SE Asia Bennett G9

Pagan Civilization

Pagan Location: along the Irrwaddy River, Myanmar.

Pagan Achievements  Controlled fertile rice growing lands.  Rulers rich and powerful  Buddhist missionaries.

Vietnam: Eastern part of mainland peninsula, South of China, along the Red River Delta

Vietnam Location

Vietnamese Achievements  Freed 65 towns from the Chinese  Chinese culture influenced art, poetry, and customs and language.  Confucian philosophy.  Independence in 939 AD from China.

Khmer Kingdom Cambodia, Mekong River Delta

Khmer Achievements  One of the most powerful kingdoms of SE Asia.  Created a writing system.  Lived in large cities because of successful farming  Golden Age  Contact through Indian trade (cultural diffusion).  Built temples  Engineers built water systems, canals, and reservoirs.

Tai Kingdoms- Thailand

Tai Kingdom Achievements  Expanded through fighting the Mongols.  Created a capital.  New dynasty with Bangkok as their capital  People still recognize the royal family.  Never imperialized by European power.

Island Empires

Island Empires Achievements  Profited from the Spice trade  Controlled the Strait of Malaca.  Worshipped Hindi gods.

Patterns of Life in SE Asia and Imperialism  Religions/Belief Systems  Animism- all things on Earth have spirits  Hinduism- from India  Buddhism- From India and China  Islam  Majority religion in Malaysia and Indonesia  Christianity  Majority of Filipinos are Catholic- brought by the Spanish.

Economics  Rice major food.  Wet rice farming  Dry rice farming  Fishing very important Most villages are located along or next to rivers

Social life  Men superior to women.  In Vietnam, women could choose who they married.

European Influence- Imperialism in Southeast Asia  What is imperialism?  1500’s- Portuguese were the first to explore SE Asia.  Began trading for spices.  SPICE ISLANDS  Europeans were jealous of the Arab traders getting rich off of these islands.

 1700’s-1800’s: More European countries show interest in SE Asia.  Wanted tea, sugar, coffee, raw materials for industrial revolution

The Dutch in Java  Effects

British in Malaya  Effects

Vietnam  Effects

Cambodia

Laos  Effects

Philippines  Effects

A New Political Map  Growing Nationalism  Nationalism=  Japan took over most of SE Asia during WWII.  At first, people were happy to be rid of European powers.  Then, Japanese turned on the people of SE Asia.  Tortured and killed civilians, exploited their resources for the war and burned down Buddhist monasteries.  SE Asian Nationalists fought back.  By 1945, many were well-armed, experienced guerilla fighters.

After Japan’s Defeat in WWII  Peaceful Transitions  U.S. gives the Philippines independence in  Britain gives up Burma.  Malaya  Took the name Malaysia in  Indonesia  Dutch fought to regain control of Indonesia.  Indochina  French fight to regain control

Challenges for New Nations  Little experience with self-rule because of colonization.  Unifying diverse populations was a challenge.  Economic problems

Philippines  Income inequality from Spanish rule.  Encomienda system:  Huk rebellion.  Huks=communists. Fought the government  U.S. helped squash the rebellion.

Huk Rebellion

Cold War  Following WWI, Vietnamese nationalists pushed for more independence from France.  Ho Chi Minh emerged as the leader of the independence movement in Vietnam.  Goals: build a communist government and win independence.  Ho and the nationalists fought against the Japanese in WWII.  After WWII, tried to expel the French from Vietnam.  For 8 years, they fought the French.

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnam  Soviet Union and China supported Ho and his nationalists because he was a communist.  United States supported the French because they did not want Vietnam to fall to communism= domino theory.  France withdrew from Indochina in  Communists now controlled North Vietnam.  A non-communist government was set up in South Vietnam led by Ngo Dinh Diem

Vietnam War  Diem was supported by the U.S.  Underground group of communists in the South called the Viet Cong or “VC” tried to overthrow Diem.  Diem assassinated in 1963…

Vietnam War  US starts sending special military advisers into Vietnam in  Ho responds by secretly sending North Vietnamese troops into the south through Laos and Cambodia.  two American patrol ships are “attacked” in the Gulf of Tonkin.  Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution- gave President LBJ the power to use force in Vietnam.

Vietnam War  US sends 500,00 troops.  Viet Cong continue to fight effectively- backed by USSR and China.  War spread to Laos and Cambodia along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.  Americans leave Vietnam in 1975 and the south fell to the Viet Cong.  U.S. cut off supply and trade and Vietnam’s economy suffered for decades.

Tragedy in Cambodia  After fall of Saigon, Cambodia falls to the Khmer Rogue and Pol Pot.  Khmer Rouge= communists.  Pol Pot sets out to expel all foreigners from Cambodia.  Forced people out of the cities and into the countryside  Many died of starvation.

Khmer Rouge

Genocide in Cambodia  Pol Pot sought to kill anyone who did not agree with his communist party.  During his reign, 2 out of 7 million Cambodians were systematically murdered= genocide.  Pol Pot was overthrown by Vietnamese and Cambodian forces in 1979.

The Killing Fields

Pol Pot Video 

Aftereffects of the War (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos)  Killed millions of SE Asians  Destroyed roads, bridges, and irrigation systems.  Chemicals used by the U.S. destroyed trees and plants.  Many refugees left Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to settle in Thailand and Hong Kong.

Agent Orange

Before and After Exposure to Agent Orange