Southeast AsiaSection 2: History

Objective 1: to summarize important events in Southeast Asian HistoryObjective 2: to explain how important geographic features impacted the history of the region.Objective 3: Summarize western imperialism in the region

Ancient Southeast Asia

• Population increase due to fertile lands. • Where are most people settling?

• Chinese invaded Vietnam as early as 100 B.C. • Increase of trade in the region• Start of ethnic diversity

The Great Kingdoms

• Between 500 and 1500 C.E. kingdoms grew and expanded• Where are most people settling? • What was an important economic activity in the region?

• Location to vital trade routes led to increased contact with India and China.• Strait of Malacca • In Cambodia – Khmers developed advanced agricultural techniques

• Reservoirs for irrigation• Selling of surplus food

• Mongols (1287)• Harsh environment and defense made them turn back

Khmers in Cambodia

• Settled valley in peninsular Indochina

• Used land accordingly• Reservoirs example of HEI • Seed culture for SE Asia• Suryavarman II built Angkor Wat

• Dedicated to Vishnu• Empire spread in SE Asia until 1287

Age of Commerce

• 1400s• Maritime based economy • What aided the spread of Islam in the

region?• European focus on the Maluku Islands• Portuguese in 1511

• What gave Europeans an advantage in the region?

• Western colonial powers exploited the region for resources• What country remained independent?

20th Century

• Early 1900s see independence movements grow

• WWII – Japan takes control

• By 1957, many gained independence• Vietnam’s fight was long and bloody

• Ho Chi Minh fought the French and Americans

• Vietnam was united under communism in 1975

• Fighting caused problems in neighboring Cambodia and Laos

• Khmer Rouge devastated Cambodia during the 70s• Pol Pot

Recovery

• After years of violence and poor communist, economic problems, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia suffered

• Vietnam adopted many capitalist practices and turned economies around

• Cambodia and Laos still among the poorest in the world

• Indonesia and Malaysia marketed their resources and varied their economies

• Decreased agriculture and increased manufacturing

• Singapore became an Asian Tiger in the 1990s