Island Southeast Asia

Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, East Timor

INDONESIA

• It is an archipelago, a group of islands. • It consists of more than 13,600 islands,

including 3 large islands: Sumatra, Java, and Celebes.

• Also, most of Borneo, and other islands.

• It lies where two tectonic plates meet, so it has many earthquakes and volcanoes

• It has very rich soil because of the volcanic ash, and it has a tropical climate.

• Monsoons bring a wet summer and dry winter. It has dense rain forests

• Many international companies have factories here because of cheap skilled labor!!!!

• Farmers grow rice, coffee, tea, peanuts, palm (for oil) and rubber (comes from the sap of a tree).

Tapping a rubber tree

• It is densely populated! World’s 4th largest population

• Cities, such as capital Jakarta, are large and very modern. Villages are traditional.

• Most of the people follow the religion Islam Actually has more Muslims than any other country!

• It also has people who follow Buddhism & Christianity.

• On the island of Bali, the most of the people follow Hinduism.

• HISTORY: Thousands of years ago, Hindus and Buddhists from India came to Indonesia and set up kingdoms.

• In the 1100sAD, traders brought Islam to Indonesia. Later, Europeans came because of the valuable spices grown there.

• The Dutch controlled Indonesia until 1949. • At present, Indonesia has a democratic

government.

EAST TIMOR• East Timor: A very small country that broke

off from Indonesia 2002. • The people are mostly Roman Catholic.

MALAYSIA

MALAYSIA

• The southern end of the Malay peninsula and the northern part of the island of Borneo

• It has a tropical climate, and has areas of thick tropical rainforests.

• The Strait (narrow body of water between two pieces of land) of Malacca separates the Malay peninsula from the island of Sumatra, which is part of Indonesia.

• Extreme contrasts: Very modern cities, such as capital Kuala Lumpur.

• It has one of the world’s tallest buildings, the Petronas Towers.

• Very traditional villages where people live in thatched huts on stilts off the ground.

• Grows crops, including rice, rubber and palm oil.

Oil palm tree

• Also a major producer of high tech micro chips!

• Many international companies have factories here because of cheap skilled labor.

• Most follow religion of Islam, but also many follow Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism.

• Tiny country on that consists of Singapore Island and 58 smaller islands off the tip of Malay Peninsula.

• It is basically a city-nation.

• Has many factories and a highly productive economy

• Has one of the world’s busiest harbors, which is a “free port ” where goods can be unloaded, stored & reloaded without import taxes.

• People in this tiny but highly productive country have a high standard of living.

Singapore

BRUNEI• Located on the island of Borneo, surrounded by Malaysia.

• Has large oil & gas deposits, and because of this it is very rich, small country

• Is ruled by a Sultan, The Sultan of Brunei is one of the world’s richest people.

PHILIPPINES

• Made up of 7000 islands. It has many volcanic mountains

Philippines

• 40%of the people live in villages and farm. They farm on terraced fields, which are strips of land cut out of a hillside like stair steps.

• Capital Manila is a great commercial center.

Philippines

• BRIEF HISTORY: The Philippines was ruled by S Spain from about 1500s-1800s.

• The U.S. took the Philippines from the Spanish in 1898 as part of the Spanish -American War.

• The Philippines was controlled by the U.S. from 1898-1942.

• In 1942, Japan seized the Philippines. There was fierce fighting on the Philippines

• During WWII, during which over a million Filipino people died.

• Over 200,000 Filipino soldiers fought for the U.S. during WWII. Japan surrendered in 1945.

• In 1946, the U.S. granted independence to the Philippines.