Dave Phillips, age 13, of Harrisburg, Pa., for his question:
ARE THERE MANY COUNTRIES IN THE EAST INDIES?
The East Indies is a name that is now applied to the Malay Archipelago or to Indonesia, although at one time it included all of southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese Peninsula.
The Malay Archipelago island chain runs along the Equator between mainland Asia and Australia. It is the largest island group in the entire world, extending more than 3,800 miles in length. It lies mostly in the western Pacific.
The Dutch East Indies, or the Netherlands Indies, was the name used at one time for the Dutch Empire in the East Indies. Today this is the independent country of Indonesia.
East Indies fell out of general use as a name soon after many of the island groups became independent countries.
The Philippines, Indonesia and part of Malaysia are considered the East India group. Some of the islands that form these countries include Sumatra, Java and Celebes (Indonesia), Borneo (Indonesia and Malaysia) and Luzon (Philippines). Also usually included in the East Indies is New Guinea, which is part of Indonesia and Australia.
The Philippines, which was a former United States possession, became the first independent island country in the East Indies in 1946. Indonesia, formerly a Dutch dependency, became independent in 1949 and Malaya gained independence in 1957 and then joined Malaysia in 1963.
Singapore broke from Malaysia to become an independent state in 1965.
The East Indies area is noted for its rich supply of natural resources. You'll find many important products being produced there including tin, petroleum and rubber. The islands also produce great amounts of tea, coconuts, palm oils, tobacco, spices and abaca. Another vital crop is rice. There's also cinchona, which is used to make quinine, and sisal, which is used to make rope.
Most of the islands in the East Indies have a climate that is typically tropical. In most places it is rather hot and very humid. The weather doesn't differ too much from one season to another. There's a heavy rainfall in much of the area.
In the higher altitudes the weather isn't quite so humid.
Dense jungles cover much of the East Indies region.
You'll find a wide variety of races among the East Indies natives. In prehistoric times, different groups migrated through the islands.
The western islands are dominated by Malays with brown skins. In the eastern islands, such as New Guinea, the racial types are primarily black.