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Last Time•South Asia

Natural Resources and industryLanguagesReligion traditionsCultural complexity Population issues

•Southeast AsiaPlate tectonics & landforms Climate

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Today: Southeast Asian•Soils and forests

•Agriculture

•Mineral resources

•Pre-colonial historical-cultural influences

•European colonization

•Contemporary population issues in SE Asia

•Country details in SE Asia

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Southeast Asian Climates

•Recall -- Climate regimes Tropical wet/dry and equatorial climates (Af, Aw, Am) — warm year around in all places (except very highlands)

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Vegetation and soils•Vegetation

Inland in IndochinaSemi-deciduous forest & savanna

Equatorial rainforest most everywhere else

•Soils: high temps & much rain =>Poor soils in most placesExceptions to volcanic slopes in Indonesia and alluvial soils in river valleys & deltas

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Puzzle of equatorial rainforests

•Much of the more moist area originally under “classical” tropical rainforest

•Huge trees; much biodiversity; high biomass/area

•Yet — all this on poor soils mostly — how?

•Commercial threats increasing

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© John Wiley & Sons

© John Wiley & Sons

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© T. M. Whitmore

Agriculture•Quality soils on recent (geologically)

volcanic ashSumatra, Java, and other volcanic islands

•Quality soils also in delta and flood plain alluviumAlong the major rivers of Indochina (e.g., Irrawaddy, Chao-Phraya, Mekong, Red)

•Poorer soils most everywhere else

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Red R.

Mekong R.

Cho Phraya

Irrawaddy

Salween

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Dilemma of agriculture in poor-soil equatorial

rainforests•1st strategy is shifting cultivation within the rainforest – in low density areas (highlands in Indochina & elsewhere)

•2nd strategy is modification of the landscape into intensive agriculture — paddy rice (e.g., Java)

•3rd strategy is commercial plantation agriculture — growth of special “cash” crops for commerce and usually export (e.g., Malaysia)

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© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© John Wiley & Sons

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© 2002 Manfred Leiter

Rice terraces, Java

© 2002 Manfred LeiterRice terraces, Java

© 2002 Manfred LeiterRice harvest, Java

© 2002 Manfred LeiterTea plantation, Malaysia

Oil Palm plantation in Malaysia © 2002 Manfred Leiter

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Mineral resources•Best known may be the “Tin belt” on the

Malay Peninsula

•Economically more important are gas and oilIndonesian ArchipelagoMalaysian part of the island of Borneo S. China Sea

Problem with reserves below the shallow (150' in places) S China Sea

case of the Spratley Islands

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© T. M. Whitmore

Pre-colonial historical-cultural influences

•Early cultural groups•Chinese influences — 2 types

Ancient Chinese influencesModern Chinese diaspora — quite different (later)

•Indian influences (Hindu & Buddhist)

•Islamic influences

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© 2002 Manfred Leiter

Buddhist influence, SE Asia

© 2002 Manfred LeiterBuddhist influence

© 2002 Manfred LeiterHindu influenced Angkor Wat

© 2002 Manfred Leiter

Islamic influence, Malaysia

© 2002 Manfred Leiter

Chinese influence, Malaysia

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© W.H. Freeman & Co.

© T. M. Whitmore

Status of SE Asia by 1600(before European

colonization)•Thai, Shan, Vietnamese, Lao,

Burma/Myanmar, Khmer (Cambodia) kingdoms in Indochina

•Malaccan sultanate in S Malay peninsula

•Indonesian archipelago fractured into hundreds of tiny states

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