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Dutch-language map of Asia, with mainland Southeast Asia labelled ‘Achter Indie [Beyond India]’.

Dutch-language map of Asia, with mainland Southeast Asia labelled ‘Achter Indie [Beyond India]’.

This map highlights the colonisation of Southeast Asia, showing French Indochina (green), British Burma and Malaya (orange), the Dutch East Indies (pink), and the Spanish Philippines (green). In the region, only Siam (yellow) is independent.

Map of stream ship trade routes around Southeast Asia. Rivers, railways, submarine telegraph cables, lighthouses (fixed, revolving and flashing), graving docks and coaling stations are marked. An inset map shows a railway route from Britain to Asia.

Map highlighting areas of eastern Siam (Thailand) claimed by France. Notes describe Siam’s geography, government, population, military and trade (rice, teak, pepper, bullocks, fish, hides, tin, cardamom, tin), including trading partners by tonnage.

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

This map of Asia is from ‘Stieler’s Schul-Atlas’, a version of ‘Stielers Handatlas’ that was used widely in German schools in the 19th century.

This map of Asia is from ‘Stieler’s Schul-Atlas’, a version of ‘Stielers Handatlas’ that was used widely in German schools in the 19th century.

On this map of Southeast Asia, numerous small islands, shoals and reefs are marked and named, especially in the South China Sea and around the Sunda and Maluku islands. Submarine cables to carry telegraph messages around the region are also shown.

Crops are marked on this map of Asia: Sumatra and Java have sugar, coffee, tea; the Lesser Sunda Islands and Maluku Islands have cinnamon, nutmeg and clove; mainland Southeast Asia has sugar and cotton. Arrows on the sea indicate currents.

Crops are marked on this map of Asia: Sumatra and Java have sugar, coffee, tea; the Lesser Sunda Islands and Maluku Islands have cinnamon, nutmeg and clove; mainland Southeast Asia has sugar and cotton. Arrows on the sea indicate currents.

A map of Southeast Asia coloured to indicate the five different language families spoken in the region in the late 19th century. Names of indigenous tribes/languages are marked in red text, with European colonial possessions in grey.