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Southeast Asia. Mainland Southeast Asia. Insular Southeast Asia. Burma. Laos. Thailand. Vietnam. Philippine. Cambodia. Brunei. Malaysia. Singapore. I n d o n e s i a. East Timor. Introduction. Heavily influenced by external forces cultural diversity
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Mainland Southeast Asia Insular Southeast Asia Burma Laos Thailand Vietnam Philippine Cambodia Brunei Malaysia Singapore I n d o n e s i a East Timor
Introduction • Heavily influenced by external forces cultural diversity • Buddhism, Chinese immigrants, Islam • European colonialism • Battleground for global ideologies after WWII • Vietnam war • Strongly felt globalization • Promises: economic growth in the 1980s • Perils: financial crisis in the late 1990s
Environmental Geography A Once-Forested Region
Mainland: delta landscape large river systems Insular: volcanic eruption located in 4 plate boundaries
Red R. Irrawaddy R. Mekong R. Chayo Phraya Mainland Southeast Asia • Rugged uplands interspersed with river lowlands (delta)
Insular Southeast Asia • Mountain spine created by a tectonic force • Large expanse of shallow ocean New Guinea Borneo Celebes (Sulawesi) Sumatra Sunda Shelf Java
Mainland monsoon • Insular monsoon, typhoon, equatorial effect • Monsoon: distinct dry and rainy season changing wind direction • Typhoon: heavy rainfall to the northeastern reaches of Insular Asia • Equatorial effect: little seasonality, year-round precipitation
Wallace’s Line • Difference in animal and plant life between western and eastern islands • Western Asian origin • Eastern Australian origin • 12,000 years ago, the sea level was lower (last global ice age)
Deforestation of Southeast Asia • Pre-colonial period • Agricultural settlement • Colonial period • Plantation, shipbuilding • Post-colonial period • Commercial logging by international firms • 1990s • Logging ban
Population and Settlement Subsistence, Migrations, Cities
Settlement patterns • Unlike East Asia and South Asia, Southeast Asia has historically supported low population density • Why? • (1) Infertile soil • (2) Rugged mountains • Population is concentrated in deltas or volcanic islands due to its fertile soil
Mainland: heavily settled deltas Insular: heavily settled volcanic landscape
Farming patterns (1): Upland swidden system • Shifting cultivation (“slash-and-burn”) • Threatened by growing population and commercial logging • Switched to a cash crop like opium (eg. Burma)
Farming patterns (2): Plantation agriculture • Specialty crops for exports during European colonization • Usually practiced in the coastal lowlands for shipping • Still widespread, but lesser dependence on plantation has been attempted
Farming patterns (3): Lowland rice cultivation • Lowland basins of mainland • Focused on three delta areas • Irrawaddy (Burma) • Chao Praya (Thailand) • Mekong (Vietnam, Cambodia)
High birthrate: Laos, Cambodia low level of economic development • Low birthrate: Singapore, Thailand • high level of economic development, family planning • Still relatively rural despite recent industrialization
Population policy: Indonesian transmigration • Relocating its population from densely populated area (Java) to outer islands • Pros: balanced population distribution pattern • Cons: environmental degradation, ethnic conflicts
Manila Bankok Kuala Lumpur Singapore Urban settlement • Overurbanization? • Yes • No
Cultural Coherence and Diversity A Meeting Ground of World Cultures
Meeting ground for cultural diffusion from • South Asia – Hinduism, Buddhism, writing system • China – Immigration of southern Chinese • Middle East – Islam, writing system • Europe – Christianity
External cultural influences 12c 13c 19c 20c 0 A.D. Hinduism Islam Theravada Buddhism Chinese immigration Christianity Chinese communities Philippines Tribal areas Bali Indonesia Malaysia Mainland
Buddhism mainland Catholic Philippines Islam insular Hindu Bali Religion in Southeast Asia Animism & Christianity in the uplands
Chinese in Southeast Asia • Chinese communities all over Southeast Asia • Disproportionate prosperity of the local Chinese community
Burman Tai Mon-Khmer Papuan Austronesian Language in Southeast Asia
National language in Southeast Asia Lao Burmese Thai Vietnamese Filipino English Khmer Malay Indonesian National language is limited to the core area of densely populated lowlands in mainland (Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia)
Use of English in Southeast Asia • Widely spoken in the former British or U.S. colonies • Philippine, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma • Ambivalent attitude towards the use of English • Encouraged by pro-globalizers • Discouraged by nationalists • Emergence of hybrid tongue
Geopolitical Framework War, Ethnic Strife, and Regional Cooperation
Pre-colonial era • Mainland: form political states • Insular: lack political states • Colonial era • Insular (16c~): Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch • Mainland (19c~): British, French • After independence • The former French Indochina became battleground for ideological rivalries
British French Spanish U.S. Dutch Portuguese Colonial Southeast Asia Insular Southeast Asia inherited territory from former colonial powers
Ideological rivalries in the former French Indochina • Battle against the French (1945 ~ 1954) • Backed by pro-communist group • Vietnam War (1954 ~ 1975) • Military conflict between communist forces of North Vietnam and non-communist forces of South Vietnam • Communist regimes (1975 ~) • Installed in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos • Persistent political instability
Irian Jaya E.Timor Became the 11th sovereign states in Southeast Asia Geopolitical tensions (1): Conflicts in Indonesia • Transmigration triggers ethnic conflicts • Javanese (Islam) immigrants indigenous people • Ethnically/culturally distinct regions have called for autonomy or independence
Geopolitical tensions (2): Regional tensions in the Philippines • Muslim separatists in the southwest • Communist-oriented nationwide rebellion • Rebellion of tribal groups in northern Luzon
Geopolitical tensions (3): Ethnic conflict in Burma • Ethnic minorities Military regime dominated by the Burmans • Insurgencies are often financed by drug trade (“Golden Triangle”)
China Taiwan Philippines Vietnam Spratly islands Malaysia Geopolitical tensions (4): Dispute over the Spratly Islands
Regional cooperation: ASEAN(Association of Southeast Asian Nations) • Originally intended as a bulwark against the spread of Communism • With the end of Cold War, communist states are admitted • Political cooperation • Prevent external influences in the region • Promote regional stability • Economic cooperation
Economic and Social Development The Roller-Coaster Ride of Tiger Economies
Recent economic development • Leaders: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia • Laggards: Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia • Economic crisis in the late 1990s • Hit most of Southeast Asian countries • Marked dependence on foreign investment
Singapore: Regional hub • Brunei: oil reserves • Malaysia, Thailand: globalized economic development • Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma: civil war
The Philippine Decline • Pronounced decline in living standards over the last several decades • Causes • Crony capitalism • Kleptocracy • Consequences • Exodus of labor • Uneven distribution of wealth
The Regional Hub: Singapore • The region’s greatest development success • Transformed from entropôt port city to high-tech industrial city • Communications and financial hub of Southeast Asia • Authoritarian capitalism • Brought fast growth, but • Limited civil liberties
The Malaysian Boom • The region’s second greatest development success • Development was initially concentrated in natural resource extraction, but recent growth is powered by high-tech sectors • Disparities of wealth • Geographical: west > east • Ethnic: Chinese > non-Chinese
Thailand: An Emerging Tiger? • Japanese companies was leading players in the earlier Thai boom • Attracted by its low-waged, and well-educated population under political stability • Rapid growth under democratic government • Relatively receptive to globalization • Sex industry
Persistent Poverty in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia • Attributed to • Continual warfare or fightings (1941~1990s) • Socialist economic system (1975 ~ 1990s) • The fall of the Soviet Union (1991) • Embargo imposed by U.S. (1975 ~ 1994) • Recent economic reforms in Vietnam • Embrace market while retaining the political forms of a communist state
With the exception of Laos, Cambodia, and Burma, Southeast Asia has achieved relatively high level of social welfare