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Southeast Asia is on sheet four of this map. British colonial territory—British Burma, the Straits Settlements, Sarawak, Brunei, British North Borneo—is highlighted in red, with Dutch, Spanish, French and Portuguese territory also shown.

Map of the East Indies in the mid-19th century, with the borders of Dutch colonial territory (Dutch East Indies) marked in brown.

Map of the East Indies in the mid-19th century, with the borders of Dutch colonial territory (Dutch East Indies) marked in brown.

A late 18th century map of Asia, with notes on the principal states, empires and kingdoms of Asia written in French on the right-hand side.

This map uses colour to identify regions in late 18th century Southeast Asia, many of which roughly correspond to modern countries: Pegu=Myanmar, Tonkin/Cochin China=Vietnam, Lao =Laos, Siam=Thailand, Malaya=Malaysia, Philippin Islands=Philippines.

This 1550 map by the German cartographer Sebastian Münster (1488–1552) was based on the work of the 2nd century geographer Ptolemy. There are many inaccuracies, especially in scale and the locations of mountain ranges, but the region is recognisable.