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Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina or the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east.
Southeast Asia, vast region of Asia situated east of the Indian subcontinent and south of China. It consists of two dissimilar portions: a continental projection (commonly called mainland Southeast Asia) and a string of archipelagoes to the south and east of the mainland (insular Southeast Asia).
Mainland Southeast Asia is drained by five major river systems, which from west to east are the Irrawaddy, Salween, Chao Phraya, Mekong, and Red rivers. The three largest systems—the Irrawaddy, Salween, and Mekong—have their origins in the Plateau of Tibet.
The mainland section of Southeast Asia was referred to as Indochina by European geographers due to its location between China and the Indian subcontinent and its having cultural influences from both neighbouring regions.
Southeast Asia consists of eleven countries that reach from eastern India to China, and is generally divided into “mainland” and “island” zones. The mainland (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) is actually an extension of the Asian continent.
Mainland Southeast Asia comprises six countries; Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand. The other five countries, except part Western New Guinea (Indonesia), form Maritime Southeast Asia.
It began as early as 4000 bce, when Taiwan was populated from the Asian mainland, and subsequently it continued southward through the northern Philippines (3rd millennium bce), central Indonesia (2nd millennium bce), and western and eastern Indonesia (2nd and 1st millennia bce).