Facts about Southeast Asia
The shallow waters of the Southeast Asian coral reefs have the highest levels of biodiversity for the world's marine ecosystems, where coral, fish and mollusks abound.
Taiwan, which sits on the Tropic of Cancer and borders the South China Sea, has likewise often been included in definitions of Southeast Asia as well as East Asia.
Papua politically belongs to Southeast Asia through Indonesia, although geographically it is often considered part of Oceania.
All of the above belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), except East Timor (also known as Timor Leste), which has applied for ASEAN membership.
Scant information about Southeast Asian religious beliefs and practices existed before the advent of Indian merchants and religious influences from the second century B.C.E.
Southeast Asia has a wet and dry season caused by seasonal shift in winds or monsoon; the tropical rain belt brings additional rainfall during the monsoon season.
Hainan Island and several other southern Chinese regions such as Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi belong to both East Asian and Southeast Asian.
The alphabets of Southeast Asia tended to be abugidas, until the arrival of the Europeans, who used words that also ended in consonants, not just vowels.
Pockets of Hindu population live around Southeast Asia in Singapore, and Malaysia, for example.
Prior to the thirteenth century, Buddhism and Hinduism were the main religions in Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asia boasts diverse religions and peoples and no country is homogeneous.
Taiwan has sometimes been included in Southeast Asia as well as East Asia but is not a member of ASEAN.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India have been considered a geographical part of Southeast Asia.
The history of Southeast Asia has led to a wealth of different authors, from both within and without writing about the region.
Dance in much of Southeast Asia includes movement of the hands, as well as the feet.
Japan had made the most recent attempt to colonize the entire Southeast Asia region during World War II.
North-East India belongs to Southeast Asia culturally while sometimes considered both South Asian and Southeast Asian.
Some 30 million overseas Chinese also live in Southeast Asia, most prominently in Christmas Island, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, and also, as the Hoa, in Vietnam.
The climate in Southeast Asia is mainly tropical—hot and humid year round with heavy rainfall.
Many of the surviving examples of the Hindu cultural influence found today throughout the Southeast Asia resulted from the Chola expeditions.
Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands belong in Southeast Asia though governed by Australia.
Stilt houses can be found all over Southeast Asia, from Thailand and Laos, to Borneo, to Luzon in the Philippines, to Papua New Guinea.
Traditional music in Southeast Asia has a varied face with its many ethnic and cultural divisions.
Large pockets of intermarriage between indigenous Southeast Asians and those of Chinese descent exist.
European explorers reached Southeast Asia from the west and from the east.
Indonesia and Malaysia also has a few mixed Southeast Asian-Chinese populations.
Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonization of Madagascar by the Austronesian people, as well as commerce between West Asia and Southeast Asia.
Hinduism, brought centuries earlier, dramatically influenced the Arts and Literature in some of Southeast Asia countries.
Southeast Asia, sometimes abbreviated to SEA, is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries south of China, east of India and north of Australia.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India have been considered a geographical part of Southeast Asia.
Rice paddy agriculture has existed in Southeast Asia for thousands of years, ranging across the subregion.
That holds true for mainland Southeast Asia (excluding Vietnam).
According to a recent Stanford genetic study, the Southeast Asian population has a mixture of ethnic groups.
The peoples of Southeast Asia, especially those of Austronesian descent, have been seafarers for thousands of years, some reaching the island of Madagascar.
Southeast Asia divides into two geographical regions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia (or Indochina) and the Maritime Southeast Asia (or the Malay Archipelago) (Indonesian language: Nusantara).
That would have been more durable in the tropical climate of Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asia has an area of approximately 4,000,000 kmІ (1.6 million square miles).
Christians live throughout Southeast Asia, in the majority in East Timor and the Philippines, Asia's largest Christian nation.
The rest of Southeast Asia is still heavily dependent on agriculture, but Vietnam and Cambodia are making steady progress in developing their industrial sectors.
The Australasian pig-nose turtle, Carettochelys insculpta, found in New Guinea and Australia and also known as the "plateless turtle," is a species of soft-shelled turtle whose gray carapace has a leathery texture.
The term Third World was originally coined in times of the Cold War to distinguish those nations that are neither aligned with the West (NATO) nor with the East, the Communist bloc. Today the term is often used to describe the developing countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania.