Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.9

v2.c13.9

The Malay Peninsula forms the most southerly part of the mainland of Asia. It is a long narrow strip of land projecting into the China sea and connected with the mainland by the Isthmus of Kra. In spite, however, of this connection with land, the peninsula belongs, geographically, to the Malay Archipelago and not to the Asiatic continent. The Malay Archipelago is also designated Indian Archipelago, East Indies, Indonesia, Asiatic Archipelago or Insulinde. It begins with the large island of Sumatra which lies to the west of the Malay Peninsula and is separated from it by the Straits of Malacca. The narrow Sunda Strait parts Sumatra from the neighbouring island of Java to its south-east. Java is the beginning of a series of islands lying in a long chain in the direction from west to east. These are Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and a number of small islands which almost stretch upto New-Guinea. A little to the south of this line are the two important islands, Sumba and Timor.