Southeast Asia: Heartland of Our Times
The name is new but the heartland that it refers to was already celebrated in eras primeval. Ancient Chinese and Indians as well as the ancient Arabs, Greeks and Romans had a fairly clear idea of Southeast Asia, the mass of land and islands west of India and south of China. To the ancient Chinese, it was Nan Yang ; to their Indian contemporaries, it was Savarnadvipa; and to the Arabs of antiquity, it was Qumr. To these ancients, Southeast Asia was the alternative passage of traders to the vast China market, an archipelagic highway that flourished each time the caravans of the "silk route" could not get through the passes of Central Asia. During the long night when most of it was under colonial rule, the European powers, of course, called it "India Orientalis," East India.
The term "Southeast Asia" is of recent vintage. German writers of the late 19th century occasionally used the term. It gained some currency when the British during the second world war created Lord Louis Mountbatten's Southeast Asia Military Command which included Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. It became more or less a household term when the Cold War was already raging in earnest in the mid-50s and the West was impelled by regional events to create a military alliance called the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
Southeast Asia: Heartland of Our Times
The name is new but the heartland that it refers to was already celebrated in eras primeval. Ancient Chinese and Indians as well as the ancient Arabs, Greeks and Romans had a fairly clear idea of Southeast Asia, the mass of land and islands west of India and south of China. To the ancient Chinese, it was Nan Yang ; to their Indian contemporaries, it was Savarnadvipa; and to the Arabs of antiquity, it was Qumr. To these ancients, Southeast Asia was the alternative passage of traders to the vast China market, an archipelagic highway that flourished each time the caravans of the "silk route" could not get through the passes of Central Asia. During the long night when most of it was under colonial rule, the European powers, of course, called it "India Orientalis," East India.
The term "Southeast Asia" is of recent vintage. German writers of the late 19th century occasionally used the term. It gained some currency when the British during the second world war created Lord Louis Mountbatten's Southeast Asia Military Command which included Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. It became more or less a household term when the Cold War was already raging in earnest in the mid-50s and the West was impelled by regional events to create a military alliance called the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
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