This paper argues that the despite the fact that the British were heavily involved in Southeast Asian history, they were relatively late in beginning the organized scholarly research into the region. In fact, it would be external pressures which would motivate the British to decide to regard the area as a distinct region. Nonetheless, British civil servants and travelers had been writing about their wide and varied encounters with the region and its peoples for two centuries or more. Exploring this literature leads to the conclusion that while the British had yet to commit the resources to the organized academic investigation of Southeast Asia, they did understand it in relation to questions involving modernization, ethnic groups, commercial development and the purpose of empire.