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{{Short description|Archipelago between mainland Southeast Asia and Australia}}{{About|the archipelago|the book|The Malay Archipelago{{!}}The Malay Archipelago}}{{Distinguish|Maritime Southeast Asia}}

factoids

|total_islands = 25,000|major_islands = Java, Luzon, Borneo, Mindanao, New Guinea, Sulawesi, Sumatra|highest_mount =|elevation_m =|country1 = Philippines|country1_largest_city = Quezon City|country2 = Indonesia|country2_largest_city = Jakarta|country3 = Papua New Guinea|country3_largest_city = Port Moresby|country4 = Brunei|country4_largest_city = Bandar Seri Begawan|country5 = East Timor|country5_largest_city = Dili|country6 = Malaysia|country6_largest_city = Kota Kinabalu (largest in the Malay Archipelago)|density_km2 =|population = 380,000,000 VERSION=2006 REVISION PUBLISHER=UNITED NATIONS YEAR=2006, 2007-06-30, Austronesian peoples>Austronesians, with minorities of Negritoes, Indigenous people of New Guinea, Melanesians, Overseas Chinese, Arab diaspora>Arab descendants, and Overseas Indians}}The Malay Archipelago (Indonesian/Malay: , ) also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia. It has also been called the "Malay world," "Nusantara", "East Indies", and other names over time. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based on the distribution of Austronesian languages.Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, the archipelago of over 25,000 islands and islets is the largest archipelago by area and fifth by number of islands in the world. It includes Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia (specifically East Malaysia), Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines.Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Encyclopaedia Britannica – Malay Archipelago The term is largely synonymous with Maritime Southeast Asia."Maritime Southeast Asia {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613061856weblink |date=2007-06-13 }}." Worldworx Travel. Accessed 26 May 2009.

Etymology and terminology

The term "Malay Archipelago" was derived from the archaic European supposition of a "Malay race" (a culturally-similar non-Oceanian subset of the Austronesian peoples),BOOK, Wallace, Alfred Russel, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, Macmillan and Co, 1869, London, 1, a racial concept proposed by European explorers based on their observations of the influence of the Srivijaya empire, which was based on the island of Sumatra.Reid, Anthony. Understanding Melayu (Malay) as a Source of Diverse Modern Identities. Origins of Malayness, Cambridge University Press, 2001. Retrieved on March 2, 2009. However, the Malay Archipelago does not include all islands inhabited by the Malay race such as Madagascar and Taiwan, and it includes the islands inhabited by Melanesians such as Maluku Islands and New Guinea.File:Sea Safari VII, Komodo, 2016 (04).jpg|thumb|left|Pinisi sailing ship exploring Komodo island, part of Lesser Sunda IslandsLesser Sunda IslandsThe 19th-century naturalist Alfred Wallace used the term "Malay Archipelago" as the title of his influential book documenting his studies in the region. Wallace also referred to the area as the "Indian Archipelago" and the "Indo-Australian" Archipelago.WEB , BOOK, Wallace, Alfred Russel, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, Macmillan and Co, 1869, London, 2, He included within the region the Solomon Islands and the Malay Peninsula due to physiographic similarities. As Wallace noted,BOOK,weblink 40: The Races of Man in the Malay Archipelago, papuaweb.org, The Malay Archipelago, 1869, Alfred Russel, Wallace, Alfred Russel Wallace, 2009-08-26,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20121016195922weblink">weblink 2012-10-16, dead, "If we draw a line ... commencing along the western coast of Gilolo, through the island of Bouru, and curving round the west end of Mores, then bending back by Sandalwood Island to take in Rotti, we shall divide the Archipelago into two portions, the races of which have strongly marked distinctive peculiarities. This line will separate the Malayan and all the Asiatic races, from the Papuans and all that inhabit the Pacific; and though along the line of junction intermigration and commixture have taken place, yet the division is on the whole almost as well defined and strongly contrasted, as is the corresponding zoological division of the Archipelago, into an Indo-Malayan and Austro-Malayan region." there are arguments for excluding Papua New Guinea for cultural and geographical reasons: Papua New Guinea is culturally quite different from the other countries in the region, and it is geologically not part of the continent of Asia, as the islands of the Sunda Shelf are (see Australia).The archipelago was called the "East Indies"OED first edition A geographical term, including Hindostan, Further India, and the islands beyond with first found usage 1598 from the late 16th century and throughout the European colonial era. It is still sometimes referred to as such, but broader usages of the "East Indies" term had included Indochina and the Indian subcontinent. The area is called "Nusantara" in the Indonesian language.ECHOLS > FIRST1 = JOHN M. FIRST2 = HASSAN PLACE = JAKARTA YEAR = 1989 ISBN = 979-403-756-7, ; MOORES >FIRST1=ELDRIDGE M. FIRST2=RHODES WHITMORE AUTHOR2-LINK=RHODES FAIRBRIDGE URL=HTTPS://BOOKS.GOOGLE.COM/BOOKS?ID=AYRUP5MRCGSC&Q=%22MALAY+ARCHIPELAGO%22+2+MILLION+KM%C2%B2&PG=PA377 ACCESS-DATE=30 NOVEMBER 2009 PUBLISHER=SPRINGER Ecology of insular Southeast Asia: the Indonesian Archipelago Elsevier, {{ISBN>0-444-52739-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-444-52739-4}}Modern Quaternary Research in Southeast Asia, Volume 1 The term "Maritime Southeast Asia" is largely synonymous, covering both the islands in Southeast Asia and nearby island-like communities, such as those found on the Malay Peninsula.BOOK, Shaffer, Lynda, Maritime Southeast Asia to 1500,weblink 1996, M.E. Sharpe, xi, 1-56324-144-7,

Insulindia

Insulindia is a somewhat archaic geographical termT. Barbour. Reptiles in the East and West Indies- and Some Digression. The American Naturalist, Vol. 57, No. 649 (Mar. - Apr., 1923), pp. 125-128Review: The Tongking Delta and the Annamite House. Geographical Review, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jul., 1937), pp. 519-520A. Aiyappan. Pottery Braziers of Mohenjo-Daro. Man, Vol. 39, (May, 1939), pp. 71-72 for Maritime Southeast Asia, sometimes extending as far as Australasia.Donald F. Lach, Edwin J. Van Kley (eds.) Asia in the making of Europe: Volume III, A century of advance. University of Chicago Press, 1993. {{ISBN|978-0-226-46757-3}} pp. 1301-1396 More common in Portuguese and Spanish,Portugal. Embaixada (Indonesia). Sukarno and Portugal. Embaixada de Portugal em Jacarta, 2002 pp. 61-62António Augusto Mendes Correa. Timor português: contribuïções para o seu estudo antropológico. Volume 1 of Memórias : Série antropológica e etnológica, Portugal Junta de Investigações do Ultramar. Imprensa Nacional de Lisboa, 1944Jules Sion, Luis Villanueva López-Moreno (tr.). Asia monzónica: India, Indochina, Insulindia. Volume 13 of Geografía Universal. Montaner y Simón, 1948 it is also sometimes used in art history or anthropology to describe the interface zone between the cultures of Oceania and Southeast Asia.weblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718111519weblink|date=2011-07-18}} Insulindia: musée du quai Branly, FranceInsulindia is used as a geopolitical term in academic discussions of the former European colonial possessions within Maritime Southeast Asia, especially Dutch East Indies and Portuguese East Indies ("Portuguese Insulindia")Insulindia Portuguea. Divisao de Publicacoes e Biblioteca Agencia Geral das Colonias. Clamagirand (-Renard), Brigitte. 1971 much as former French colonial possessions in Southeast Asia are still termed French Indochina.Christian Pelras . weblink Indonesian Studies in France: Retrospect, Situation and Prospects. Archipel, 1978, Volume 16, Issue 16, pp. 7-20 It is also used to describe and locate the Chinese cultural diaspora (the "insulindian Chinese")Leo Suryadinata. The Ethnic Chinese in the ASEAN states: bibliographical essays. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1989, {{ISBN|978-981-3035-11-9}} p. 54 across the islands of Southeast Asia.Claudine Salmon. Cultural links between insulindian Chinese and Fujian as reflected in two late 17th-century epigraphs. Archipel, 2007, Issue 73, pp. 167-194

Geography

File:Philippines Bohol Virgin Island.JPG|thumb|One of the majority of uninhabited islands of the PhilippinesPhilippinesThe land and sea area of the archipelago exceeds 2 million km2. The more than 25,000 islands of the archipelago consist of many smaller archipelagoes.weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20071022221129weblink">Philippines : General Information. Government of the Philippines. Retrieved 2009-11-06; PRESS RELEASE, International Monetary Fund,weblink 2006-10-05, World Economic Outlook Database, April 2006, ; WEB, Indonesia Regions, Indonesia Business Directory,weblink 2007-04-24, The major island groupings in the Indonesian Archipelago include the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, and the Sunda Islands. The Sunda Islands comprise two island groups: the Greater Sunda Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands.The major island groupings in the Philippine Archipelago include Luzon, Mindanao, and the Visayan Islands.The seven largest islands are New Guinea, Borneo, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Java in Indonesia; and Luzon and Mindanao in the Philippines.Geologically, the archipelago is one of the most active volcanic regions in the world. Producing many volcanoes especially in Java, Sumatra and Lesser Sunda Islands region where most volcanoes over {{convert|3000|m|0|abbr=on}} are situated. Tectonic uplifts also produce large mountains, including the highest in Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia, with a height of 4,095.2 m and Puncak Jaya on Papua, Indonesia at {{convert|4884|m|0|abbr=on}}. Other high mountains in the archipelago include Puncak Mandala, Indonesia at {{convert|4760|m|0|abbr=on}} and Puncak Trikora, Indonesia, at {{convert|4750|m|0|abbr=on}}.The climate throughout the archipelago is tropical, owing to its position on the Equator.

Biogeography

File:Línea de Wallace.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Wallace LineWallace LineWallace used the term Malay Archipelago as the title of his influential book documenting his studies in the region. He proposed what would come to be known as the "Wallace Line", a boundary that separated the flora and fauna of Asia and Australia. The ice age boundary was formed by the deep water straits between Borneo and Sulawesi; and through the Lombok Strait between Bali and Lombok. This is now considered the western border of the Wallacea transition zone between the zoogeographical regions of Asia and Australia. The zone has a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origin, and its own endemic species.

Demography

{{more citations needed section|date=April 2024}}{{See also|Southeast Asia#Demographics}}

Population

Over 380 million people live in the region, with the nine most populated islands being the following:

1. Java (141,000,000)
2. Sumatra (50,180,000)
3. Luzon (48,520,774)
4. Mindanao (21,902,000)
5. Borneo (21,258,000)
6. Sulawesi (21,258,000)
7. New Guinea (11,306,940)
8. Negros (4,414,131)
9. Panay (4,302,634)

Language and religion

The people living there are predominantly from Austronesian sub-groupings and correspondingly speak western Malayo-Polynesian languages. The main religions in this region are Islam (62%), Christianity (33%), as well as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and traditional folk religions.

Culture

Culturally, the region is often seen{{By whom|date=June 2011}} as part of "Farther India" or Greater India—the Coedes' Indianized states of Southeast Asia refers to it as "Island Southeast Asia".Coedes, G. (1968) The Indianized states of Southeast Asia Edited by Walter F. Vella. Translated by Susan Brown Cowing.Canberra : Australian National University Press. Introduction... The geographic area here called Farther India consists of Indonesia, or island Southeast Asia....

See also

• Archipelago
• British Indian Ocean Territory
• East Indies
• Greater Indonesia
• Maritime Southeast Asia
• Nusantara
• Indonesian Archipelago
• Malay Peninsula
• Malayness
• Maphilindo

Notes

{{reflist|2}}

External links

• EB1911, Malay Archipelago, 17, Jayne, Kingsley Garland, 466–471, 1,
• Wallace, Alfred Russel. The Malay Archipelago, Volume I, Volume II.
• Art of Island Southeast Asia, full-text of an exhibition catalog from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

{{Countries of the Malay Archipelago}}{{Regions of the world}}{{Authority control}}