

Chinese Empire

From 111 BC to 938 AD northern Vietnam was under Chinese rule. Vietnam was successfully governed by a series of Chinese dynasties including the

Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang, Sui, Tang, and Southern Han

. Records from Magellan's voyage show that Brunei possessed more cannon than European ships, so the Chinese must have been trading with them.^[56]

Malaysian legend has it that a Chinese Ming emperor sent a princess, Hang Li Po, to Malacca, with a retinue of 500, to marry Sultan Mansur Shah after the emperor was impressed by the wisdom of the sultan. Hang Li Poh's Well (constructed 1459) is now a tourist attraction there, as is Bukit Cina, where her retinue settled.

The strategic value of the

Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th and early 16th century, did not go unnoticed by Portuguese writer Duarte Barbosa, who in 1500 wrote: "He who is lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice."^{[This quote needs a citation}

] (Venice was a major European trading partner, and goods were transported there via the Straight.)

Colonial boundaries in Southeast Asia

European

See also: European colonisation of Southeast Asia

Fort Cornwallis in George Town marks the spot where the British East India Company first landed in Penang in 1786, thus heralding the British colonisation of Malaya

Western influence started to enter in the 16th century, with the arrival of the Portuguese in Malacca,

trade between Asia and Latin America. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the Dutch established the Dutch East Indies; the French Indochina; and the British Strait Settlements. By the 19th century, all Southeast Asian countries were colonised except for Thailand

.

Duit, a coin minted by the VOC

, 1646–1667. 2 kas, 2 duit

European explorers were reaching Southeast Asia from the west and from the east. Regular trade between the ships sailing east from the Indian Ocean and south from mainland Asia provided goods in return for natural products, such as honey and hornbill beaks from the islands of the archipelago. Before the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the Europeans mostly were interested in expanding trade links. For the majority of the populations in each country, there was comparatively little interaction with Europeans and traditional social routines and relationships continued. For most, a life with subsistence-level agriculture, fishing and, in less developed civilisations, hunting and gathering was still hard.^[108]

Europeans brought Christianity allowing Christian missionaries to become widespread. Thailand also allowed Western scientists to enter its country to develop its own education system as well as start sending Royal members and Thai scholars to get higher education from Europe and Russia.

Japanese

See also: Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Empire of Japan, and Japanese war crimes

During World War II,

Shōwa occupation regime committed violent actions against civilians such as live human experimentation,^{[109][110][111][112][113][114][115]} sexual slavery under the brutal "comfort women" system,^[116]

[117]

Gujarat, India had a flourishing trade relationship with Southeast Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries.^[106] The trade relationship with Gujarat declined after the Portuguese invasion of Southeast Asia in the 17th century.^[106]

American

The United States took the Philippines from Spain in 1898. Internal autonomy was granted in 1934, and independence in 1946.^[123]

Contemporary history

Most countries in the region maintain national autonomy. Democratic forms of government are practised in most Southeast Asian countries and human rights is recognised but dependent on each nation state. Socialist or communist countries in Southeast Asia include Vietnam, Laos. ASEAN provides a framework for the integration of commerce and regional responses to international concerns.

China has asserted broad claims over the South China Sea, based on its nine-dash line, and has built artificial islands in an attempt to bolster its claims. China also has asserted an exclusive economic zone based on the Spratly Islands. The Philippines challenged China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013, and in Philippines v. China (2016), the Court ruled in favour of the Philippines and rejected China's claims.^[124][125]

Geography

Relief map of Southeast Asia

The South China Sea is the major body of water within Southeast Asia. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Singapore, have integral rivers that flow into the South China Sea.

Geographically, Southeast Asia is bounded to the southeast by the Australian continent, the boundary between these two regions is most often considered to run through Wallacea.

Geopolitically, the boundary lies between Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian region of Western New Guinea (Papua and West Papua). Both countries share the island of New Guinea.

Islands to the east of the Philippines make up the region of Micronesia. These islands are not biogeographically, geologically or historically linked to mainland Asia, and are considered part of Oceania by the United Nations, The World Factbook and other organisations.^[127] The Oceania region is politically represented through the Pacific Islands Forum, a governing body which, up until 2022, included Australia, New Zealand and all independent territories in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Several countries of Maritime Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, are dialogue partners of the Pacific Islands Forum, but none have full membership.^[128]

Maritime Southeast Asia was often grouped with Australia and Oceania in the mid to late 1800s, rather than with mainland Asia.^[129] The term Oceania came into usage at the beginning of the 1800s, and the earlier definitions predated the advent of concepts such as Wallacea.

The non-continental Australian external territories of

Southeast Asia map of Köppen climate classification

1. mountain areas in the northern region and the higher islands, where high altitudes lead to milder temperatures
2. the "dry zone" of central Myanmar in the rain shadow of the Arakan Mountains, where annual rainfall can be as low as 600 millimetres or 24 inches, which under the hot temperatures that prevail is dry enough to qualify as semi-arid.

Climate change

Southeast Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change in the world.^[137][138] Climate change will have a big effect on agriculture in Southeast Asia such as irrigation systems will be affected by changes in rainfall and runoff, and subsequently, water quality and supply.^[139] Climate change is impacting agriculture, threatening food security, and is compounded by the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[140] Climate change is also likely to pose a serious threat to the fisheries industry in Southeast Asia.^[137] Despite being one of the most vulnerable regions to the effects of climate change in the world, Southeast Asian countries are lagging behind in terms of their climate mitigation measures.^[138]

Map showing the divergent plate boundaries (oceanic spreading ridges) and recent sub-aerial volcanoes (mostly at convergent boundaries), with a high density of volcanoes situated in Indonesia and the Philippines

.

Komodo dragon in Komodo National Park, Indonesia

The vast majority of Southeast Asia falls within the warm, humid tropics, and its climate generally can be characterised as monsoonal. The animals of Southeast Asia are diverse; on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the orangutan, the Asian elephant, the Malayan tapir, the Sumatran rhinoceros and the Bornean clouded leopard can also be found. Six subspecies of the binturong or bearcat exist in the region, though the one endemic to the island of Palawan is now classed as vulnerable.

The Mayon Volcano

, Philippines

Tigers of three different subspecies are found on the island of Sumatra (the Sumatran tiger), in peninsular Malaysia (the Malayan tiger), and in Indochina (the Indochinese tiger); all of which are endangered species.

The Komodo dragon is the largest living species of lizard and inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang in Indonesia.

The Philippine eagle

Birds such as the green peafowl and drongo live in this subregion as far east as Indonesia. The babirusa, a four-tusked pig, can be found in Indonesia as well. The hornbill was prized for its beak and used in trade with China. The horn of the rhinoceros, not part of its skull, was prized in China as well.

The Indonesian Archipelago is split by the Wallace Line. This line runs along what is now known to be a tectonic plate boundary, and separates Asian (Western) species from Australasian (Eastern) species. The islands between Java/Borneo and Papua form a mixed zone, where both types occur, known as Wallacea. As the pace of development accelerates and populations continue to expand in Southeast Asia, concern has increased regarding the impact of human activity on the region's environment. A significant portion of Southeast Asia, however, has not changed greatly and remains an unaltered home to wildlife. The nations of the region, with only a few exceptions, have become aware of the need to maintain forest cover not only to prevent soil erosion but to preserve the diversity of flora and fauna. Indonesia, for example, has created an extensive system of national parks and preserves for this purpose. Even so, such species as the Javan rhinoceros face extinction, with only a handful of the animals remaining in western Java.

Wallace's hypothetical line divides Indonesian Archipelago into 2 types of fauna, Australasian and Southeast Asian fauna. The deepwater of the Lombok Strait between the islands of Bali and Lombok

formed a water barrier even when lower sea levels linked the now-separated islands and landmasses on either side

The Port of Singapore is the busiest transshipment and container port

in the world, and is an important transportation and shipping hub in Southeast Asia

In 2022, Malaysian petroleum industry through its oil and gas company, Petronas, was ranked eighth in the world by the Brandirectory.^[148]

Seventeen telecommunications companies contracted to build the Asia-America Gateway submarine cable to connect Southeast Asia to the US^[149] This is to avoid disruption of the kind caused by the cutting of the undersea cable from Taiwan to the US in the 2006 Hengchun earthquakes.

Proton Persona is one of the indigenously developed car model by Malaysian automobile manufacturer Proton

Tourism has been a key factor in economic development for many Southeast Asian countries, especially Cambodia. According to UNESCO, "tourism, if correctly conceived, can be a tremendous development tool and an effective means of preserving the cultural diversity of our planet."[150] Since the early 1990s, "even the non-ASEAN nations such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Burma, where the income derived from tourism is low, are attempting to expand their own tourism industries."^[151] In 1995, Singapore was the regional leader in tourism receipts relative to GDP at over 8%. By 1998, those receipts had dropped to less than 6% of GDP while Thailand and Lao PDR increased receipts to over 7%. Since 2000, Cambodia has surpassed all other ASEAN countries and generated almost 15% of its GDP from tourism in 2006.^[152] Furthermore, Vietnam is considered as a growing power in Southeast Asia due to its large foreign investment opportunities and the booming tourism sector.

By the early 21st century,

Southeast Asia's GDP per capita is US$4,685 according to a 2020 International Monetary Fund estimates, which is comparable to South Africa, Iraq, and Georgia.^[159]

Country	Currency	Population (2020)[18][160]	Nominal GDP (2020) $ billion[161]	GDP per capita (2020)[159]	GDP growth (2020)[162]	Inflation (2020)[163]	Main industries
Brunei	B$ Brunei dollar	437,479	$10.647	$23,117	0.1%	0.3%	Petroleum, Petrochemicals, Fishing
Cambodia	៛ Riel	16,718,965	$26.316	$1,572	-2.8%	2.5%	Clothing, Gold, Agriculture
East Timor	US$ US dollar	1,318,445	$1.920	$1,456	-6.8%	0.9%	Petroleum, Coffee, Electronics
Indonesia	Rp Rupiah	270,203,917[160]	$1,088.768	$4,038	-1.5%	2.1%	Coal, Petroleum, Palm oil
Laos	₭ Kip	7,275,560	$18.653	$2,567	0.2%	6.5%	Copper, Electronics, Tin
Malaysia	RM Ringgit	32,365,999	$336.330	$10,192	-6%	-1.1%	Electronics, Petroleum, Petrochemicals, Palm oil, Automotive
Myanmar	K Kyat	54,409,800	$70.890	$1,333	2%	6.1%	Natural gas, Agriculture, Clothing
Philippines	₱ Peso	109,581,078	$367.362	$3,373	-8.3%	2.4%	Electronics, Timber, Automotive
Singapore	S$ Singapore dollar	5,850,342	$337.451	$58,484	-6%	-0.4%	Electronics, Petroleum, Chemicals
Thailand	฿ Baht	69,799,978	$509.200	$7,295	-7.1%	-0.4%	Electronics, Automotive, Rubber
Vietnam	₫ Đồng	97,338,579	$340.602	$3,498	2.9%	3.8%	Electronics, Clothing, Petroleum

Demographics

Population pyramid of South East Asia in 2023

Population distribution of the countries of Southeast Asia (with Indonesia split into its major islands).

Southeast Asia has an area of approximately 4,500,000 square kilometres (1,700,000 sq mi). As of 2021, around 676 million people live in the region, more than a fifth live (143 million) on the Indonesian island of Java, the most densely populated large island in the world. Indonesia is the most populous country with 274 million people, and also the fourth most populous country in the world. The distribution of the religions and people is diverse in Southeast Asia and varies by country. Some 30 million overseas Chinese also live in Southeast Asia, most prominently in Christmas Island, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, and also as the Hoa in Vietnam. People of Southeast Asian origins are known as Southeast Asians or Aseanites.

Ethnic groups