Island Southeast Asia

Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, East Timor

INDONESIA It is an archipelago, a group of islands. It consists of more than 13,600 islands, including 3 large islands: Sumatra, Java, and Celebes. Also, most of Borneo, and other islands.

It lies where two tectonic plates meet, so it has many earthquakes and volcanoes It has very rich soil because of the volcanic ash, and it has a tropical climate. Monsoons bring a wet summer and dry winter. It has dense rain forests

Many international companies have factories here because of cheap skilled labor!!!!

Farmers grow rice, coffee, tea, peanuts, palm (for oil) and rubber (comes from the sap of a tree).

Tapping a rubber tree

It is densely populated! World’s 4 th largest population Cities, such as capital Jakarta, are large and very modern. Villages are traditional.

Most of the people follow the religion Islam Actually has more Muslims than any other country! It also has people who follow Buddhism & Christianity. On the island of Bali, the most of the people follow Hinduism.

HISTORY: Thousands of years ago, Hindus and Buddhists from India came to Indonesia and set up kingdoms. In the 1100sAD, traders brought Islam to Indonesia. Later, Europeans came because of the valuable spices grown there. The Dutch controlled Indonesia until At present, Indonesia has a democratic government.

EAST TIMOR East Timor: A very small country that broke off from Indonesia The people are mostly Roman Catholic.

MALAYSIA

The southern end of the Malay peninsula and the northern part of the island of Borneo It has a tropical climate, and has areas of thick tropical rainforests. The Strait (narrow body of water between two pieces of land) of Malacca separates the Malay peninsula from the island of Sumatra, which is part of Indonesia.

Extreme contrasts: Very modern cities, such as capital Kuala Lumpur. It has one of the world’s tallest buildings, the Petronas Towers. Very traditional villages where people live in thatched huts on stilts off the ground.

Grows crops, including rice, rubber and palm oil.

Oil palm tree

Also a major producer of high tech micro chips! Many international companies have factories here because of cheap skilled labor.

Most follow religion of Islam, but also many follow Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism.

Tiny country on that consists of Singapore Island and 58 smaller islands off the tip of Malay Peninsula. It is basically a city- nation. Has many factories and a highly productive economy

Has one of the world’s busiest harbors, which is a “free port ” where goods can be unloaded, stored & reloaded without import taxes. People in this tiny but highly productive country have a high standard of living.

Singapore

BRUNEI Located on the island of Borneo, surrounded by Malaysia. Has large oil & gas deposits, and because of this it is very rich, small country Is ruled by a Sultan, The Sultan of Brunei is one of the world’s richest people.

PHILIPPINES Made up of 7000 islands. It has many volcanic mountains

Philippines 40%of the people live in villages and farm. They farm on terraced fields, which are strips of land cut out of a hillside like stair steps.

Capital Manila is a great comme rcial center.

Philippines BRIEF HISTORY: The Philippines was ruled by S Spain from about 1500s-1800s. The U.S. took the Philippines from the Spanish in 1898 as part of the Spanish -American War. The Philippines was controlled by the U.S. from

In 1942, Japan seized the Philippines. There was fierce fighting on the Philippines During WWII, during which over a million Filipino people died. Over 200,000 Filipino soldiers fought for the U.S. during WWII. Japan surrendered in In 1946, the U.S. granted independence to the Philippines.