Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as Indochina or the Indochinese Peninsula, is the

continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland
China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. It includes
the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Peninsular Malaysia.
The term Indochina (originally Indo-China) was coined in the early nineteenth century, emphasizing
the historical cultural influence of Indian and Chinese civilizations on the area. The term was later
adopted as the name of the colony of French Indochina (today's Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam).
Today, the term Mainland Southeast Asia, in contrast to Maritime Southeast Asia, is more commonly
referenced.

Terminology[edit]

1886 map of Indochina, from the Scottish Geographical

Magazine
The origins of the name Indo-China are usually attributed jointly to the Danish-French
geographer Conrad Malte-Brun, who referred to the area as indo-chinois in 1804, and the Scottish
linguist John Leyden, who used the term Indo-Chinese to describe the area's inhabitants and their
languages in 1808.[1] Scholarly opinions at the time regarding China's and India's historical influence
over the area were conflicting, and the term was itself controversial—Malte-Brun himself later argued
against its use in a later edition of his Universal Geography, reasoning that it over-emphasized
Chinese influence, and suggested Chin-India instead.[2] Nevertheless, Indo-China had already gained
traction and soon supplanted alternative terms such as Further India and the Peninsula beyond the
Ganges. Later, however, as the French established the colony of French Indochina (covering
present-day Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam), use of the term became more restricted to the French
colony,[3] and today the area is usually referred to as Mainland Southeast Asia. [4]

Biogeography[edit]
In biogeography, the Indochinese bioregion is a major region in the Indomalayan realm, and also
a phytogeographical floristic region in the Oriental Paleotropical Kingdom. It includes the native flora
and fauna of all the countries above. The adjacent Malesian Region covers the Maritime Southeast
Asian countries, and straddles the Indomalayan and Australasian realms.[5]

Geography[edit]
 Mekong River
The Indochinese Peninsula projects southward from the Asian continent proper. It contains several
mountain ranges extending from the Tibetan Plateau in the north, interspersed with lowlands largely
drained by three major river systems running in a north–south direction:
the Irrawaddy (serving Myanmar), the Chao Phraya (in Thailand), and the Mekong (flowing
through Northeastern Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam). To the south it forms the Malay
Peninsula, located on which are Southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia; the latter is variably
considered part of Mainland Southeast Asia or separately as part of Maritime Southeast Asia.

Culture[edit]

Ethnolinguistic groups of mainland Southeast Asia

Mainland Southeast Asia contrasts with Maritime Southeast Asia, mainly through the division of
largely land-based lifestyles in Indochina and the sea-based lifestyles of the Indonesian
archipelago and Philippine archipelago, as well as the dividing line between the Austroasiatic, Tai–
Kadai, and Sino-Tibetan languages (spoken in Mainland Southeast Asia) and
the Austronesian languages (spoken in Maritime Southeast Asia). The languages of the mainland
form the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area: although belonging to several independent
language families, they have converged over the course of history and share a number of typological
similarities.
The countries of mainland Southeast Asia received cultural influence from both India and China to
varying degrees.[6] Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand are all influenced by Indian culture, only
Vietnam is influenced by Chinese culture but still has minor influences from India, largely via
the Champa civilization that Vietnam conquered during its southward expansion.
Overall, Mainland Southeast Asia is predominantly Buddhist[7][8][9][10][11][12] with
minority Muslim and Hindu populations.[13][14]