History of Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia
Part of a series on the
History of Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia map
Prehistory of Southeast Asia
Indianised and Buddhist kingdoms
Decline of Hindu/Buddhist influence and sea trade
European colonialism
World War II and decolonisation
Cold War
Contemporary Southeast Asia

The history of Southeast Asia covers the people of Southeast Asia from prehistory to the present in two distinct sub-regions: Mainland Southeast Asia (or Indochina) and Maritime Southeast Asia (or Insular Southeast Asia). Mainland Southeast Asia comprises Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (or Burma), Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam whereas Maritime Southeast Asia comprises Brunei, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, East Malaysia, East Timor, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore.[1][2]

The earliest Homo sapiens presence in Mainland Southeast Asia can be traced back to 70,000 years ago and to at least 50,000 years ago in Maritime Southeast Asia. Since 25,000 years ago, East Asian-related (Basal East Asian) groups expanded southwards into Maritime Southeast Asia from Mainland Southeast Asia.[3][4] As early as 10,000 years ago, Hoabinhian settlers from Mainland Southeast Asia had developed a tradition and culture of distinct artefact and tool production. During the Neolithic, Austroasiatic peoples populated Indochina via land routes, and sea-borne Austronesian immigrants preferably settled in Maritime Southeast Asia. The earliest agricultural societies that cultivated millet and wet-rice emerged around 1700 BCE in the lowlands and river floodplains of Indochina.[5]

The Phung Nguyen culture (modern northern Vietnam) and the Ban Chiang site (modern Thailand) account for the earliest use of copper by around 2,000 BCE, followed by the Dong Son culture, which by around 500 BCE had developed a highly sophisticated industry of bronze production and processing. Around the same time, the first Agrarian Kingdoms emerged where territory was abundant and favourable, such as Funan at the lower Mekong and Van Lang in the Red River Delta.[6] Smaller and insular principalities increasingly engaged in and contributed to the rapidly expanding sea trade.

The wide topographical diversity of Southeast Asia has greatly influenced its history. For instance, Mainland Southeast Asia with its continuous but rugged and difficult terrain provided the basis for the early Cham, Khmer, and Mon civilizations. The sub-region's extensive coastline and major river systems of the Irrawaddy, Salween, Chao Phraya, Mekong and Red River have directed socio-cultural and economic activities towards the Indian Ocean and South China Sea.[7][8]

In Maritime Southeast Asia, apart from exceptions such as Borneo and Sumatra, the patchwork of recurring land-sea patterns on widely dispersed islands and archipelagos admitted moderately sized thalassocratic states indifferent to territorial ambitions, where growth and prosperity were associated with sea trade.[9] Since around 100 BCE, Maritime Southeast Asia has occupied a central position at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea trading routes, immensely stimulating its economy and influencing its culture and society. Most local trading polities selectively adopted Indian Hindu elements of statecraft, religion, culture and administration during the early centuries of the common era, which marked the beginning of recorded history in the area and the continuation of a characteristic cultural development. Chinese culture diffused into the region more indirectly and sporadically, as trade was mostly based on land routes like the Silk Road. Long periods of Chinese isolationism and political relations that were confined to ritualistic tribute procedures prevented deep acculturation.[10]

Buddhism, particularly in Indochina, began to affect political structures beginning in the 8th to 9th centuries CE. Islamic ideas arrived in insular Southeast Asia as early as the 8th century, and the first Muslim societies in the area emerged by the 13th century.[11][12][13] The era of European colonialism, early Modernity and the Cold War era revealed the reality of limited political significance for the various Southeast Asian polities. Post-World War II national survival and progress required a modern state and a strong national identity.[14] Most modern Southeast Asian countries enjoy a historically unprecedented degree of political freedom and self-determination and have embraced the practical concept of intergovernmental co-operation within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).[15][16]

  1. ^ Daigorō Chihara (1996). Hindu-Buddhist Architecture in Southeast Asia. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-10512-6.
  2. ^ Victor T. King (2008). The Sociology of Southeast Asia: Transformations in a Developing Region. NIAS Press. ISBN 978-87-91114-60-1.
  3. ^ Larena, Maximilian; Sanchez-Quinto, Federico; Sjödin, Per; McKenna, James; Ebeo, Carlo; Reyes, Rebecca; Casel, Ophelia; Huang, Jin-Yuan; Hagada, Kim Pullupul; Guilay, Dennis; Reyes, Jennelyn (30 March 2021). "Multiple migrations to the Philippines during the last 50,000 years". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 118 (13): e2026132118. Bibcode:2021PNAS..11826132L. doi:10.1073/pnas.2026132118. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 8020671. PMID 33753512.
  4. ^ Carlhoff, Selina; Duli, Akin; Nägele, Kathrin; Nur, Muhammad; Skov, Laurits; Sumantri, Iwan; Oktaviana, Adhi Agus; Hakim, Budianto; Burhan, Basran; Syahdar, Fardi Ali; McGahan, David P. (August 2021). "Genome of a middle Holocene hunter-gatherer from Wallacea". Nature. 596 (7873): 543–547. Bibcode:2021Natur.596..543C. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03823-6. hdl:10072/407535. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 8387238. PMID 34433944. S2CID 237305537.
  5. ^ Hall, Kenneth R. A History of Early Southeast Asia: Maritime Trade and Societal Development, 100-1500.
  6. ^ Carter, Alison Kyra (2010). "Trade and Exchange Networks in Iron Age Cambodia: Preliminary Results from a Compositional Analysis of Glass Beads". Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association. 30. doi:10.7152/bippa.v30i0.9966 (inactive 2 November 2024). Retrieved 12 February 2017.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  7. ^ "Chinese trade" (PDF). Britishmuseum.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Culture, Regionalism and Southeast Asian Identity" (PDF). Amitavacharya.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  9. ^ Willem van Schendel. "Geographies of knowing, geographies of ignorance: jumping scale in Southeast Asia 2002 – Willem van Schendel Asia Studies in Amsterdam" (PDF). University of Amsterdam. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  10. ^ John M. Hobson (2004). The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation. Cambridge University Press. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-521-54724-6.
  11. ^ Woodward, Mark (1 September 2009). "Islamic Societies in Southeast Asia". In Juergensmeyer, Mark (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195137989.001.0001. ISBN 9780195137989.
  12. ^ Muhamad Ali. Islam in Southeast Asia (Report). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  13. ^ Thongchai Winichakul. "BUDDHISM AND SOCIETY IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN HISTORY" (PDF). University of Wisconsin-Madison. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  14. ^ Constance Wilson. "Colonialism and Nationalism in Southeast Asia". Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  15. ^ "S-E Asia's identity long in existence". Hartford-hwp com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  16. ^ "SOVEREIGNTY AND THE STATE IN ASIA: THE CHALLENGES OF THE EMERGING INTERNATIONAL ORDER" (PDF). University of Chicago. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2018.