© T. M. Whitmore Today SE Asia  Physical environments  Cultural history  Population

© T. M. Whitmore Last time – Questions? South Asia  Culture  Population  Development & industry

© T. M. Whitmore Southeast Asia Plate tectonics in SE Asia Plate tectonics Earthquakes & Volcanoes EarthquakesVolcanoes

Banda Aceh before

Banda Aceh after

Tambora

© T. M. Whitmore Southeast Asian environments II Other land forms  Indochina (mainland) mountains Indochina  Highlands of Borneo and New Guinea  Coastal mangrove swamps of E Sumatra and parts of N Guinea and Borneo  Major rivers of Indochinarivers

Mainland mountains

Red R. Mekong R. Cho Phraya Irrawaddy Salween

Mainland lowlands

Life on the water in mainland SE Asia

© T. M. Whitmore Southeast Asian Climates Climate regimes  Tropical wet/dry and equatorial climates (Af, Am) — warm and moist year around Tropical  Mainland highlands- Aw; more seasonal wet-dry

© T. M. Whitmore Vegetation and soils Highlands in Indochina Highlands Lowland equatorial rainforestrainforest  Much of the most moist area under “classical” tropical rainforest  Huge trees; much biodiversity; high biomass/area  Yet — all this on poor soils mostly — how?— high temperatures and rainfall  Commercial threats to tropical rainforests increasing Commercial Volcanic Soils Volcanic

Volcanoes in insular SE Asia produce fertile soils but also natural hazards.

© T. M. Whitmore Agriculture in SE Asian soils 1 st Strategy: SwiddenSwidden  Mainland highlands 2 nd Strategy: Modification of Landscapes (paddy rice)Modification  Volcanic islands & river deltas 3 rd Strategy: PlantationsPlantations  Malaysian peninsula

© 2002 Manfred Leiter Rice terraces, Java

© 2002 Manfred Leiter Rice terraces, Java

© 2002 Manfred Leiter Rice harvest, Java

© 2002 Manfred Leiter Tea plantation, Malaysia

Export-oriented plantations

Oil Palm plantation in Malaysia © 2002 Manfred Leiter

© T. M. Whitmore Mineral Resources “Tin Belt”Tin Belt Gas and Oil  S. China Sea (Spratly Islands)  EEZ: Exclusive Economic Zones

© T. M. Whitmore Pre-Colonial History Early Cultural Groups Chinese Influences Chinese  Ancient  Modern Chinese Diaspora Indian Influences Indian  Buddhist & Hindu Islamic Influences Islamic

SE Asia is linguistically and culturally diverse. 737 languages are spoken in Indonesia alone.

© T. M. Whitmore Southeast Asia by 1500s (pre-colonization)pre-colonization Buddhist Kingdoms  Thai, Shan, Vietnamese, Lao, Burma, Cambodia (Khmer) Muslim Areas  Malaccan in S. Malay peninsula  Indonesian Archipelago Animist  Philippine Archipelago

© 2002 Manfred Leiter Buddhist influence, SE Asia

© 2002 Manfred Leiter Buddhist influence

© 2002 Manfred Leiter Hindu influenced Angkor Wat

© 2002 Manfred Leiter Islamic influence, Malaysia

© 2002 Manfred Leiter Chinese influence, Malaysia

© T. M. Whitmore Colonization European  Portuguese  Spain  British  French Japanese US  Philippines Philippines

Japanese Empire in WW II

© T. M. Whitmore The Vietnam War The civil war ending French colonial rule of Vietnam led to the division of the country between the Communist north and the Western-allied south. Beginning in 1963, the US sent troops to assist the south 600,000 US troops, 60,000 US casualties, and millions of Vietnamese casualties. By 1973 the US was forced to withdraw and the south was later captured by the north.

Herbicides such as Agent Orange were used by US forces to defoliate large areas of South Vietnam. This released chemicals known as dioxins, leading to health effects and birth defects for US soldiers and Vietnamese.

Hundreds of thousands fled South Vietnam after the arrival of northern forces, many in small boats who became known as “boat people”.

© T. M. Whitmore Current Population Issues Uneven Spatial DistributionSpatial Distribution Primate Cities  Rangoon (Burma)  Bangkok (Thailand)  Manilla (Philippines) Chinese Minority Populations Chinese Minority Population

© 2002 Manfred Leiter China town in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

© T. M. Whitmore Population Growth Religion NOT a major factor Higher Rates (~2 %/year)  Cambodia - Buddhist  Brunei - Muslim  Malaysia - Muslim  Philippines – Roman Catholic & Muslim Lower Rates  Vietnam - Buddhist  Singapore – Muslim  Thailand - Buddhist  Indonesia - Muslim