The
Far East is a term used in
English (with equivalents in various other
languages of Europe and
Asia,
Chinese literally translating to "
far east") mostly equivalent to
East Asia (including the
Russian Far East) and
Southeast Asia, sometimes to the inclusion of
South Asia for economic and cultural reasons.
"Far East" came into use in
European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century, denoting
Eastern Asia as the "farthest" of the three "easts", beyond the
Near East and the
Middle East. For the same reason, ancient Chinese people called western countries "
Tàixī ()" - i.e. anything further west than
India.
Popularisation
The term
Far East was popularized in the
English language during the period of the
British Empire as a blanket term for lands to the east of
British India. Prior to
World War I, the
Near East referred to relatively nearby lands of the
Ottoman Empire,
Middle East to northwestern
South Asia and
Central Asia, and
Far East for countries along the western Pacific Ocean and countries along the eastern Indian Ocean. Many European languages have analogous terms, such as the
French Extrême-Orient,
Spanish Extremo Oriente,
Portuguese Extremo Oriente,
German Ferner Osten,
Italian Estremo Oriente,
Polish Daleki Wschód, and
Dutch Verre Oosten.
Cultural as well as geographic meaning
Significantly, the term evokes cultural as well as geographic separation; the
Far East is not just geographically distant, but also culturally exotic. It never refers, for instance, to the culturally Western nations of
Australia and
New Zealand, which lie even farther to the east of Europe than East Asia itself. This combination of cultural and geographic subjectivism was well illustrated in 1939 by the Prime Minister of Australia,
R. G Menzies. Reflecting upon his country's geopolitical concerns with the onset of war, Menzies commented that:
"The problems of the Pacific are different. What Great Britain calls the Far East is to us the near north."
Far East in its usual sense is comparable to terms such as
the Orient, which means
East; the
Eastern world; or simply the
East.
South East Asia and the
Russian Far East might now be included in the Far East to some extent due to recent
Chinese migration to
Russia, and the
Korean diaspora in
Russia.
The term remains in use, alongside more specific terms such as
East Asia and
Southeast Asia, or
Pacific Rim, and it features in the names of many Asian-based commercial enterprises and institutions. Examples include:
Far Eastern National University in Vladivostok,
Far Eastern University in the City of Manila, South Korean's
Far East University, and the
Hong Kong-based
Far Eastern Economic Review. Furthemore, the
United Kingdom and
United States of America have historically used
Far East for several military units and commands in the region:
Territories and regions conventionally included under the term Far East
Cities
See also
