Abstract
The concept of Southeast Asia first appeared in the 1920s. It was seen as an intermediary region between India and China and was at that time essentially a trade region, because of the size of its coast and because of the many rivers that went through it. It was the "land below the winds", hence its importance for navigation. So the concept of Southeast Asia used to be a geographical expression to designate an important, yet intermediate area, only valuable for trading. We can see that in the early European maps, which focus on mountains, rivers, coasts rather that borders between the countries.
Then the concept evolved to become a regional one and nowadays Southeast Asia is no more an intermediate region, but a "full" region. The term is no more used only to designate the country east of India and south of China. Now those countries are part of a region. We can see that on the modern maps of the region, what matter are the political and territorial delimitations of the countries. Southeast Asia has its own identity. How did that happen?
