Overview: Culture and History

 The people of Southeast Asia developed their own

culture before outside influences shaped the region

 The mountains in Southeast Asia kept groups of

people isolated from each other

 Because of this, each group developed its own way of

life
 Eventually, outside influence began to spread into
southeast Asia from China and India

 India affected Southeast Asia’s culture through trade,

by spreading Hinduism and Buddhism

 China conquered Vietnam in 111 B.C., and ruled it for

over 1,000 years

 Vietnam then used Chinese methods of farming

 Buddhism is the major religion of Myanmar, Thailand,
Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia today

 Islam is the most popular religion in Malaysia and

Indonesia

 Missionaries brought Christianity to SE Asia in the

1500s, and today, most people in the Philippines are
Christian
 Europeans arrived in Southeast Asia in the 1500s
looking to control the trade of silk, iron, silver, pearls,
and spices

 By the 1800s, European nations had gained control of

most of Southeast Asia

 In 1898, The United States gained control of the

Philippines after it defeated Spain in the Spanish-
American War
 Colonial Rulers built transportation systems for the
colonies

 They also built schools

 By the early 1900s, nationalists were organizing
independent movements throughout Southeast Asia

 Nationalists – someone who is devoted to the interests

of his or her country

 But by 1939, World War II broke out, and Japan drove

out the European colonists and took over the region
 After the Japanese defeat in World War II, western
nations tried to regain power in Southeast Asia, but
the southeast Asian countries wanted to be
independent

 Some countries were able to gain independence

peacefully, others had to fight for it
 Independence did not come peacefully for Laos,
Cambodia, and Vietnam

 These countries were controlled by France, and known

as French Indochina
 After World War II, France tried to take Indochina
back from Japan

 Nationalist forces in Vietnam fought back against the

French

 The French finally withdrew in 1954

 The Vietnamese forces that defeated France declared
Vietnam’s independence

 They wanted Vietnam to be a communist country

 South Vietnam split from North Vietnam and did not

want communism
 North Vietnam tried to keep the country together by
force

 At first, the United States sent supplies and military

advisors to South Vietnam to prevent communism from
spreading

 (Remember, the U.S. was in a “Cold War” against the

Soviet Union, and was trying to PREVENT communism
from spreading!)
 Later, the U.S. sent hundreds of thousands of troops

 By 1975, the U.S. withdrew, and North Vietnam took

over the South
 Cambodia and Laos were pulled into the Vietnam
conflict

 The U.S. bombed Cambodia and Laos to destroy

Communist North Vietnamese forces there