The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent,including East,North,and Southeast Asia.[1][2]South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term.[3][4] In modern times,the term Far East has widely fallen out of use and been substituted by Asia–Pacific,[5] 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.[6] Likewise,during the Qing dynasty of the 19th and early 20th centuries,the term "Tàixī (泰西)" –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.[7][8][9] North Asia is sometimes excluded due to cultural and ethnic differences.[10]
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[11] (Extremo Oriente)." The term was popularized during the period of the British Empire as a blanket term for lands to the east of British India.
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."[12]
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.
When Europeans traveled far to the east to reach Cathay, Japan and the Indies, they naturally gave those distant regions the general name 'Far East.' Americans who reached China, Japan and Southeast Asia by sail and steam across the Pacific could, with equal logic, have called that area the 'Far West.' For the people who live in that part of the world, however, it is neither 'East' nor 'West' and certainly not 'Far.' A more generally acceptable term for the area is 'East Asia,' which is geographically more precise and does not imply the outdated notion that Europe is the center of the civilized world.[9]
↑ Menzies, R.G. (26 April 1939). "73 Broadcast Speech". Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Archived from the original on 20 March 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
↑ 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.
↑ 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.
↑ Information listed is for Mainland China only. The Special administrative region (i.e. Hong Kong and Macau), the island territories under the control of the Republic of China (which includes the islands of Taiwan, Quemoy, and Matsu) are excluded.
↑ 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.
Further reading
Burghart, Sabine, Denis Park, and Liudmila Zakharova. "The DPRK's economic exchanges with Russia and the EU since 2000: an analysis of institutional effects and the case of the Russian Far East." Asia Europe Journal 18.3 (2020): 281–303. on North Korea
Clyde, Paul Hibbert, and Burton F. Beers. The Far East: A History of Western Impacts and Eastern Responses, 1830–1975 (1975). online
Crofts, Alfred. A history of the Far East (1958) online
Fairbank, John K., Edwin Reischauer, and Albert M. Craig. East Asia: The great tradition and East Asia: The modern transformation (1960) [2 vol 1960] online, famous textbook.
Green, Michael. By More Than Providence: Grand Strategy and American Power in the Asia Pacific Since 1783 (2019) excerpt
Iriye, Akira. After Imperialism; The Search for a New Order in the Far East 1921–1931. (1965).
Keay, John. Empire's End: A History of the Far East from High Colonialism to Hong Kong (Scribner, 1997). online
Louis, Wm Roger. "The road to Singapore: British imperialism in the Far East, 1932–42." in The fascist challenge and the policy of appeasement (Routledge, 2021) pp. 352–388.
Macnair, Harley F. & Donald Lach. Modern Far Eastern International Relations. (2nd ed 1955) 1950 edition online free, 780pp; focus on 1900–1950.
Norman, Henry. The Peoples and Politics of the Far East: Travels and studies in the British, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, Siberia, China, Japan, Korea, Siam and Malaya (1904) online
Paine, S. C. M. The Wars for Asia, 1911–1949 (2014) excerpt
Ring, George C. Religions of the Far East: Their History to the Present Day (Kessinger Publishing, 2006).
Solomon, Richard H., and Masataka Kosaka, eds. The Soviet Far East military buildup: nuclear dilemmas and Asian security (Routledge, 2021).
Stephan, John J. The Russian Far East (Stanford University Press, 2022).
Vinacke, Harold M. A History of the Far East in Modern Times (1964) online free
Vogel, Ezra. China and Japan: Facing History (2019) excerpt
Woodcock, George. The British in the Far East (1969) online.
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