Asian Studies Research Starter: Southeast Asia

This region has 10 independent countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Largest and most easterly of the Lesser Sunda Islands, in the Malay Archipelago; area 33,610 sq km/12,973 sq mi. It is divided into West Timor, under Indonesian rule, and the country of East Timor

Country in southeast Asia, on the island of Timor in the Malay Archipelago.

Officially Socialist Republic of Vietnam, republic (2005 est. pop. 83,536,000), 128,400 sq mi (332,642 sq km), Southeast Asia. MORE

Khmer Kampuchea, officially Kingdom of Cambodia, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 13,607,000), 69,898 sq mi (181,035 sq km), SE Asia. Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city.

Capital of Cambodia, lying in the south of the country

Khmer belongs to the Mon-Khmer group of languages within the Austroasiatic family. Khmer and Vietnamese are the only two AUSTROASIATIC LANGUAGES that are national languages in a modern state.

Ancient kingdom of SE Asia established in the 6th cent. by the Cambodians, or Khmers.

Officially Lao People's Democratic Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 6,217,000), 91,428 sq mi (236,800 sq km), SE Asia. The capital and largest city is Vientiane.

apital, largest city, and chief port of Laos, lying in the north on the Mekong River

Country in Southeast Asia, bounded northwest by India and Bangladesh, northeast by China, southeast by Laos and Thailand, and southwest by the Bay of Bengal.

Capital and chief port of Myanmar (Burma) on the Yangon River.

One of a recognised Burmese-Lolo group of SINO-TIBETAN LANGUAGES, Burmese reached its present predominance in coastal and central Burma relatively recently.

Thai Prathet Thai [land of the free], officially Kingdom of Thailand, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 65,444,000), 198,455 sq mi (514,000 sq km), Southeast Asia.

The best known of the TAI LANGUAGES, Thai is the national language of Thailand, spoken by the great majority of the population in the central and southern parts of the country.

Capital and port of Thailand, on the east bank of the River Chao Phraya

Capital of Chiang Mai prov., N Thailand, on the Ping River

Country in southeast Asia, made up of 13,677 islands situated on or near the Equator, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is the world's fourth most populous country, surpassed only by China, India, and the USA.

Province and autonomous district comprising the northern tip of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Although Bali is relatively small, it is densely populated and culturally and economically one of the most important islands of Indonesia.

Capital of Indonesia on the northwest coast of Java

The westernmost and second largest island of Indonesia.

Malaysia consists of two parts: West Malaysia, also called Peninsular Malaysia or Malaya (1990 est. pop. 14,400,000), 50,700 sq mi (131,313 sq km), on the Malay Peninsula

Capital of Malaysia

Member of any of a large group of peoples comprising the majority population of the Malay Peninsula and archipelago, and also found in southern Thailand and coastal Sumatra and Borneo.

For at least a thousand years Malay has been the principal lingua franca of ‘insular southeast Asia’, of the great Malay Archipelago which is now politically divided between Indonesia and Malaysia.

The northern part of the peninsula forms a part of Thailand; the southern part constitutes West Malaysia, the Malayan part of Malaysia.

Country in southeast Asia, on an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands west of the Pacific Ocean and south of the Southeast Asian mainland.

Capital of the Philippines, SW Luzon, on Manila Bay

Among the Austroneasian Languages of the Philippines.