Indochina is the former name of a region of southeast Asia, which dates from the period when it was a colony of France under the full name of French Indochina. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "Indonesia", referring to the location of the territory between China and Indonesia. The majority of people in the region are neither Chinese nor Indian. The Indochinese peninsula refers to a region in Southeast Asia lying roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The term "Indochina" may also be used in biogeography for the "Indochinese Region", a major biogeographical region within the Indomalaya ecozone. French Indochina was a federation of French colonies and protectorates, that France named Cochinchina, Tonkin, Annam, Laos and Cambodia. France had an imperial presence in the region between 1884 and 1954. France withdrew from southeast Asia following the loss of the Indochina War. Indochina had boundaries imposed by France as a result of military conquests in the region, encompassing areas that are now modern Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The subjects of the colony were not homogenous; rather, Indochina was a "separate entity, it was largely unrelated to the cultural, geographical, and racial elements which shaped the people and governments of its constituent parts".
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