ABSTRACT
There is no easy way to decide where Southeast Asia (Seasia) begins or ends. From a Chinese perspective, Seasia is part of the nanyang, “South Seas”. Ancient Indian sources called it Suvarnadvipa, “Golden Island” and Suvarnabhumi, “Golden Land”. The Greek cosmographer Klaudios Ptolemaios, residing in Egypt, knew the locations of India Extra Gangem Fluvium (“India beyond the Ganges”) and the Aurea Khersonesos (“Golden Peninsula”; the Siamo-Malay Peninsula).
