Malay Archipelago

World map highlighting Malay Archipelago. New Guinea—not part of the Malay Archipelago by some definitions—is also included.
Geography
Location	Southeast Asia, Oceania
Total islands	20,000
Major islands	Borneo, Java, Luzon, Mindanao, New Guinea, Sulawesi, Sumatra
Area	>2 million km²
Country
Brunei
Largest city	Bandar Seri Begawan
East Timor
Largest city	Dili
Indonesia
Largest city	Jakarta
Malaysia
Largest city	Kuching (Kuala Lumpur is larger and part of Maritime Southeast Asia, but not part of the Malay Archipelago)
Papua New Guinea
Largest city	Port Moresby
Philippines
Largest city	Quezon City (Metro Manila suburb)

The Malay Archipelago and Maritime Southeast Asia are names given to the archipelago located between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. Located between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the group of 20,000 islands is the world's largest archipelago by area. It includes the countries of Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia (only East), East Timor, and most of Papua New Guinea.^[2] The island of New Guinea is not always included in the Malay Archipelago,^[2] while Peninsular Malaysia also is included within Maritime Southeast Asia.^[3]

[edit] Terminology

The concept of a “Malay race” which included the peoples of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines was put forward by European colonialists due to their observations regarding the influence of the Malay empire, Srivijaya.^[4] Nineteenth century naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace used the term “Malay Archipelago” as the title of his influential book documenting his studies in the region.

As Wallace himself noted^[5], there are arguments for excluding Papua New Guinea for cultural and geographical reasons: Papua New Guinea is culturally quite different from the other countries in the region, and the island of New Guinea itself is geologically not part of the continent of Asia, as the islands of the Sunda Shelf are (see Australia). The archipelago is sometimes also known as the “East Indies”, particularly in the European colonial era, but broader definitions of the “East Indies” include Indochina, the Indian subcontinent, and even areas as far west as Iranian Baluchistan.

[edit] Geography and geology

The archipelago encompasses many groups which may be considered archipelagoes in their own right. The major ones are:

• The Sunda Islands
  • The Greater Sunda Islands
  • The Lesser Sunda Islands
• The Maluku Islands
• The Philippines

Geologically the archipelago is one of the most active volcanic regions in the world. Geological uplifts in the region have also produced some impressive mountains, culminating in Mount Kinabalu in Sabah with a height of 4,095.2 m (or Puncak Jaya in Papua at 4,884 m (16,024 ft), if New Guinea is included). The climate throughout the archipelago, owing to its position on the equator, is tropical. It is notably rainier in the west than in the east.

Wallace's line between Australian and Southeast Asian fauna. The deep water of the Lombok Strait between the islands of Bali and Lombok formed a water barrier even when lower sea levels linked the now-separated islands and landmasses on either side.

[edit] Biogeography

The Malay Archipelago is traversed by the "Wallace Line" (or "Wallace's Line"), a boundary that separates the zoogeographical regions of Asia and Wallacea (which is a transitional zone between Asia and Australia). West of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origin are present. The line is named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who noticed this clear dividing line during his travels through the East Indies in the 19th century. The line runs through the Malay Archipelago, between Borneo and Sulawesi (Celebes); and through the Lombok Strait between Bali (in the west) and Lombok (in the east). Antonio Pigafetta had also recorded the biological contrasts between the Philippines and the Maluku Islands (Spice Islands) (situated on opposite sides of the line) in 1521 during the continuation of the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan (after Magellan himself had been killed on Mactan).

[edit] Demography

The archipelago's area is more than 2 million km², and its total population is more than 300,000,000. The biggest islands in the archipelago are New Guinea, Borneo, and Sumatra. The most heavily populated is Java. The people of the archipelago are predominantly from Austronesian subgroupings, and all correspondingly speak western Malayo-Polynesian languages. Also, this region of Southeast Asia share more social and cultural ties with other Austronesian peoples in the Pacific than with the peoples of Mainland Southeast Asia.

The mainland part of Malaysia, which is known as Malaya, is included as part of Maritime Southeast Asia^[3] in order that all the non-Oceanian Austronesian peoples can be included together in one cultural region.

The main religions in this region are Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and traditional Animism.

[edit] See also

• The Malay Archipelago—a book by Alfred Russel Wallace
• Austronesia
• Malesia
• Nusantara
• Wallacea
• Wallace Line

[edit] References

• Wallace, Alfred Russel. The Malay Archipelago, Volume I.

1. ^ Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division (2006) (.PDF). World Population Prospects, Table A.2. 2006 revision. United Nations. pp. 37-42. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2006/WPP2006_Highlights_rev.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-30. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Malay Archipelago." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2006. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Maritime Southeast Asia." Worldworx Travel. Accessed 26 May 2009.
4. ^ Reid, Anthony. Understanding melayu (Malay) as a source of diverse modern identities. Origins of Malayness 2001 Cambridge University Press. Retrieved on March 2, 2009.
5. ^ http://www.papuaweb.org/dlib/bk/wallace/race.html "If we draw a line ... commencing to the east of the Philippine Islands, thence along the western coast of Gilolo, through the island of Bouru, and curving round the west end of Mores, then bending back by Sandalwood Island to take in Rotti, we shall divide the Archipelago into two portions, the races of which have strongly marked distinctive peculiarities. This line will separate the Malayan and all the Asiatic races, from the Papuans and all that inhabit the Pacific; and though along the line of junction intermigration and commixture have taken place, yet the division is on the whole almost as well defined and strongly contrasted, as is the corresponding zoological division of the Archipelago, into an Indo-Malayan and Austro-Malayan region."

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