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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

Between India and China: 1st c. BC - 8th c. AD

Cultural influence in southeast Asia comes at

first either from India or China. In the 1st

century BC Indian traders penetrate Burma.

Further east, inVietnam, Bronze Age culture

infiltrates gradually from China at some time

before the 3rd century BC.

With these exceptions, the region is still

occupied at this time by neolithic communities.

The kingdom of Nam-Viet

A narrow coastal strip of southeast Asia,

between the Red River and the Mekong (theextent of modern Vietnam), becomes

prosperous when rice begins to be cultivated in

the last few centuries BC. It also offers useful

harbours for merchant ships to trade round the

coast. On both counts it is of interest to a

powerful neighbour to the north, the empire

ofChina.

In about 207 BC an imperial delegate to the Red

River region, around modern Hanoi, sets

himself up as ruler of a kingdom called Nam-

Viet. A century later, when the Han dynasty is

extending the reach of the Chinese empire,

Nam-Viet is annexed. From 111 BC it is listed as

a Chinese province.

The Indian influence: from the 1st century AD

The northern part of Vietnam, being a

continuation of the coastal strip of southern

China, remains for much of its history under the

control of its larger neighbour. But the rest of

southeast Asia, separated from China bymountain or jungle, or consisting of large

offshore islands such as Sumatra and Java, is

exposed to a different influence.

Civilization, when it reaches these areas, must

come from the sea. And of the two civilized

neighbours, to west and east, India proves to

have more energetic traders than China.

The map of the world offers no route so

promising to a merchant vessel as the coastal

journey from India to China. Down through the

Straits of Malacca and then up through the

South China Sea, there are at all times inhabited

coasts not far off to either side. It is no accident

that Calcutta is now at one end of the journey,

Hong Kong at the other, and Singapore in the

middle.

Indian merchants are trading along this route by

the 1st century AD, bringing with them the two

religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, which

profoundly influence this entire region.

Cham, Khmer and Mon: from the 1st centuryAD

The early centuries of Indian influence see

several royal dynasties, some Hindu and some

Buddhist, rivalling each other for power and

territory in southeast Asia. The Cham establish

themselves in a region which becomes known

as Champa (approximately south Vietnam); the

Khmer are their neighbours to the west, in

Cambodia; further again to the west are the

Mon, ruling in Thailand and southern Burma.

By the 11th century the Mon have been largely

displaced by Burmese in the west, and are

under pressure from Thais in the region now

known as Thailand. The Burmese and the Thais

are tribal groups, pressing southwards from

regions to the east of Tibet.

Sumatra and Java: from the 7th century AD

Meanwhile similar Hindu or Buddhist

monarchies have been established in the Malay

archipelago - in the Malay peninsula itself, and

in the islands of Sumatra and Java. From the 9th

to the 12th century rulers in these territories

build spectacular temple complexes in the

service of one or other of the Indian religions.

The great shrine of Borobudur in Java is one of

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the earliest to survive, dating from about 800.

In the tradition of the Buddhist stupa, it is a

monument rather than a building. The stupa

rises from the centre of a massive stepped-

pyramid base, decorated with reliefs depicting

the stages ofBuddhist enlightenment.

Angkor, Pagan and changing fortunes: 10th -

15th c. AD

In Cambodia the Khmer dynasty makes its

capital, from the 9th century, in the city of

Angkor. A series of huge Hindu temples

culminates in the great 12th-century Angkor

Wat. The temples are engulfed by the jungle,

after the fall of the city first to Chams from the

east (in 1177) and then to Thais from the west

(in 1431). Angkor is rediscovered in the 1860s,to become one of the wonders of the world.

To the west, the new Burmese dynasty has its

capital from the 11th century at Pagan on the

Irrawaddy. Thousands of elaborate shrines

survive there - some in the tradition of Buddhist

stupas, others in the style of Hindu temples.

Warfare between the dynasties of southeast

Asia is an almost continuous process, bringing

gradual changes in the size and shape of rival

kingdoms. An example is the shrinking of the

Khmer territory under pressure from Thais in

the 15th century, when Angkor is abandoned in

favour of a new capital further south at Phnom

Penh.

But by this time there is a new and powerful

force in the region. As with the arrival of

Hinduism and Buddhism more than 1000 years

previously, a religion from elsewhere is

involved. Once again its immediate source is

India.

Muslim Malaya and Indonesia: from the 13th

century AD

Islam's final push to the east derives from the

strength of Muslim India. By the end of the 13th

century Indian merchants from Gujarat, trading

through the Straits of Malacca, have established

Muslim settlements in northern Sumatra; they

are noted by Marco Polo.

The wealth and sophistication of these traders

brings converts to Islam, and the influence of

the religion becomes rapidly stronger after a

Muslim sultanate is established in Malacca from

1445. The threat of conquest and the benefits

of trade now provide two good reasons for the

neighbouring communities to embrace the

Muslim faith.

During the 15th and 16th centuries Islam

spreads through the Malay peninsula and the

islands of Sumatra and Java. By the 17th

century the Hindus, with their warrior princes,

brahmin priests and caste system, are confinedto the eastern tip of Java. Soon they are ousted

even from there.

They cross to Bali, where they and their

traditions manage to survive. By this time the

mainland regions from Burma to Cambodia

have resolved centuries of indecision between

Hinduism and Buddhism. They have chosen

Buddha. The small island of Bali becomes, as it

remains to this day, the only Hindu outpost in a

southeast Asia otherwise divided betweenBuddhism and Islam.

Europeans: 16th - 20th century AD

It is the misfortune of southeast Asia that one

of its richest crops - the spice of theMoluccas -

is of profound interest to European traders.

After the Portuguese discover a sea route to the

east in 1498, the region becomes an arena of

violent competition between aggressive

outsiders.

ThePortuguese, establishing a base at Malacca

in 1511, have the region for a while to

themselves. They are displaced in the 16th

century by English andDutch. Of these two, the

Dutch prevail - developing a virtual monopoly in

the region, until the French arrive in 1799 to

begin a long involvement in Indo-China. The

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only area to maintain a precarious

independence throughout is Thailand.

Dutch trade in the east: AD 1595-1651

The first Dutch expedition round the Cape to

the far east, in 1595, is captained by Jan

Huyghen van Linschoten, a Netherlands

merchant whose only knowledge of the orient

comes from trading in Lisbon. The survivors of

this journey get back to Holland two years later.

They bring valuable cargo. And they have

established a trading treaty with the sultan of

Bantam, in Java.

Their return prompts great excitement. Soon

about ten private vessels are setting off eachyear from the Netherlands to find their fortune

in the east. TheStates General of the newly

independent Dutch republic decide that this

unlicensed trading activity, in distant and

dangerous waters, needs both control and

protection.

In 1602 the States General form a Dutch East

India Company, with extensive privileges and

powers. It is to have a tax-free monopoly of the

eastern trade for twenty-one years. It is

authorized to build forts, establish colonies,

mint coins, and maintain a navy and army as

required.

With these powers the company takes only a

few decades to deprive Portugal of the spice

trade. A capital is established at Batavia, in Java,

in 1619. The Portuguese are driven out of

Malacca by 1641 and from Sri Lanka by 1658.

But the main focus of Dutch attention is the

Moluccas - the Indonesian islands of which the

alternative name, the Spice Islands, declares

their central importance in the eastern trade.

The Moluccas are the source of the most

valuable spice of all, the clove, coveted for

many different purposes - as a flavour in food,

as a preservative, as a mild anaesthetic, as an

ingredient in perfume, even to mask stinking

breath. In pursuit of Moluccan cloves, and also

nutmegs, thePortuguesemake local treaties as

early as 1512.

In the early decades of the 17th century the

Dutch East India Company gradually excludes

the Portuguese from trade in the Moluccas. The

Dutch also take on, and oust from the islands,

another European nation attempting to get a

foothold in the region - the EnglishEast India

Company.The Dutch control the trade in cloves with

ruthless efficiency. During the 17th century

clove trees are eradicated on all the Spice

Islands except two - Amboina and Ternate - to

limit production and keep prices high. Strict

measures are taken to ensure that plants are

not exported for propagation elsewhere (a

restriction successfully maintained until the late

18th century).

The Portuguese never recover their tradingstrength in the east. But in expelling the English

from the Moluccas, the Dutch unwittingly do

them a favour. The English East India Company

decides to concentrate its efforts on India.

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