"Southeast Asia": What does it mean?

Southeast Asia is not an objectively delimited geographical region, but a metageographical area. Martin W. Lewis and Kären E. Wigen (1997) refer to metageography as "the set of spatial structures through which people order their knowledge of the world: the often unconscious frameworks that organize studies of history, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, or even natural history" (p.ix). Namely, "Southeast Asia" is a shared mental construct. And, even though it is an area by no means uniform regarding almost any aspect, the use of the term does not carry much controversy. For most scholars, the regions is formed by the following states:

• Burma (Myanmar). Capital: Naypyidaw
• Thailand.                 Capital: Bangkok
• Cambodia.               Capital: Phnom Penh
• Laos                         Capital: Vientiane
• Vietnam                   Capital: Hanoi
• Malaysia                  Capital: Kuala Lumpur
• Singapore                 Capital: Singapore
• Indonesia                  Capital: Jakarta
• Philippines               Capital: Manila
• Brunei                      Capital: Bandar Seru Begawan
• Timor-Leste*           Capital: Dili

*Part of the literature on Southeast Asia does not include Timor-Leste, as it is a newly independent state (it was considered a province of Indonesia until 2002).

Source: United Nations

According to Emmerson (1984), the term describes something that's between an invention and a reality, but in any case a reality per se. He argues that using this name without knowing its implications is "projecting homogeneity, unity and boundedness onto a part of the world that is in fact heterogeneous, disunited, and hard to delimit" (p.1).

In fact, it is interesting that the name by which this metageographical area is known actually refers to its periphery: its references its location to the South of China and to the East of India, which were more recognizable landmarks for Westerners.

Before being known as "Southeast Asia", the region -or certain parts of it- was referred to in various different ways:

• In the 19th century, the term "Indo-China" was used ambiguously by the British to name the Asia beyond India
• The British also used "Further India", the Germans "Hinterindien", the French "l'Inde ultragangetique," the Indians "Suvarnabhumi", the Arabs "Zabag", the Japanese "Nanyo" and the Australians "Terra Septentrionalis". Each of these names "carries with it the unique perspective of an outside party. By implication, to prefer one name is to lend credence to that namer's claims to a proprietary relationship with the region." (Emmerson, p.4)