The West Indies

The the West Indies or insular Southeast Asia , in the past called Malaysia, Malay Archipelago or Indian archipelago, is vast a Archipel mountainous extending between the Continent S Asian and Australian and which includes/understands the following countries and territories:

the Brunei;
the Indonesia, except for the Irian Jaya;
Filipino ;
the Eastern Timor;
the Eastern Malaysia (located on the island of Borneo), is the States of Sarawak and Sabah and the federal district of Labuan;
the Indian territory of Andaman and Nicobar.

This archipelago counts 2 million square kilometers thus, which makes some vastest of the ground. One can divide it into two units. In the south, the Malayan arc gathers the islands Andaman and Nicobar and the islands of the Probe (Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa and Florès). In the east, the Filipino , Célèbes and the Moluques form another arc. Between the two, the island of Borneo is.

The West Indies was formerly regarded as one of the three parts of the Oceania, with the Mélanésie and the Polynésie. Today, one more often attaches it to the Asia, more precisely with the Southeast Asia.

Culturally, one speaks about “insular and peninsular” Southeast Asia to include the Péninsule of Malacca and thus to include the whole of the Malaysia.

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