southeast asia southeast asia includes myanmar, thailand, cambodia, laos, vietnam, malaysia,...

Southeast Asia

• Southeast Asia includes Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, and the Philippines

• SE Asia was most influenced by China and India

Southeast Asia

• Early SE Asian states did not have set borders, instead they were mandalas, states organized around a central court

• One powerful mandala was the Khmer Empire in what is now Cambodia

Southeast Asia

• Over time some of the mandalas began to develop national identities and eventually became countries

• Trade was important and brought Islam and even Hinduism to the region

Angkor Wat – Hindu temples built in Cambodia now Buddhist

Southeast Asia

• The first region colonized was the Philippines by Spain

• By 1900 all of SE Asia was colonized by Europeans except for Siam (Thailand) which was kept as a buffer between the British and French

Southeast Asia

• Europeans built cities and established plantations that grew rubber, sugar, rice, tea, and coffee

• Colonialism caused nationalistic feelings and sparked the rise of independence movements

Southeast Asia

• After WWII, some areas were freed from European rule. Other regions had to fight

• When the French were defeated by the Vietnamese in 1954, Cambodia, Laos, North and South Vietnam (Indochina) became independent

Southeast Asia• When communist

North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam, the US went to war to stop the spread of communism

• The Vietnam War ended in 1975 and Vietnam was united under communism

• Cambodia and Laos also fell to communism as well

Southeast Asia

• Agriculture is the main economic activity in SE Asia (mostly rice)

• Religious diversity Indochina – Buddhist Indonesia & Brunei –

Muslim Philippines – Catholic Bali - Hindu