Far East

Author: Laxman Burdak IFS (R)

Map of Asia

Depiction of the Far East, with political subdivisions.

Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including East Asia, North Asia and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term.

Meaning of Far East

The term first came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 15th century, particularly the British, denoting the Far East as the "farthest" of the three "Easts", beyond the Near East and the Middle East.Likewise, during the Qing dynasty of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the term "Tàixī (泰西)" – i.e., anything further west than the Arab world – was used to refer to the Western countries.

Meaning of Far East prior to the colonial era

Among Western Europeans, prior to the colonial era, Far East referred to anything further east than the Middle East. In the 16th century, King John III of Portugal called India a "rich and interesting country in the Far East (Extremo Oriente)." The term was popularized during the period of the British Empire as a blanket term for lands to the east of British India.

In pre-World War I European geopolitics, Near East referred to the relatively nearby lands of the Ottoman Empire, Middle East denoted north-western Southern Asian region and Central Asia, and the Far East meant countries along the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean.

Analogous terms in European languages

Many European languages have analogous terms, such as the French (Extrême-Orient), Spanish (Extremo Oriente), Portuguese (Extremo Oriente), Italian (Estremo Oriente), German (Ferner Osten), Polish (Daleki Wschód), Norwegian (Det fjerne Østen) and Dutch (Verre Oosten).

Territories included in the Far East

1. Brunei
2. Cambodia
3. China
4. Christmas Island
5. Cocos (Keeling) Islands
6. Hong Kong
7. Japan
8. Indonesia
9. Laos
10. Macau
11. Malaysia
12. Mongolia
13. Myanmar (Burma)
14. North Korea
15. Philippines
16. Russia
17. Singapore
18. South Korea
19. Taiwan
20. Thailand
21. Timor-Leste (East Timor)
22. Vietnam

References

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