GEOGRAPHIC

AL
PERSPECTIVE
OF SOUTH-
EAST ASIA Southeast Asia's landscape is characterized by
three intermingled physical elements: mountain
ranges, plains and plateaus, and water in the form
of both shallow seas and extensive drainage
systems.

Leinbach, Thomas R. and Frederick, William H.. "Southeast Asia". Encyclopedia

Britannica, 10 Nov. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/place/Southeast-Asia.

Southeast Asia is notable, therefore, for a

considerable diversity of wildlife throughout the
region. These differences are especially striking
between the species of the eastern and western
fringes as well as between those of the
archipelagic south and the mainland north. The
differences stem largely from the isolation, over
varying lengths of geologic time, of species
following their migration from the Asian continent.

CULTURAL
PERSPECTIVE
OF SOUTH-
EAST ASIA

Lopez, Donald S. 7 March 2022. "Buddha". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Feb. 2020,

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Buddha-founder-of-Buddhism .
Religions

Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity are all practiced within Southeast Asia.
Buddhism, particularly the more orthodox Theravada form, dominates the
religious pattern of most of the mainland; only in northern Vietnam is the more
liberal Mahayana Buddhism more common.

Schimmel, Annemarie , Rahman, Fazlur and Mahdi, Muhsin S.. "Islam". Encyclopedia
Britannica, 17 Aug. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Islam.

Stefon, Matt , Wainwright, Geoffrey , Hogg, William Richey , Chadwick, Henry ,

Lindberg, Carter H. , Fredericksen, Linwood , McGinn, Bernard J. , Crow, Paul A. ,
Benz, Ernst Wilhelm , Sullivan, Lawrence E. , Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan , Spencer, Sidney ,
Marty, Martin E. and Hick, John. "Christianity". Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 Nov. 2020,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity.
The culture in Southeast Asia is very diverse: on mainland Southeast Asia, the
culture is a mix of Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Thai (Indian) and
Vietnamese (Chinese) cultures. While in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore,
and Malaysia the culture is a mix of indigenous Austronesian, Indian, Islamic,
Western, and Chinese cultures.

Wikipedia contributors. (2022, March 6). Southeast Asia. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
06:47, March 8, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Southeast_Asia&oldid=1075647649

Rice paddy agriculture has existed in Southeast Asia for millennia, ranging

across the sub region. Some dramatic examples of these rice paddies populate
the Banaue Rice Terraces in the mountains of Luzon in the Philippines.
Maintenance of these paddies is very labour-intensive. The rice paddies are well-
suited to the monsoon climate of the region.

Music
Traditional music in Southeast Asia is as varied as its many ethnic and cultural
divisions. Main styles of traditional music can be seen: Court music, folk music,
music styles of smaller ethnic groups, and music influenced by genres outside
the geographic region.

Wikipedia contributors, 'Southeast Asia', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 6 March 2022, 23:04 UTC,
<https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Southeast_Asia&oldid=1075647649 >
 HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE
OF SOUTH-
EAST ASIA

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/set-south-east-asian-people-traditional-
1442139212

Leinbach, Thomas R. and Frederick, William H.. "Southeast Asia". Encyclopedia Britannica, 10
Nov. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/place/Southeast-Asia.

People of Southeast Asia

By the late 20th century, Southeast Asia’s population (including Indonesia and

the Philippines) was approaching a half billion, or about one-twelfth of the world’s
total. This population, however, was unevenly distributed within the region. By far
the nation with the largest population was Indonesia, with about two-fifths of the
regional total; in contrast, Brunei’s population was only a tiny fraction of that.
Nearly half of the regional population was accounted for by the mainland states,
with Vietnam and Thailand being the most populous.

Spread of Islam
Islam began to make contacts with
Southeast Asia in the eighth-century CE,
when the Umayyad’s established trade with
the region via sea routes. However it’s
spread into the region happened centuries
later. In the 11th century, a turbulent period
occurred in the history of Maritime Southeast
Asia.
 Trade and colonization
Trade among Southeast Asian countries has a long
tradition. The consequences of colonial rule,
struggle for independence, and in some cases war
influenced the economic attitudes and policies of
each country.

Ethnic composition
Southeast Asia’s population includes a wide variety of ethnic groups and cultures.
This diversity is related to its position as a focus of converging land and sea routes. In
addition, over the span of human habitation, the region alternately has been a bridge
and a barrier to the movement of people. The peopling of Southeast Asia took place
through various southward migrations. The initial peoples arrived from the Asian
continental interior. Successive movement displaced these initial settlers and created a
complex ethnic pattern.

On the mainland the Khmer peoples of Cambodia remain as ancestors of earlier

Pareoean peoples. Similarly, remnants of the Mon group are found in parts of Myanmar
and Thailand; the ethnic mixture there has been produced by overlaying Tibeto-Burman
and Tai, Lao, and Shan peoples. The contemporary Vietnamese population originated
from the Red River area in the north and may be a mixture of Tai and Malay peoples.
Added to these major ethnic groups are such less numerous peoples as the Karens,
Chins, and Nāgas in Myanmar, who have affinities with other Asiatic peoples. Insular
Southeast Asia contains a mixture of descendants of Proto-Malay (Nesiot) and Pareoean
peoples who were influenced by Malayo-Polynesian and other groups. In addition,
Arabic, Indian, and Chinese influences have affected the ethnic pattern of the islands.

In modern times the Burmans account for more than two-thirds of the ethnic stock of
Myanmar, while ethnic Thais and Vietnamese account for about four-fifths of the
respective populations of those countries. Indonesia is clearly dominated by
the Javanese and Sundanese ethnic groups, while Malaysia is more evenly split between
the Malays and the Chinese. Within the Philippines, the Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, and
Bicol groups are significant.