© T. M. Whitmore Last Time South Asia Natural Resources and industry Languages Religion...

© T. M. Whitmore

Last Time•South Asia

Natural Resources and industryLanguagesReligion traditionsCultural complexity Population issues

•Southeast AsiaPlate tectonics & landforms Climate

© T. M. Whitmore

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

© T. M. Whitmore

Southeast Asian Climates

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

© T. M. Whitmore

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

© T. M. Whitmore

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

© 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


Red R.

Mekong R.

Cho Phraya

Irrawaddy

Salween

© T. M. Whitmore

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)

© 2002 Manfred Leiter

Rice terraces, Java

© T. M. Whitmore

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

© 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


Buddhist influence, SE Asia


Islamic influence, Malaysia


Chinese influence, Malaysia

© 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

© T. M. Whitmore Last Time South Asia Natural Resources and industry Languages Religion...

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