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The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula (Malay: Semenanjung Tanah Melayu, Thai: คาบสมุทรมลายู) is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland. The Straits of Malacca separates the Malay Peninsula from the Indonesian island of Sumatra while the south coast is separated from the island of Singapore by the Straits of Johor.

The area is currently divided politically and contains territory affiliated with the following countries:

• Malaysia
• Burma
• Singapore
• Thailand

The Malay term Tanah Melayu, literally meaning 'Malay Soil' is generally used by the local Malays and occasionally used in political discourse to describe uniting all Malay people on the peninsula under one Malay nation, although this ambition was largely realized with the creation of Malaysia. There is also a Malay minority in Singapore, an island city-state with a Chinese majority that immigrated to the island during the British colonial era.

[edit] See also

• Malay archipelago
• Titiwangsa Mountains
• Kra Isthmus
• Indochina