Southeast Asia lies south of China and east of India. It has eleven countries: some on a mainland peninsula, others on thousands of islands between the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Key idea
On the mainland, the Indochina Peninsula: Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. On islands: Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei and Timor-Leste (East Timor). Malaysia is split: part on the Malay Peninsula, part on the island of Borneo. Laos is the only landlocked country.
Why it works
Southeast Asia sits where plates of Earth's crust meet, part of the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific, so it has many volcanoes and islands. Indonesia is made of more than 17,000 islands, the most of any country; the largest include Sumatra, Java, Borneo (shared) and the western half of New Guinea. The Philippines has more than 7,000 islands.
Worked example: Borneo's three countries
Which countries share the island of Borneo?
- The southern part is Indonesia.
- The north coast is Malaysia.
- Tiny Brunei sits on the north coast, surrounded by Malaysia.
Answer: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
Worked example: Mainland or islands?
Is Cambodia on the mainland or on islands?
- Cambodia lies between Thailand, Laos and Vietnam on the Indochina Peninsula.
Answer: On the mainland.
Common mistake
Some people think Indonesia is one island. It is a country of thousands of islands, stretching more than 5,000 km from Sumatra to New Guinea: the largest island country in the world.