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Coloured borders are used to highlight the colonial territories of the British (red), Dutch (orange), Spanish (red) and Portuguese (blue) on this mid-19th century map of Southeast Asia. An inset map shows the island and strait of Singapore.

An early 19th century map, with the regions of Southeast Asia marked with different colours. Interestingly, Cambodia and modern Vietnam (labelled here as Cochinchina and Tonkin) are grouped with China.

Longitude is indicated in two different ways on this mid-18th century map: along the top border, it is shown in degrees (number of degrees east of London); more unusually, along the bottom border, it is shown in time (number of hours east of London).

A late 18th century map of Asia featuring rivers, mountains, reefs and shoals. Regions are colour-coded, with the borders of the kingdoms of mainland Southeast Asia in green, and the islands of maritime Southeast Asia in yellow and red.

This late 18th century map of Asia uses colour to differentiate various regions, with mainland Southeast Asia in blue, and maritime Southeast Asia in yellow, red, green and blue.

A late 18th century map of Asia featuring rivers, mountains, reefs and shoals. Regions are colour-coded, with the borders of the kingdoms of mainland Southeast Asia in green, and the islands of maritime Southeast Asia in yellow and red.

This late 18th century map features a number of labels describing the local populations, including the Kemoys ('Savage People') of the mountains of Cokin China (Vietnam), the Biayos of Borneo, and the 'Wild People' of the mountains of Pegu (Myanmar).

In the 18th century, European maps tended to use their own country’s meridian, so on this French map of Southeast Asia longitude is measured from the Paris Meridian. Eleven different scales are also shown.

The 20 colourful illustrations around the border of this 18th century map of Asia depict a variety of historical and biblical scenes, including the Crucifixion of Jesus and the sacking of Troy. Each scene has a description in French and Spanish.

From Antonio Zatta's atlas ‘Atlante Novissimo’, this late 18th century map of Asia features a decorative cartouche consisting of drawings of Asian plants, a ceramic pot emitting smoke, two archery quivers, and pearls in shells.

Longitude is indicated in two different ways on this mid-18th century map: along the top border, it is shown in degrees (number of degrees east of London); more unusually, along the bottom border, it is shown in time (number of hours east of London).

This 18th century map of Southeast Asia by the French cartographer Gilles Robert de Vaugondy features the national borders of the Philippines in green, and of modern Indonesia in yellow. The Malay Peninsula and modern Cambodia and Vietnam are in red.