Southeast Asia: Impact of Separatist Movements

Abstract

The name for the region Southeast Asia was first coined in the 20 th century. It was previously known as Further India as opposed to the Indian subcontinent. The Southeast Asia consists of Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam Southeast Asia has an area of approx. 4,000,000 km² (1.6 million sq miles). As of 2004, more than 550 million people lived in the region. The distribution of the religions and people is diverse in Southeast Asia and varies by country. Countries in mainland South East Asia practices mainly Buddhism such as Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Singapore's population also largely practices Buddhism. In the Malay Archipelogo, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei are mainly Muslim. Christianity is predominant in the Philippines and East Timor.