Far East

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Chinese The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North, East and Southeast Asia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In modern times, the term Far East has widely fallen out of use and been substituted by Asia–Pacific,<ref>Template:Citation</ref> while the terms Middle East and Near East, although now pertaining to different territories, are still commonly used today.

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Likewise, during the Qing dynasty of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the term "Tàixī ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})" – i.e., anything further west than the Arab world – was used to refer to the Western countries.

Since the mid-20th century, the term has mostly gone out of use for the region in international mass media outlets due to its perceived Eurocentric connotations.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Economist">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Reischauer 1960">Reischauer, Edwin and John K Fairbank, East Asia: The Great Tradition, 1960.</ref> North Asia is sometimes excluded due to cultural and ethnic differences.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The term is still used in Russia to refer to its sparsely populated easternmost regions (being "far" in this case from the political, economic and cultural centres, Moscow and Saint Petersburg).

PopularizationEdit

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<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (Template:Langx)." 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. Many European languages have analogous terms, such as the French ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Spanish ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Portuguese ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Italian ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), German ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Polish ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Norwegian ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) and Dutch ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).

Cultural and geographic meaningEdit

Significantly, the term evokes cultural as well as geographic separation; the Far East is not just geographically distant, but also culturally exotic. It never refers, for instance, to the culturally Western nations of Australia and New Zealand, which lie even farther to the east of Europe than East Asia itself. This combination of cultural and geographic subjectivity was well illustrated in 1939 by Robert Menzies, a Prime Minister of Australia. Reflecting on his country's geopolitical situation with the onset of war, Menzies commented that: "The problems of the Pacific are different. What Great Britain calls the Far East is to us the near north."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Far East, in its usual sense, is comparable to terms such as the Orient (Latin for "East"), Eastern world, or simply the East, all of which may refer, broadly, to East and South-East Asia in general. Occasionally, albeit more in the past, the Russian Far East and South Asia have been deemed to be part of the Far East.

Commenting on such terms, John K. Fairbank and Edwin O. Reischauer (both professors of East Asian Studies at Harvard University) wrote, in East Asia: The Great Tradition:

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Today, the term remains in the names of some longstanding institutions, including the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Far Eastern University in Manila, the Far East University in South Korea, and Far East, the periodical magazine of the Missionary Society of St. Columban. Furthermore, the United States and United Kingdom have historically incorporated Far East in the names of several military units and commands in the region, such as the British Royal Navy's Far East Fleet, for instance.

Territories and regions conventionally included in the Far EastEdit

Name of region<ref>Continental regions as per UN categorisations (map), except 12. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 6, 11–13, 15, 17–19, 21–23) may be in one or both of Asia and Europe, Africa, or Oceania. </ref> and territory, with flag	Area (km²)	Population	Population density (per km²)	Capital	Forms of government	Currency	Official languages
North Asia
Template:Flagicon Russia<ref>Russia is a transcontinental country located in Eastern Europe and North Asia, but is considered European historically, culturally, and ethnically, and the vast majority of its population (78%) lives within its European part.</ref><ref>Asian part only.</ref>	13,100,000	37,600,000	2.6	Moscow<ref>Moscow is located in Europe.</ref>	Federal semi-presidential republic	Ruble	Russian and 27 other co-official languages
East Asia
Template:Flag<ref>The state is commonly known as simply "China", which is subsumed by the eponymous entity and civilisation (China). Figures given are for mainland China only, and do not include Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.</ref>	9,598,094<ref>Includes PRC-administered area (Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract, both territories claimed by India).</ref>	1,371,821,094<ref>Information listed is for mainland China only. The special administrative regions (i.e. Hong Kong and Macau) and the island territories under the control of the Republic of China (which includes the islands of Taiwan, Quemoy, and Matsu) are excluded.</ref>	145.0	Beijing	One-party socialist republic	Yuan (Renminbi)	Chinese (Mandarin)<ref name="langlaw">{{#invoke:citation/CS1\|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Template:Flag<ref>Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China </ref>	1,108	7,448,900	6,777.0	Hong Kong	Special administrative region of the People's Republic of China	Hong Kong dollar	Chinese,<ref name="ReferenceA">No specific variety of Chinese is official in the territory. Residents predominantly speak Cantonese, the de facto regional standard.</ref> English
Template:Flag	377,973	126,440,000	334.0	Tokyo	Parliamentary democracy, Constitutional monarchy	Yen	None<ref>Japan's National Diet have not officially enacted a law stating that the official language is Japanese.</ref>
Template:Flag<ref>Macau is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. </ref>	115.3	653,100	21,340.0	Macau	Special administrative region of the People's Republic of China	Pataca	Chinese,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Portuguese
Template:Flag	1,566,000	3,081,677	1.97	Ulaanbaatar	Semi-presidential system	Tögrög	Mongolian
Template:Flag	120,540	25,368,620	212.0	Pyongyang	Juche unitarian dictatorship Socialist Republic	North Korean won	Korean
Template:Flag	100,363	51,446,201	507.0	Seoul	Unitary presidential republic	South Korean won	Korean
Template:Flag<ref>Figures are for the area under the de facto control of the Republic of China (ROC) government, commonly referred to as Taiwan. Claimed in whole by the PRC; see political status of Taiwan. </ref>	36,197	23,577,271	650.0	Taipei	Semi-presidential system	New Taiwan dollar	Chinese (Mandarin)
Southeast Asia
Template:Flag	5,765	417,200	72.11	Bandar Seri Begawan	Absolute Islamic Sultanate	Brunei dollar	Malay and English
Template:Flag	181,035	16,245,729	81.8	Phnom Penh	Constitutional monarchy	Riel	Khmer
Template:Flag<ref>Christmas Island is an external territory of Australia. </ref>	135	1,692	12.5	Flying Fish Cove	External territory of Australia	Australian dollar	None<ref>English does not have de jure status in Christmas Island and in Australia, but it is the de facto language of communication in government.</ref>
Template:Flag<ref>The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are an external territory of Australia. </ref>	14	593	42.4	West Island	External territory of Australia	Australian dollar	None<ref>English does not have de jure status in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and in Australia, but it is the de facto language of communication in government.</ref>
Template:Flag	1,904,569	261,115,456	138.0	Jakarta	Presidential republic	Rupiah	Indonesian
Template:Flag	237,955	6,758,353	26.7	Vientiane	Socialist Republic	Kip	Lao
Template:Flag	330,803	32,049,700	92.0	Kuala Lumpur	Federal constitutional monarchy, Parliamentary democracy	Ringgit	Malay
Template:Flag	676,578	53,582,855	76.0	Naypyidaw	Unitary presidential constitutional republic	Kyat	Burmese
Template:Flag	300,000	100,981,437	336.0	Manila	Unitary presidential constitutional republic	Philippine peso (Piso)	Filipino and English
Template:Flag	722.5	5,638,700	7,804.0	Singapore	Parliamentary republic	Singapore dollar	Malay, English, Chinese (Mandarin), and Tamil
Template:Flag	513,120	68,863,514	132.1	Bangkok	Constitutional monarchy, Parliamentary democracy	Baht	Thai
Template:Flag	15,410	1,167,242	78.0	Dili	Parliamentary republic	U.S. dollar / Centavo coins	Tetum and Portuguese
Template:Flag	331,212	94,569,072	276.03	Hanoi	One-party, Socialist Republic	đồng	Vietnamese

CitiesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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Far East

Contents

PopularizationEdit

Cultural and geographic meaningEdit

Territories and regions conventionally included in the Far EastEdit

CitiesEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Further readingEdit