The
Indies is a term used to describe the lands of
South and
Southeast Asia,
[Oxford Dictionary of English 2e, Oxford University Press, 2003, East Indies/East India] occupying all of the present
Indian Union,
Pakistan,
Bangladesh,
Myanmar,
Sri Lanka, the
Maldives and also
Thailand,
Cambodia,
Laos,
Brunei,
Singapore, the
Philippines,
East Timor,
Malaysia and
Indonesia. In a more restricted sense, the Indies is used to refer to the islands of Southeastern
Asia, especially the
Malay Archipelago.
[Oxford Dictionary of English 2e, Oxford University Press, 2003, "East Indies/East India"]Dutch-held colonies in the area were known as the
Dutch East Indies before
Indonesian independence, while Spanish-held colonies were known as the
Spanish East Indies before the Philippines' independence. The East Indies may also include
Indochina, the
Philippine Islands,
Brunei,
Singapore and
East Timor. It does not, however, include
western New Guinea (West Papua), which is part of
Melanesia.
The inhabitants of the East Indies are sometimes called East Indians, distinguishing them both from inhabitants of the
Indian subcontinent, the
Caribbean (which is also called the "West Indies"), and from the
indigenous peoples of the Americas who are often called "American Indians." (In
North America however, the term East Indian may be used for people originating in
India living in North America.) However, the peoples of the East Indies comprise a wide variety of cultural diversity, and the inhabitants do not consider themselves as belonging to a single
ethnic group.
Hinduism,
Buddhism and
Islam are the most popular
religions throughout the region, while
Christianity,
Sikhism,
Jainism and various other traditional beliefs and practices are also prominent in some areas. The major languages in this area draw from a wide variety of
language families, and should not be confused with the term
Indic, which refers only to a group of
Indo-European languages from
South Asia.
The extensive East Indies are subdivided into two sections (from a European perspective), archaically called Hither India and Further India. The first is the former British India, the second is modern
Southeast Asia or the
ASEAN Bloc.
Regions of the East Indies are sometimes known by the colonial empire they once belonged to, hence, British East Indies
refers to Malaysia, the Dutch East Indies means Indonesia, and Spanish East Indies means the Philippines.
Historically, the king of Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) was identified with "Prester John of the Indies", since that part of the world was imagined to be one of "Three Indias".History
Exploration of these regions by European powers first began in the late 15th century and early 16th century, led by the Portuguese explorers. These regions became important sources of trading goods, particularly cotton, indigo and spices after the establishment of European trading companies designed for the specific purpose: the British East India Company and Dutch East India Company, among others, in the 17th century.
The New World was initially thought to be the easternmost part of the Indies
by explorer Christopher Columbus, who had grossly underestimated the westerly distance from Europe to Asia. Later, to avoid confusion, the New World came to be called the "West Indies", whilst the original Indies came to be called the "East Indies".
The racial designation East Indian was once primarily used to describe people of all of the East Indies, but more recently and wrongly, it has been used widely to refer to an Indian from India, in order to avoid the potential confusion from the term American Indian who were once simply referred to as Indians'' (see the
Native American name controversy for more information).
See also
