Back india

The rear Indian peninsula: Indochinese peninsula (center) and Malay peninsula in the south

Historical map of Lower India from Meyers Konversations-Lexikon , 1876

The rear India peninsula (also the rear Indian peninsula or Southeast Asian peninsula ) in Southeast Asia comprises the large and extensive Indochinese peninsula and the smaller, but very elongated Malay peninsula .

term

The term “rear India” referred to the rear part of the area understood as Indian from a European perspective. The front part was called "Front India ". The terms have thus emerged from a Eurocentric perspective and are increasingly considered outdated. Instead, “Southeast Asian mainland”, “ Mainland Southeast Asia ” or “Continental Southeast Asia ” is used as a political and cultural space . However, this also includes the north of Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, and in some cases the extreme south of China, beyond the peninsula of rear India.

geography

In the northwest, the rear Indian peninsula borders on Bangladesh and India , in the north on China (see also below under "States"). In the east it borders on the South China Sea (with the Gulf of Thailand and the Gulf of Tonkin ), in the west on the marginal seas of the Indian Ocean ( Gulf of Bengal , Andaman Sea ) and the Malakka Strait .

In the south, rear India extends almost to the equator . The southern tip of the Malay Peninsula is separated from Singapore by a narrow strait (the Strait of Johor , about one kilometer wide) .

Sub-areas and delimitation

The rear Indian peninsula consists of a northern part and a southern peninsula:

Indochinese Peninsula
Malay Peninsula - the southern part is called the Malacca Peninsula

The demarcation of the rear Indian peninsula from the actual Asian continent corresponds roughly to the imaginary, completely straight line Chittagong in Bangladesh to Hải Phong in Vietnam .

Seas

These seas and marine areas border the rear Indian peninsula :

States

These states or parts of them are located on the rear Indian peninsula :

Bangladesh - extreme southeast of the state
India - extreme southeast of the northeast part of the state
Cambodia - complete state
Laos - central and southern part of the state
Malaysia - western part of the state
Myanmar - southern part of the state
Thailand - complete state
Vietnam - central and southern part of the state

Riparian states

Countries bordering the rear Indian peninsula and / or rear India are:

China - borders the main part of rear India in the north
Indonesia - lies in the south across the Malakka Strait
Singapore - is located in the south across Johor Street