Western Power Rule Southeast Asia

1. Western Power Rule Southeast Asia Topic 4

2. TERMS (textbook definition) • Pacific Rim: The lands surrounding the Pacific Ocean- especially those in Asia. • Emilio Aguinaldo: Leader of the Filipino nationalists, who claimed that the United States had promised immediate independence after the Spanish-American War ended. • Annexation: the adding of a region to the territory of an existing political unit. • Queen Lilioukalani: Hawaiian ruler, who took the throne at around 1890. In 1893, she called for a new constitution that increased her power. This new constitution would also restore the political power of Hawaiians at the expense of wealthy planters.

3. TERM (based on reading) • Pacific Rim: Western nations, mostly European powers like Britain and France, desired the land of Southeast Asia for their strategic location along the sea route to China as well as a source of tropical agriculture, minerals and oil. • Emilio Aguinaldo: Leader of the Filipino nationalists, who claimed that the United States had promised immediate independence after the Spanish-American War ended. • Queen Lilioukalani: Hawaiian ruler, who took the throne at around 1890. In 1893, she called for a new constitution that increased her power. This new constitution would also restore the political power of Hawaiians at the expense of wealthy planters.

4. NOTES • At around the same time the European powers hurried to divide and control parts of Africa, they also rushed to compete for land in lands in Southeast Asia. • BY the early 19th century, the Dutch East India company established control over most of the 3,000-mile-long chain of Indonesian islands. • Observing and appreciating the value of these sorts of areas caused European powers to challenge each other. • British establish a major trading port at Singapore, French took over Indochina on the Southeast Asian mainland, and the Germans claimed New Guinea and the Marshall and Solomon islands. • Lands located in southeast Asia were perfect for plantation agriculture. Examples being; sugar cane, coffee, cocoa, rubber, coconuts, bananas, and pineapples. • The Dutch East India Company at this time were successful in seizing lands from Melaka from the Portuguese and fought the British and the Javanese for Java. • As the discovery of oil and tin on these islands were established and the increase in popularity for rubber, the DEIC prompted the Dutch to gradually expand their boundaries and control over Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas, and Bali, until they were successful in controlling the entire chain of Indonesia and renamed them the Dutch east indies. • The control of the plantation and trade brought a huge Dutch population to the islands, creating a rigid social class system, putting themselves at the top, wealthy and educated Indonesia next, and plantation workers at the bottom. • The Dutch also forced farmers to plant one-fifth of their land in specified export crops.

5. NOTES • British, trying to compete with the Dutch, set up a trading base as a stop for ships traveling the India-China sea routes.. They found an ideal location-a large, sheltered harbor – on Singapore, an island just off the tip of the Malay Peninsula. • Britain also gained colonies in Malaysia and in Burma (Myanmar) • Malaysia had large deposits of tin and became the world’s leading rubber exporter. • Upper Burma provided teak, while central exported oil. • Due to the increase in cash crops, workers were needed to mine the tin and tap the rubber trees, which resulted in a high population increase of Chinese in Malaysia. • Conflict between the Chinese and the Malays remains unsolved today. • French helped the Nguyen dynasty rise to power in Vietnam. During the 1840’s, the time an anti-Christian emperor, seven French missionaries were killed. • After the invasion of southern Vietnam, French under the rule of Napoleon III added Laos, Cambodia, and northern Vietnam to their territory. • Using direct colonial management, The French tired to impose their culture and traditions of the Indochinese, filling all important prostitutions in the government. They did not encourage local industry. • Four times more land was devoted to rice production, though the peasants consumption was decreased because most of the rice was shipped over seas.

6. NOTES • ADVANTAGES AND/OR DISADVANTAGES: In southeast Asia, economies grew based on cash crops or goods such as tin and rubber that could be sold on the world market. Roads, harbors, and rail systems were established that linked areas and improved communications and transportation. These improvements were more for the benefit of European business than the local population. Education, health, and sanitation did improve as well. Political changes were unification of areas at the coast of weaker local leaders and governments. • Unlike other colonial areas: millions of people from other areas of Asia and the world migrated to work on plantations and in the mines in Southeast Asia, changing the cultural and racial makeup of the area. This area became the melting pot of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Buddhist. These cultural interactions often led to racial and religious clashed that are even still seen today.