Indochina, cultural and historical peninsular

Indochina or the Indochinese Peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly east of India and south of China.

The term Indochina is exclusively used to denote the region that comprises modern-day Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Historically, the countries of Southeast Asia received cultural influence from China and India to varying degrees. Many South East Asian countries are influenced largely by the culture of India with a much smaller degree of cultural influence from China.

The centuries before European intervention saw the growth and decline of the Khmer Empire in Cambodia, the rise and fall of Champa, and the steady expansion of Annam (Vietnam today).

Unlike the other parts of Indochina, the culture of Vietnam was heavily influenced by China and not India, largely via the Champa civilization that Vietnam conquered during its southward expansion.