Transcript Southeast Asia - DePaul University GIS Collaboratory

Southeast Asia
Mainland Southeast Asia
Insular Southeast Asia
Burma Laos
Thailand Vietnam
Cambodia
Brunei
Philippine
Malaysia
I
n
Singapore
d
o
n
e
s
East Timor
i
a
Introduction

Heavily influenced by external forces  cultural
diversity
• Buddhism, Chinese immigrants, Islam
• European colonialism

Battleground for global ideologies after WWII
• Vietnam war

Strongly felt globalization
• Promises: economic growth in the 1980s
• Perils: financial crisis in the late 1990s
Environmental Geography
A Once-Forested Region
Mainland: delta landscape
 large river systems
Insular: volcanic eruption
 located in 4 plate
boundaries
Mainland Southeast Asia
 Rugged
uplands
interspersed with river
Irrawaddy R.
lowlands (delta)
Red R.
Mekong R.
Chayo Phraya
Insular Southeast Asia
 Mountain
spine created by a tectonic force
 Large expanse of shallow ocean
New Guinea
Borneo
Sumatra
Sunda Shelf
Java
Celebes
(Sulawesi)





Mainland  monsoon
Insular  monsoon, typhoon, equatorial effect
Monsoon: distinct dry and rainy season  changing wind direction
Typhoon: heavy rainfall to the northeastern reaches of Insular Asia
Equatorial effect: little seasonality, year-round precipitation
Wallace’s Line

Difference in animal and plant life between
western and eastern islands
• Western  Asian origin
• Eastern  Australian origin

12,000 years ago, the sea level was lower (last
global ice age)
Deforestation of Southeast Asia

Pre-colonial period
• Agricultural settlement

Colonial period
• Plantation, shipbuilding

Post-colonial period
• Commercial logging by
international firms

1990s
• Logging ban
Population and Settlement
Subsistence, Migrations, Cities
Settlement patterns
Unlike East Asia and South Asia, Southeast Asia
has historically supported low population density
 Why?
 (1) Infertile soil
 (2) Rugged mountains


Population is concentrated in deltas or volcanic
islands due to its fertile soil
Mainland: heavily settled deltas
Insular: heavily settled volcanic landscape
Farming patterns (1):
Upland swidden system
 Shifting
cultivation (“slash-and-burn”)
 Threatened
by growing population and
commercial logging
 Switched
Burma)
to a cash crop like opium (eg.
Farming patterns (2):
Plantation agriculture
 Specialty
crops for exports during European
colonization
 Usually
practiced in the coastal lowlands
for shipping
 Still
widespread, but lesser dependence on
plantation has been attempted
Farming patterns (3):
Lowland rice cultivation
 Lowland
basins of
mainland
 Focused on three
delta areas
• Irrawaddy (Burma)
• Chao Praya (Thailand)
• Mekong (Vietnam,
Cambodia)

High birthrate: Laos, Cambodia
 low level of economic development

Low birthrate: Singapore, Thailand
 high level of economic development, family planning

Still relatively rural despite recent industrialization
Population policy:
Indonesian transmigration
Relocating its population from densely populated
area (Java) to outer islands
 Pros: balanced population distribution pattern
 Cons: environmental degradation, ethnic conflicts

Urban settlement
Overurbanization?
• Yes
• No
Manila
Bankok
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Cultural Coherence and Diversity
A Meeting Ground of World Cultures
 Meeting
•
•
•
•
ground for cultural diffusion from
South Asia – Hinduism, Buddhism, writing system
China – Immigration of southern Chinese
Middle East – Islam, writing system
Europe – Christianity
External cultural influences
0 A.D.
Hinduism
12c 13c
19c
20c
Islam
Theravada Buddhism
Chinese immigration
Christianity
Bali
Indonesia Mainland
Malaysia
Chinese
Philippines
communities Tribal areas
Religion in Southeast Asia
Buddhism mainland
Catholic Philippines
Animism & Christianity in the uplands
Islam insular
Hindu Bali
Chinese in Southeast Asia
Chinese communities all over Southeast Asia
 Disproportionate prosperity of the local Chinese
community

Language in Southeast Asia
Burman
Tai
Mon-Khmer
Papuan
Austronesian
National language in Southeast Asia
Burmese
Lao
Thai
Vietnamese
Khmer
Filipino
English
Malay
Indonesian
National language is limited to the core area of densely populated
lowlands in mainland (Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia)
Use of English in Southeast Asia
 Widely
spoken in the former British or U.S.
colonies
• Philippine, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma
 Ambivalent
attitude towards the use of
English
• Encouraged by pro-globalizers
• Discouraged by nationalists
• Emergence of hybrid tongue
Geopolitical Framework
War, Ethnic Strife, and Regional Cooperation
 Pre-colonial
era
• Mainland: form political states
• Insular: lack political states
 Colonial
era
• Insular (16c~): Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch
• Mainland (19c~): British, French
 After
independence
• The former French Indochina became battleground
for ideological rivalries
Colonial Southeast Asia
British
French
Spanish
 U.S.
Dutch
Portuguese
Insular Southeast Asia inherited territory from former colonial powers
Ideological rivalries in the former
French Indochina
 Battle
against the French (1945 ~ 1954)
• Backed by pro-communist group
 Vietnam
War (1954 ~ 1975)
• Military conflict between communist forces of
North Vietnam and non-communist forces of
South Vietnam
 Communist
regimes (1975 ~)
• Installed in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos
• Persistent political instability
Geopolitical tensions (1):
Conflicts in Indonesia
Irian Jaya
E.Timor
Became the 11th sovereign states
in Southeast Asia

Transmigration triggers ethnic conflicts
• Javanese (Islam) immigrants  indigenous people

Ethnically/culturally distinct regions have called
for autonomy or independence
Geopolitical tensions (2):
Regional tensions in the Philippines
Muslim separatists in the southwest
 Communist-oriented nationwide rebellion
 Rebellion of tribal groups in northern Luzon

Geopolitical tensions (3):
Ethnic conflict in Burma


Ethnic minorities  Military regime dominated by the Burmans
Insurgencies are often financed by drug trade (“Golden Triangle”)
Geopolitical tensions (4):
Dispute over the Spratly Islands
China Taiwan
Vietnam
Philippines
Spratly islands
Malaysia
Regional cooperation:
ASEAN
(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
 Originally
intended as a bulwark against the
spread of Communism
 With the end of Cold War, communist states
are admitted
 Political cooperation
• Prevent external influences in the region
• Promote regional stability
 Economic
cooperation
Economic and Social Development
The Roller-Coaster Ride of Tiger Economies
 Recent
economic development
• Leaders: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia
• Laggards: Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia
 Economic
crisis in the late 1990s
• Hit most of Southeast Asian countries
• Marked dependence on foreign investment




Singapore: Regional hub
Brunei: oil reserves
Malaysia, Thailand: globalized economic development
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma: civil war
The Philippine Decline

Pronounced decline in living standards over the
last several decades

Causes
• Crony capitalism
• Kleptocracy

Consequences
• Exodus of labor
• Uneven distribution of wealth
The Regional Hub: Singapore

The region’s greatest development success

Transformed from entropôt port city to high-tech
industrial city

Communications and financial hub of Southeast Asia

Authoritarian capitalism
• Brought fast growth, but
• Limited civil liberties
The Malaysian Boom

The region’s second greatest development success

Development was initially concentrated in natural
resource extraction, but recent growth is powered
by high-tech sectors

Disparities of wealth
• Geographical: west > east
• Ethnic: Chinese > non-Chinese
Thailand: An Emerging Tiger?

Japanese companies was leading players in the
earlier Thai boom
• Attracted by its low-waged, and well-educated population
under political stability

Rapid growth under democratic government

Relatively receptive to globalization
• Sex industry
Persistent Poverty in Vietnam,
Laos, and Cambodia
 Attributed
•
•
•
•
to
Continual warfare or fightings (1941~1990s)
Socialist economic system (1975 ~ 1990s)
The fall of the Soviet Union (1991)
Embargo imposed by U.S. (1975 ~ 1994)
 Recent
economic reforms in Vietnam
• Embrace market while retaining the political
forms of a communist state
Southeast Asia’s global linkages

With the exception of Laos, Cambodia, and Burma,
Southeast Asia has achieved relatively high level
of social welfare