Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago (Indonesian/Malay: Kepulauan Melayu, Tagalog: Kapuluang Malayo) also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia. It has also been called the "Malay world," "Nusantara", "East Indies", and other names over time. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based on the distribution of Austronesian languages.
World map highlighting Malay Archipelago | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Maritime Southeast Asia, Melanesia |
| Total islands | 25,000 |
| Major islands | Java, Luzon, Borneo, Mindanao, New Guinea, Sulawesi, Sumatra |
| Area | 2,870,000 km2 (1,110,000 sq mi) |
| Largest settlement | Quezon City |
| Largest settlement | Jakarta |
| Largest settlement | Port Moresby |
| Largest settlement | Bandar Seri Begawan |
| Largest settlement | Dili |
| Largest settlement | Kota Kinabalu |
| Largest settlement | Singapore City |
| Largest settlement | Flying Fish Cove |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 380,000,000 |
| Ethnic groups | Predominantly Austronesians, with minorities of Negritoes, Papuans, Melanesians, Overseas Chinese, Arab descendants, and Overseas Indians |
Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, the archipelago of over 25,000 islands and islets is the largest archipelago by area and fifth by number of islands in the world. It includes Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Singapore The term is largely synonymous with Maritime Southeast Asia.