Description

steel engraving. Interesting Map with an inset of the Island Basilan from ‘L’Univers. Histoire et Description de Tous Les Peuples.: Océanie [History and Description of the Peoples of the World] Cinquième Partie du Monde. [Fifth Chapter of the World]’, vol. 1; It covers the Malay Archipelago and broader Southeast Asia (historical Insulinde), including modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi), the Philippines, Indochina, and the northern tip of Australia.

During the 19th century, French cartographers used the term “Malaisie” in an anthropological and regional sense to describe the entire East Indian Archipelago rather than the borders of the modern nation-state of Malaysia.