Transcript 20-4-24
Last Time
• Southeast Asia
Soils and forests
Agriculture
Mineral resources
Pre-colonial historical-cultural
influences
© T. M. Whitmore
Today
• European colonization
• Contemporary population issues in
SE Asia
• Country details in SE Asia
© T. M. Whitmore
Status of SE Asia by 1500
(before European colonization)
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Thai, Shan, Vietnamese, Lao, Burma/Myanmar,
Khmer (Cambodia) kingdoms in Indochina
Mostly Buddhist
Malaccan sultanate in S. Malay peninsula
Mostly Muslim
Indonesian archipelago fractured into hundreds
of tiny kingdoms
Increasingly Muslim
Philippine archipelago fractured into hundreds of
tiny kingdoms
Animist
© T. M. Whitmore
• European
Colonization
Portuguese
Spanish
British
French
• USA
• Japanese
• Chinese diaspora
• Indigenous reactions
© T. M. Whitmore
Population Issues
• Uneven spatial distribution
• Many countries with primate cities
• Chinese minority populations
© T. M. Whitmore
© John Wiley & Sons
China town in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
© 2002 Manfred Leiter
Population growth issues
• Diverse experience: some high,
some lower — religion NOT the
major factor
Higher growth states — rates of
natural increase (r) > 2 % per yr
range
Cambodia (Buddhist)
Brunei (Muslim)
Malaysia (Muslim)
Philippines (Roman Catholic &
Muslim)
© T. M. Whitmore
Population growth issues
• Diverse experience: some high,
some lower — religion NOT the
major factor
Lower growth states — rates of
natural increase (r) < 2 % per yr
range
Vietnam (Buddhist) r ~ 1.4%/yr
Singapore (Muslim) r ~ 0.6%/yr
Thailand (Buddhist) r ~ 0.7%/yr
Indonesia (Muslim) r ~ 1.6%/yr
© T. M. Whitmore
Burma (Myanmar)
• Large, diverse population ~ 50m
• Resources rich (oil, good ag land,
timber, etc.) richest country in SE
Asia in 1930)
• Economically and politically troubled
since
Repressive military rule
Several active insurgencies
• Issue of the “golden triangle”
© T. M. Whitmore
Thailand
• Population ~ 65 m
• Rapidly developing economy
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major exporter of tin, teak, rice
active maquiladora-type assembly
economy in Bangkok
Still majority agricultural; but much
development planned around tourism on
S peninsula
Very dynamic primate city of Bangkok
(at > 5 m the 2nd largest in SE Asia)
© T. M. Whitmore
Bangkok
© 2002 Manfred Leiter
Bangkok
© 2005 The Great Mirror
Cambodia
• Population ~ 13 m
• A shadow of great Khmer civilization
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that built Angor Wat
Very unstable politically since WW II
Chaos of the “Khmer Rouge” after end
of Vietnam war (1976)
Purging of all “bourgeois” culture
(meaning most all educated, urban
people) > 1 million killed
Vast majority of pop is agricultural
Low rates of economic and social
© T. M. Whitmore
development
Hindu influenced Angkor Wat
© 2002 Manfred Leiter
Vietnam
• > 80 m pop
• Over history, a country seldom united
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When the French colonizers were
defeated in 1954 the nation was
divided N - S (Communist N)
N and S are more-or-less complementary
N = industrial base, mineral resources,
food shortages
S = less industry, but more commerce
due to decades of US etc; much more
© T. M. Whitmore
food (Mekong delta); potential for
oil
Vietnam
• Losses due to generations of war (vs.
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French and USA)
> 1 million civilian deaths
> 50,000 US GIs killed in Vietnam war
alone (war with the French also
bloody)
6m refugees and displaced peoples
USA boycott and isolationist govt.
=> slow growth — but now opening a
bit
Great potential => important player in
© T. M. Whitmore
future
Malaysia
• ~ 26 m pop
• Economy dominated by 2
traditionally dominant sectors
Tin (35% of world’s production)
Plantation crop export economy
Oil gaining; good reserves
© T. M. Whitmore
Malaysia
• Legacy of divided ethnicities; Chinese
(30%), Indian (10%), and Malay (60%)
Divided religions as well: Muslim,
Hindu, Buddhist
Major ethnic problem is Malay Chinese
Chinese successful in urban commerce
and now dominate in wealth
Malays control government and
military
Economic policies of 1980s give strong
preferences to Malays for education,
© T. M. Whitmore
govt. job, etc.
© John Wiley & Sons
Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala
Lumpur
© 2002 Manfred Leiter
Singapore
• ~ 4 m pop (literally a large city on an
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island at the tip of the Malay peninsula)
British colony in 1819; excellent harbor
for British fleet to control straits of
Malacca
Malaysia independence in 1963 —
Singapore separated 1965
Chinese dominant in Singapore (77%)
and this is key to separation
© T. M. Whitmore
Singapore
• Economy among the richest in Asia
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(GNP/cap ~ $30,000)
One of the world’s largest ports and a
natural entrepot
Export of raw materials form Malay
peninsula
Major oil refining center
New high-tech finance economy
Very close trade with China (Hong
Kong), Taiwan, USA
Extreme form of state-capitalism (like
© T. M. Whitmore
Taiwan, Korea or Japan)
Image courtesy of the Singapore Tourism Board
Indonesia
• ~ 221 m pop (~ ½ of total in SE Asia )
• Very diverse country (despite being 85%
Muslim)
literally hundreds of local cultures
> 17,000 islands => hard to administer
(but most pop lives in Java and
Sumatra)
Well known problems with E Timor
just highlight this
© T. M. Whitmore
Indonesia
• Population density a problem in Java
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> 1,500 per sq mi ~ like a city
Govt. solutions include “voluntary”
resettlement of Javanese to outlying
islands and Borneo
Jakarta — giant city of SE Asia > 8m
Economy still dominated by agriculture,
but assembly manufacturing and oil
gaining
© T. M. Whitmore
Philippines
• ~ 85 m pop
• Mostly Roman Catholic (Muslim in
south) thus odd in this group
Fragmented like Indonesia into
thousands of islands
• Population growth a main issue r ~
2.3%/yr
© T. M. Whitmore