Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is located south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of Australia at the intersection of three of the Earth's major tectonic plates: the Eurasian, Pacific and Indian Australian Plates. The resulting uplifting, faulting and folding have shaped a continental landscape dominated by highlands fanning outwards towards the Equator from the Tibetan Plateau, with river valleys —the Irrawaddy, Menam Chao Phraya, Mekong and Red Rivers—running southwards between them.
Geographically, the region stretches across about 6,400 kilometres at its greatest extent (diagonally, northwest to southeast) and encompasses about thirteen million square kilometres—roughly one-third land and two-thirds sea—accommodating around 8.5% of the world's population). Of the region's eleven countries, ten are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the eleventh (East Timor) is an observer state.
Geographically, Southeast Asia is divided into two subregions:
- Mainland Southeast Asia, comprising the Indochinese Peninsula (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam), Thailand and Myanmar /Burma.
- Maritime or Island Southeast Asia, comprising East Timor, Indonesia, Eastern Malaysia and the Philippines.
The Malayan Peninsula can be included in either region. Structurally, it belongs to the mainland; culturally, it is closer to the islands; historically, it has links to Indianised kingdoms in both regions and to the Thai states that developed in mainland Southeast Asia after the decline of the Khmer Empire in modern-day Cambodia.
As one of the world's most culturally diverse regions, Southeast Asia has been significantly influenced by Indian, Chinese, Muslim, and colonial cultures, which became core components of the region's cultural and political institutions.
