According to Wikipedia the East Indies isn't just confined to India: The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term often used to refer to the Malay <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malay_Archipelago> Archipelago in contrast to the West Indies <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies> , which refers to the Caribbean <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean> . In a wider sense, the Indies is also used to describe lands of South <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia> and Southeast <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia> Asia, occupying all of the former British <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj> India, the present Indian <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India> Union, Pakistan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan> , Bangladesh <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh> , Myanmar <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar> , Sri Lanka <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka> , the Maldives <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldives> , and also Thailand <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand> , Malaysia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia> and Indonesia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia> , which was last called the Dutch <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_Indies> East Indies before independence. The East Indies also include Iranian Balochistan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balochistan_%28Iran%29> , Indochina <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indochina> , the Philippine Islands <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Islands> , Brunei <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei> , Singapore <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore> and East Timor <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor> . It does not, however, include Irian Jaya <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irian_Jaya> (West Papua), which is part of Melanesia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanesia> . Perhaps Grahame you need to look at some of these other areas. Cheers Carolyn -----Original Message----- From: AUSTRALIA-D-request@rootsweb.com [mailto:AUSTRALIA-D-request@rootsweb.com] Sent: Friday, 14 July 2006 8:00 AM To: AUSTRALIA-D@rootsweb.com Subject: AUSTRALIA-D Digest V06 #138