Maritime Southeast Asia is the maritime region of Southeast Asia as opposed to mainland Southeast Asia and comprises Brunei, Indonesia, East Malaysia, East Timor, the Philippines, and Singapore. Maritime Southeast Asia is sometimes also referred to as "island Southeast Asia" or "insular Southeast Asia". The 19th-century term "Malay Archipelago" refers to a largely similar area. This region differs from Indochina in that its populations predominantly belong to the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) group, and exhibit various maritime-based, tribal, and largely nonsinicized cultures.
Cultural identity
The cultural identity of the region is seen as both part of "Farther India" or Greater India, as seen in Coedes' Indianized States of Southeast Asia, which refers to it as "Island Southeast Asia"; and within Austronesia or Oceania, due to shared ethnolinguistic and historical origins of the latter groups (Micronesian and Polynesian groups) being from this region.
Demography
Over 350 million people live in the region, with the most populated island being Java. The people living there are predominantly from Austronesian subgroupings and correspondingly speak western Malayo-Polynesian languages. This region of Southeast Asia shares social and cultural ties with the peoples of Mainland Southeast Asia and with other Austronesian peoples in the Pacific. The main religions in this region are Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and traditional Animism.
See also
- Malay Archipelago
- East Indies
- Nanyang (geographic region)
References
External links
- Art of Island Southeast Asia, a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art