Southeast Asia consists of the mainland, the Indochina Peninsula, and the Malay Archipelago-20,000 islands straddling the equator and stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Southeast Asia's islands and peninsulas cover an area of about 1,750,000 square miles. Including the seas, Southeast Asia spreads over an area of about 5 million square miles, and includes the following nations: Borneo, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The region has strong Chinese and Indian cultural and religious influences, as well as European influences that carried over from the colonial period. It features a mostly tropical climate with abundant natural resources. Mountain ranges, volcanoes, and tropical rainforests dominate its beautiful landscape.
Southeast Asia was created by the collision of three tectonic plates and related volcanic activity and earthquakes. The mainland is dominated by mountain ranges, which create both geographic and political boundaries between peninsular countries, such as Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar and their larger neighbors, China and India. In highland areas below these mountain ranges rise three great rivers: the Mekong, the Irrawaddy, and the Chao Phraya. Southeast Asia's rivers have influenced human settlement and economic activities. Flowing southward through heavily forested areas, the rivers provide food and form the principal means of transportation. Their silt and deposits of sediment create fertile agricultural areas, where we floodplains support the growing or rice, Southeast Asia's staple crop. Fishing is important to the region's economy and diet.
The region has rich natural resources. Its fertile soil yields rubber, rice, tea, and spices; its forests provide valuable woods such as teak; and coastal waters have large quantities of fish. Parts of Southeast Asia also have rich petroleum deposits, and tin and gem mines. For example, Indonesia and Brunei are leading exporters of oil and natural gas.
Southeast Asia owes much of its beauty to the monsoons, which bring abundant rains. Tropical rainforest climate dominates the region and is found on the islands and in coastal regions. These lush habitats are home to thousands of species of rare plants and animals, like the orangutan and the Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard. Tropical savanna with tropical grasslands is found along the southeastern parts of Indonesia and across the Indochina Peninsula. Some parts of the region's mainland have a humid subtropical climate, and the northern areas of Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam have lower temperatures. Temperatures are even cooler in the highlands climate of the mountainous areas of Myanmar, New Guinea, and Borneo, where deciduous trees and evergreens grow.
Southeast Asia's approximately 520 million people are primarily descendants of indigenous peoples, Indians, Chinese, Arabs, and European colonists. These cultural influences have blended with existing Southeast Asian traditions and made unique contributions to the politics, economics, and religions of the region.
Many of the people live in fertile river valleys or on the coastal plains. Although many countries in the region are largely rural, urbanization and overcrowding in the primary cities have created challenges. In recent years a growing number of rural residents have moved to urban areas, seeking better economic opportunities. The largest cities in Southeast Asia are Jakarta, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and the city-state of Singapore.
Before the 16th century, powerful seafaring empires emerged in Southeast Asia under the influence of Hindu, and later Arab Muslim, traders. Many early civilizations in the region gained power by controlling shipping and trade or by accumulating wealth from crop grown in fertile soil. Europeans, attracted by such spices as pepper and cloves, claimed spheres of influenced in the region and later acquired lands as colonies in the early modern period. By the late 19th century, all of the region except Siam (now Thailand) was under European rule. They brought widespread economic changes, including railroads, expanded mining, and larger commercial plantation.
During World War II, Japan, eager for tin and rubber, took over much of Southeast Asia. After Japan's defeat, many groups struggled to gain independence from their former colonial rulers. Each Southeast Asian nation has its own unique history related to achieving independence, some more peaceful than others, and some are very recent in history. For instance, East Timor gained its independence in 2002. Other nations continue to deal with political and ethnic struggles.
LEARNING:
Read Glencoe World Geography pages 719-729, 735-753, 759-771,
MAPPING:
Label each major island of the region. Label the nations and their capital cities. Add the major rivers and mountains. Label the seas and the straits.
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