East Indies

**East Indies**

  Indies (Indian subcontinent and Myanmar, see Greater India. Sometimes also including East Indies)

  Western New Guinea

  West Indies (present-day; historically included the Americas entirely)

  Countries sometimes included in West Indies

The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies broadly referred to various lands in the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around the Indian Ocean by Portuguese explorers, soon after the Cape Route was discovered. In a narrow sense, the term was used to refer to the Malay Archipelago, which today comprises the Indonesian Archipelago, New Guinea, and the Philippine Archipelago. Historically, the term was used in the Age of Discovery to refer to the coasts of the landmasses comprising the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese Peninsula along with the Malay Archipelago.