Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.353

v2.c13.353

The Malay Peninsula or the Peninsula of Malacca is the name given to that long narrow strip of territory which, projecting southwards from Indo-China, divides the Bay of Bengal from the China Sea, and forms the most southerly extremity of the mainland of Asia. It is called by the natives Tanah Malayu, the land of the Malays. It is now generally regarded as beginning at the Isthmus of Kra, in Lat. 10°, but, in the widest sense, the peninsula extends from the parallel of the head of the Gulf of Siam, in Lat. 13°-30′. The peninsula runs at first south, and then in a south-eastern direction, for about 800 miles. The distance from the Isthmus of Kra to Cape Rumenia (east of Singapore), as the crow flies, would be about 750 miles. Cape Rumenia is nearly, though not exactly, the most southerly point in the peninsula, Tanjong Bulus (1°-16½′N.), a little to the west, occupying that position. The peninsula is bounded on the north by Siam, and is surrounded by the sea in all other directions; by the China Sea and the Gulf of Siam on the east, by the Strait of Singapore on the south, and by the Straits of Malacca and the Bay of Bengal on the west. There are many islands along the shores of the peninsula, the most notable being Langkawi and Penang on the west, and Singapore, Batan and Bintang on the south. The islands on the eastern coast are fewer and smaller.